Senior Legal Counsel - People Manager

Senior Legal Counsel - People Manager

The Bank of England is the UK's central bank. Our mission is to deliver monetary and financial stability for the British people.

The Bank of England is a diverse organisation. Each of its 4,000 plus people are committed to public service and dedicated to promoting the good of the people of the United Kingdom by maintaining monetary and financial stability.

Join our award-winning legal team and work at the frontier of financial services to help maintain monetary and financial stability in the UK! We are looking for new colleagues who are willing to learn quickly, engage openly and rise to the challenge. We share information and insights freely. The work we do here is challenging and sometimes demanding, but always rewarding! This – together with the commitment of our lawyers, paralegals and dedicated support staff - is what why The Lawyer and LexisNexis both named our Legal Directorate the In-House Legal Team of the Year 2022!

For more information on our legal team, please follow this link on the Bank’s legal career page.

Department Overview

Alongside the General Counsel's Office, the Legal Directorate is split into five main teams:

• Central Banking, which provides legal advice on the Bank’s constitution and governance; Markets and Banking operations; commercial contracts, procurement and intellectual property; notes procurement, production and distribution; data and information management; employment policy and employee relations matters; and the Bank’s financial and funding arrangements.
• International and Domestic Reform Division, which provides legal advice on a range of trade and financial regulatory matters affecting the Bank including in connection with the UK’s withdrawal from the European Union. Practice areas include:
• Advising policymakers on the reform of the UK’s financial regulatory framework.
• Contributing to the Bank’s role in negotiating trade agreements with international partners.
• Providing advice on EU and Brexit legal issues.
• Enforcement & Litigation, which leads investigations and the imposition of any enforcement sanction within the PRA. It runs the investigative process from inception to recommendations concerning the appropriate sanction. It also runs any settlement process, and any litigation should a matter be contested.
• Financial Stability, which provides legal advice on the regulation and supervision of Financial Market Infrastructure (such as central counterparties, payment systems and securities settlement systems), on macro-prudential policy and regulation and associated legal framework for the Bank’s Financial Policy Committee and on the Bank’s role as the UK’s resolution authority.
• Insurance and Deposit Takers, providing legal advice to supervisors in relation to supervisory decision-making, and to policymakers in the PRA on capital, liquidity and other prudential requirements of banks, insurers and investment firms.

We are also supported by a Strategy and Operations team, who work with Champions across the Legal Directorate to organise a rich and regular programme of legal training and ensure that we share our knowhow through our bespoke inhouse legal wiki.

We currently have a vacancy for a permanent Senior Legal Counsel & Manager in Central Banking Legal (CBL).

CBL has a broad remit which covers many of the Bank’s functions as the UK’s central bank:

• Markets, Banking and Payments: providing legal advice and support in relation to the Bank’s market operations, customer banking facilities and payments functions, including support for custody and settlement. This area includes innovative work to ready the Bank’s monetary policy toolkit and balance sheet for the future. It also includes an opportunity to shape and deliver the future of payments, including the potential development of a Central Bank Digital Currency and renewal of the UK’s high value payments system.
• Central Services: supporting business areas across the Bank on: (i) company law, governance and finance; (ii) information management, which includes freedom of information, data protection and matters relating to the Bank’s use of data and information; and (iii) employment law.
• Commercial: advising across three distinct areas of commercial law: (i) contract law in respect of commercial third-party suppliers; (ii) obligations under public procurement regulations; and (iii) intellectual property rights.
• Banknotes: providing advice in relation to banknote distribution and banknote issuance.

As one of our most senior technical lawyers, you will take day-to-day responsibility for spearheading work on major and/or particularly complex projects. This will include coordinating the work of external providers and assisting the CBL Management Team in ensuring that the legal advice and outputs of the Division meet appropriate standards of excellence.

You will be a key partner for the Bank’s business areas, attending senior committees and meetings with Executive Directors and Deputy Governors and demonstrating confidence and gravitas. You will develop strong working relationships based on high levels of trust, influence and engagement.

You will role model the Bank Behaviours in all you do and act in an inclusive, empowering and open way.

• Legal qualification: Applicants will typically be qualified to practise as a Solicitor, Barrister or Chartered Legal Executive in England and Wales, or equivalent in Scotland or Northern Ireland, with a minimum of 4 years PQE. However, we will also accept applications from candidates qualified to practise as a lawyer overseas where the candidate can demonstrate that they have legal experience that is directly relevant to the legal work described in this job description.
• Experience providing team leadership and successful people management.
• Significant technical expertise in one or more of the areas of law covered by CBL and experience leading complex projects.
• Experience of establishing relationships with internal and external stakeholders and providing advice directly to senior decision-makers, Heads of Legal, the Deputy General Counsel and the General Counsel.

Essential Criteria

• Ability to provide concise, client-focused advice while managing legal risk, particularly under time pressure, constrained resource and in the context of fast paced events.
• Understanding of the relevant legal and regulatory frameworks the Bank is subject to, awareness of the legal issues faced by the Bank and experience of providing leadership or advice in that context (or for an equivalent organisation).
• Legal advisory skills befitting the level of the role, with the ability to identify and explain complex legal issues in a concise and articulate way to senior decision-making committees and decision-makers, including under pressure.
• Outstanding oral and written communication skills.
• Ability to manage and mitigate legal risk under time and/or resource constraints.
• Ability to establish effective relationships with peers and colleagues across teams in a large, complex organisation.
• Good self-awareness to identify areas for personal development and seek to address them proactively.
• Strong leadership and people management skills.
• A commitment to and evidence of role-modelling behaviours consistent with the Bank’s Behaviours Framework, encouraging diversity and acting in an inclusive, empowering, decisive and open way.

Our Approach to Inclusion

The Bank values diversity, equity and inclusion. We play a key role in maintaining monetary and financial stability, and to do that effectively, we believe we need a workforce that reflects the society we serve.

At the Bank of England we want all colleagues to feel valued and respected, so we're working hard to build an inclusive culture which supports people from all backgrounds and communities to be at their best at work. We celebrate all forms of diversity, including (but not limited to) age, disability, ethnicity, gender, gender identity, race, religion, sexual orientation and socioeconomic status. We believe that it’s by drawing on different perspectives and experiences that we’ll continue to make the best decisions for the public.

We welcome applications from individuals who work flexibly, including job shares and part time working patterns. We've also partnered with external organisations to support us in making adjustments for candidates and employees in the recruitment process where they're needed.

For most roles where work can be carried out at home, we aim for colleagues to spend half of their time in the office, with a minimum of 40% per month. Subject to that minimum requirement, individuals and managers should work together to find what works best for them, their team and stakeholders.

Finally, we're proud to be a member of the Disability Confident Scheme. If you wish to apply under this scheme, you should check the box in the ‘Candidate Personal Information’ under the ‘Disability Confident Scheme’ section of the application.

Salary and Benefits Information

This specific role offers a base salary of circa £93,834 - £108,270 per annum (depending on skills and experience) on a full-time basis. We encourage flexible working, part time working and job share arrangements. Part time salary and benefits will be on a pro-rated basis as appropriate.

In addition, we also offer a comprehensive benefits package as detailed below:

• A non-contributory, career average pension giving you a guaranteed retirement benefit of 1/95th of your annual salary for every year worked. There is the option to increase your pension (to 1/50th) or decrease (to 1/120th) in exchange for salary through our flexible benefits programme each year.
• A discretionary performance award based on a current award pool.
• An 8% benefits allowance with the option to take as salary or purchase a wide range of flexible benefits.
• 26 days’ annual leave with option to buy up to 12 additional days through flexible benefits.
• Private medical insurance and income protection.

National Security Vetting Process

Employment in this role will be subject to the National Security Vetting clearance process (and typically can take between 6 to 12 weeks post offer) and the passing of additional Bank security checks in accordance with the Bank policy. Further information regarding the vetting and security clearance requirements for the role will be provided to the successful applicant, and information about how the Bank processes personal data for these purposes, is set out in the Bank's Privacy Notice.

The Application Process

Important: Please ensure that you complete the ‘work history’ section and answer ALL the application questions fully. All candidate applications are anonymised to ensure that our hiring managers will not be able to see your personal information, including your CV, when reviewing your application details at the screening stage. It’s therefore really important that you fill out the work history and application form questions, as your answers will form a critical part of the initial selection process.

The closing date for applications is 2 April 2024.

The assessment process will comprise of two interview stages.

Please apply online, ensuring that you complete your work history and answer ALL the application questions fully and in detail as your application will not be considered if all mandatory questions are not fully completed.