Legal Counsel

Visa is a world leader in payments and technology, with over 259 billion payments transactions flowing safely between consumers, merchants, financial institutions, and government entities in more than 200 countries and territories each year. Our mission is to connect the world through the most innovative, convenient, reliable, and secure payments network, enabling individuals, businesses, and economies to thrive while driven by a common purpose – to uplift everyone, everywhere by being the best way to pay and be paid.

Make an impact with a purpose-driven industry leader. Join us today and experience Life at Visa.

Job Description

The Counsel (Client Incentives) role sits within a supportive, hard-working and fun Commercial Legal Team, who manage a range of commercial legal matters for Visa including client incentive agreements, contracts for the supply of value-in-kind services, sponsorship and marketing, technology, IP, product, Visa membership and related matters.

This Team is part of a larger Legal, Ethics and Compliance Division in Visa’s Europe region, which also includes legal and compliance specialists covering competition, UK and EU regulatory, corporate and data privacy. The Division has consistently had some of the highest engagement scores and prides itself on a creative, collaborative, can-do approach. This role supports the Commercial Legal Client Incentives team and is based in London.

The Counsel (Client Incentives) will be responsible for leading the delivery of efficient, effective and high quality legal support to the business on client incentive agreements and related matters.

The core competencies for the Division are:

Strategic Partner & Client Focus Expertise & Business Knowledge Leadership Communication Intellectual Curiosity and Judgement

What we expect from you will differ according to your role and where you are in your career, but we look for people who have the ability and aptitude to succeed against these key competencies.

Key Responsibilities

• Deliver legal support (including drafting and negotiation support) on the full range of client incentive agreements and related matters, including global and pan-regional agreements, novel incentive structures and new types of client partners.
• Work with the Director, Commercial Law to determine the strategy for the delivery of legal support in relation to client incentive agreements and design and implement changes to ways of working as a result.
• Build relationships with key business partners, working closely with them to meet their business needs in terms of legal support in an efficient way.
• Play an active part in contributing to the development of the global deals process for incentive agreements.
• Actively look for opportunities to streamline and improve the delivery of legal support in relation to client incentive agreements and work with the Director, Commercial Law and other teams as required to implement changes.
• Identify competition/anti-trust, data protection and other regulatory issues, and liaise when necessary with internal members of the Legal, Ethics and Compliance Division, and/or external counsel.
• Act as informal supervisor for seconded trainee.
• Work closely and collaboratively with other teams engaged in incentive deals, in particular the Client Incentives Finance Team and the Commercial Contract Management Team, and identify opportunities for knowledge sharing.
• Manage day-to-day legal queries and business deals, taking the lead on all relevant legal activities.
• Actively identify and deliver training to the business on law, processes and policies.
• Proactively contribute to the Legal, Ethics and Compliance Division’s planning, cohesion, consistency in advice, and the general efficiency and effectiveness of the division as a whole.
• Play a part in the life of Visa’s Legal, Ethics and Compliance Division, building relationships and engaging with divisional initiatives as appropriate.
• Act as a ‘champion’ for designing and embedding new ways of working which represent more efficient delivery of legal support.

Think you have what it takes?

If you are interested in a career that will challenge and inspire you – we’d love to hear from you!

Diversity & Inclusion

Universal acceptance for everyone, everywhere, is not only our brand promise, it’s the foundation of our company culture. We foster a feeling of connectedness in the workplace, support diversity of thought, culture and background, fight for important initiatives like Equal Pay and actively work to eliminate unconscious biases that hold us all back.

By leveraging the diverse backgrounds and perspectives of our worldwide teams, Visa is a better place to work and a better business partner to our clients.

This is a hybrid position. Hybrid employees can alternate time between both remote and office. Employees in hybrid roles are expected to work from the office 2-3 set days a week (determined by leadership/site), with a general guidepost of being in the office 50% or more of the time based on business needs.

Basic Qualifications

• 8 or more years of relevant work experience with a Bachelor Degree or at least 5 years of experience with an Advanced Degree (e.g. Masters, MBA, JD, MD) or 2 years of work experience with a PhD
• Juris Doctorate degree from an accredited law school.
• Current member in good standing of a State Bar with the ability to become barred or a registered in-house counsel in the state where this role is located.

Preferred Qualifications
9 or more years of relevant work experience with a Bachelor Degree or at least 5 years of experience with an Advanced Degree (e.g. Masters, MBA, JD, MD) or 2 years of work experience with a PhD
Essential Skills
Qualified lawyer in England & Wales with ideally 6+ years PQE. We will consider candidates who have qualified in other jurisdictions.
Previous substantial and demonstrable commercial legal subject-matter expert experience.
Strong academics and training including legal drafting and negotiating, and relationship management.
Excellent written and oral communication skills along with a demonstrated ability to collaborate with internal and external stakeholders.
Demonstrable analytical capabilities and attention to detail.
Ability to work in a team environment as well as on own initiative.
Ability to prioritise and manage a varied and busy workload.
Positive attitude, high level of integrity and intellectual curiosity.
Fluent in English.
Desirable Skills
In-house experience (secondment or permanent role).
Previous experience of working within a technology and digital legal environment.
Knowledge of fintech and payments industry (and applicable regulation).
Previous experience of cross-border and multi-jurisdictional contracts.
Additional European language.

Visa is an EEO Employer. Qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, national origin, sexual orientation, gender identity, disability or protected veteran status. Visa will also consider for employment qualified applicants with criminal histories in a manner consistent with EEOC guidelines and applicable local law.