Senior Legal Counsel

Overview

As Senior Legal Counsel, you will act as a trusted adviser to European trading desks, guiding complex negotiations and high-stakes legal matters with direct commercial impact. You’ll partner with traders, compliance, risk, and other functions to support listed derivatives, commodities, and systematic trading, focusing on market infrastructure. Your pragmatic advice will shape commercial outcomes while ensuring regulatory and risk controls. This role offers exposure to strategic market launches, entity expansions, and scalable legal processes in a fast-paced environment.

Pay / Benefits

• Performance-based bonus
• 27 paid vacation days
• Private medical insurance
• Pension scheme
• Conferences and tech events training
• International transfer opportunities

Responsibilities

• Lead legal support for key business initiatives and serve as primary adviser to assigned trading desks
• Advise on legal issues arising from market making, exchange trading, listed derivatives, clearing and market infrastructure
• Draft, review and negotiate trading and commercial documentation (e.g., futures/options clearing, prime brokerage, execution and market access agreements)
• Provide pragmatic advice on market structure, trading regulation, market conduct and legal risk
• Collaborate with compliance and risk to balance objectives with risk
• Support strategic projects including new market launches and growth initiatives
• Manage external counsel for specialist jurisdictions or products
• Develop scalable legal processes, templates, playbooks, and tech-enabled solutions
• Contribute to the development of Legal as a proactive business partner

Key requirements

• Qualified lawyer in England & Wales
• 8–15 years’ post-qualification experience focused on financial markets, derivatives, or trading
• Experience in an investment bank or financial markets firm; experience at a leading international law firm desirable
• Proven advisory experience to trading businesses on legal and commercial issues
• Strong negotiation experience on complex financial markets agreements
• Understanding of financial market infrastructure (exchanges, CCPs, clearing brokers)
• Independent negotiation leadership and risk balance
• Excellent drafting, analytical and communication skills
• Ability to manage multiple high-priority matters in a fast-moving environment
• Intellectual curiosity about products, markets, and strategies of Optiver
• Collaborative, low-ego approach and strong teamwork skills

• Collaborative
• Pragmatic decision-making
• Strong communication
• Market structure knowledge
• Trading regulation and market conduct
• Drafting and negotiating complex agreements

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