Head of Legal

WFH 4 days, WFO 1 day

Are you ready to embark on a career that defies the norm and fearlessly pushes the boundaries of finance and technology You've come to the right place. Our team embodies the meaning of audax - courage - and we're seeking bold individuals like yourself to join us in revolutionising the financial services industry.

Our mission is to help banks and financial institutions scale and modernise, giving our clients the opportunity to offer digital banking and Banking-as-a-Service. Together, let's pave the path to a future where technology and finance converge seamlessly and be the change the industry needs.

About audax

audax Financial Technology, a subsidiary of Standard Chartered, is a comprehensive stack digital banking solutions provider empowering banks and financial institutions to scale and modernise at speed. audax Financial Technology has enabled new business models and revenue streams for Standard Chartered under the Standard Chartered nexus proposition, becoming the first international bank in Singapore to provide Banking-as-a-Service.

For more information, please visit us at .

audax is looking for a proactive solutions-focussed commercial lawyer with financial services experience, gained in either a law firm or with a financial institution, to join us as Head of Legal. You would ideally have experience handling a wide range of legal matters and are comfortable providing senior management complex, multi-jurisdictional legal guidance. The scope of work will include drafting and negotiating various legal documents, advising on product and commercial structuring, partnership arrangements, relevant regulatory matters, establishment and implementation of governance and compliance processes, and oversight of corporate secretarial services.

What you will be doing:

Strategy and Advisory

• Overall responsibility for legal matters and managing audax's legal requirements.
• Work in alliance with audax management team and SC Ventures Legal to ensure compliance by audax and its directors with (i) relevant regulatory requirements, (ii) privacy laws, (iii) outsourcing requirements and (iv) any other policies, standards, and guidelines applicable to audax.
• Provide general corporate, and commercial legal directions across the business, supporting its needs in Singapore and elsewhere as it expands into new territories.
• Drafting and negotiating a range of commercial agreements, including but not limited to software development, SaaS, data transfer, strategic partnerships, product-specific terms, and terms of use for audax's platform.
• Work closely with stakeholders to structure and develop products and services constructs s from scratch, including reviewing and working through process flows and understanding complexities of the relevant products and technology and provide legal and regulatory insight and expertise on existing and developing business propositions.
• Advising on legal and regulatory matters (including licensing) associated with transactions, partnership and product structure, operations, and entry into new markets, including IP and data privacy/ protection.
• Lead the development and implementation of standardized legal workflows within audax including identifying key legal touchpoints within core business functions, mapping workflows and streamlined procedures for contract review, risk assessment, and legal document approvals
• Engage, procure, and manage external counsel support as and when required.

Risk Management and Governance

• Execute the relevant aspects of the Legal policies through robust independent risk control and the provision of specialist advice and constructive challenge in a manner proportionate to the nature, scale, and complexity of audax's business
• Ensure that legal risks are identified and mitigated, or are raised and risk-accepted by SC Ventures and appropriate legal templates are developed and used for dealings with third parties with adequate protections and remedies to address end-to-end product risks, and ensure that transactions with third parties are valid and enforceable under relevant laws
• Keep updated on relevant changes in law and regulations, shifting industry or market practices and litigation affecting audax.
• Participate in the Board Risk Committee and Enterprise Risk Committee and manage issues involving product related legal, regulatory, and reputational risks,
• Provide input for the design of related controls and control monitoring and reporting at the local subsidiary.
• Establish and maintain strong governance of services and products.

Corporate Secretarial & Board Support

• Coordinate and follow through the execution of all board resolution and minutes, including any underlying documents approved to be signed.
• Assisting the SC Ventures Company Secretary in the on-boarding and induction of INEDs and NEDs in relation to audax directors.
• Work with and lead the company secretarial function to file reports or events with the registrar of Companies.
• Work in close co-operation with the SC Ventures Corporate Secretariat in relation to governance of the company.
• Act as the Responsible Person for purposes of updating Blueprint, our entity management system

Regulatory & Business Conduct (where applicable)

• Serve as audax's primary point of contact for all regulatory legal matters.
• Support audax's regulatory communication plan to maintain an excellent relationship with the regulators through close and regular dialogues to provide updates and drive resolution of issues.
• Display exemplary conduct and live by the Group's Values and Code of Conduct.
• Proactively support and challenge audax to exhibit appropriate conduct, comply with regulatory and compliance requirements and strive to achieve fair outcomes for the audax's clients and other stakeholders.
• Take personal responsibility for embedding the highest standards of ethics, including regulatory and business conduct in audax. This includes understanding and ensuring compliance with, in letter and spirit, all applicable laws, regulations, guidelines and the Group Code of Conduct of Standard Chartered Bank.
• Effectively and collaboratively identify, escalate, mitigate, and resolve risk, conduct and compliance matters.

What you need to be successful in this role:

• Qualified to practice in Singapore.
• Minimum of 15 years of experience practicing law, with a focus on corporate and regulatory matters within the fintech industry.
• Experienced in handling a wide range of legal matters, including commercial contract matters, employment, and regulatory matters.
• Knowledge of and experienced in fintech preferred including familiarity with digital platforms and associated legal issues. Proven ability to lead a collaborative team and problem-solve effectively with the business. Experienced in facilitating cross-functional teams to tackle complex challenges.
• Experienced in advising on laws and regulations in other countries advantageous.
• Strong analytical and communication skills with ability to counsel senior management on complex legal matters and make clear recommendations regarding legal issues.
• Self-starter, solutions-focused, innovative.
• Excellent organisational skills with ability to meet multiple deadlines.
• Exemplary integrity, ethics, and resilience.