Head of Legal

The organisation

Our client is an international bank with locations across Europe. For their Amsterdam office, we are looking for a Head of Legal.

The position

Are you an experienced legal professional within the Financial sector? Do you have a proven trackrecord as a Legal Manager within an international banking environment?
For our client, an international bank based in Amsterdam, we are looking for a Head of Legal.

As the new Head of Legal you will be part of the Bank's management team and report directly to the CEO. You will act as trusted advisor of the Managing Board of the Bank regarding all legal matters at hand. Furthermore, you will have your own workload of complex and sometimes highly sensitive matters. Together with your team, you will provide sound legal support of the highest standards to all departments within the Bank, applying an effective risk assessment while keeping the commercial interest of the Bank in mind. For this you will need to be able to work on a strategic level and understand and being capable of translating the Bank's business objectives and needs into department objectives, goals and standards. As Bank, we are a regulated and supervised institution and you will contribute to that by delivering relevant reports, presented in an accurate and timely manner.

Tasks & responsibilities 

• Effectively lead the Legal Department by coordinating the workload among the team members and yourself, to ensure that sound legal advice is provided in a timely matter to the Managing Board, to the business lines to the support their transactions, and to the other departments to support their operations;
• Safeguard that the output of Legal Department is of the highest standard and in accordance with the Bank's policies and applicable laws;
• Ensure that relevant (template) documentation, policies and procedures are available and are kept up to date to facilitate the Bank's business;
• Follow-up on relevant legal developments, jurisprudence and/or new legislation/regulations, and where necessary inform the Bank's management and relevant Departments/Committees about the changes/updates, as well as their possible effects on the Bank's business and strategy;
• Participate (or have a team member participate) in project groups to the extent legal support is required or desired in the project;
• Signal and act on reoccurring legal problems (e.g. repeating issues, recurring risks etc.) to prevent them of occurring in future transactions;
• Be responsible for the timely completion, review and submission of legal related regulatory reports and deliverables;
• Coordinate, deal with, monitor and/or supervise the handling of (cross border) claims and proceedings, being instigated by or against the Bank, and assist in restructuring and/or recovery actions of the Bank's non- performing loans, to the extent needed together with other team members and/or external counsel, and provide regular updates to Managing Board and Risk Monitoring Unit;
• Interact closely with the Corporate Secretary where needed;
• Establish and maintain a good relationship with trusted and first class external counsels and other advisors, and supervise that team members will give proper and clear instructions to external counsels, and that outsourced work is handled properly and the work delivered is of the highest quality standards;
• Maintain close contact with the Bank's branch offices and subsidiaries and assist and interact with them regarding legal matters where needed. This includes keeping informed on pending litigation and/or legal developments in jurisdiction of those branch offices and subsidiaries that could affect the Bank's head office.

Leadership and Management Responsibilities 

• Promote and attributes to the performance management cycle, in an efficient, timely and interactive manner;
• Create and stimulate an efficient and positive 'working environment' for all team members, supporting training, coaching and career development where needed and to the extent possible;
  Act as a strategic advisor to the business with executive presence and confidence;
• Promote cost discipline and be cost conscious in accordance with market standards, and review and approve legal expenses.

Candidate profile

To be successful in this role, you have:

• A master degree in Dutch law, any other law qualification is considered to be an advantage;
• Excellent verbal and writing/drafting skills in both English and Dutch, any Turkish verbal or writing/drafting skills are considered to be an advantage;
• At least 12 years' of experience as private practice lawyer on banking & finance law and/or as in-house lawyer at an international bank, with proven experience in and/or understanding of (structured) project- and corporate finance, (structured) trade and commodity finance, secondary market transactions and treasury transaction (e.g. derivatives, swaps, foreign exchange etc.);
• Proven experience with LMA, ISDA and BAFT documentation;
  Proven knowledge of private international law and you have dealt with and are seasoned in cross border transactions and multi-jurisdictional transactions and litigations;
• Experience with and/or knowledge of regulatory laws and regulations (e.g. Wft, Mifid II, EMIR, GDPR, PSD2 etc.);
• Proven managerial experience.

The offer

Our client offers an ambitious environment where you will be an important sparringpartner on board level. The compensation and benefit package suits this important role.

Interested?

You can apply to this position by using the link below.