Incentives – Senior Associate

Who we are

We are one of the largest international law firms in the world. With over 30 offices across the globe, we strive to exceed the expectations of our clients, providing them with the highest-quality advice and legal insight, which combines the firm’s global standards with in-depth local expertise.

Our firm, work and people span jurisdictions, cultures, and languages. We offer our clients a truly international perspective. We believe every career should be rewarding and stimulating - full of opportunities to learn, thrive, and grow. That’s why we’re so proud of our inclusive, friendly, and team-based approach to work.

Our one firm global strategy is focused on targeted growth led by the needs of our core clients, those who we can best support with the breadth and depth of Clifford Chance expertise, across the sectors and geographies, which matter most to them.

You’ll find our clients in commercial and industrial sectors, the financial investor community, governments, regulators, trade bodies, and not-for-profit organisations. But no matter who they are or why they’ve reached out to us, we provide a world-class service every step of the way. And that’s possible thanks to the entrepreneurial spirit and conscientious approach to work that you’ll find across all of our teams.

Whichever area of the business you join, you’ll become an integral part an innovative, diverse and ambitious team of people. Clifford Chance is a place where the brightest minds and the best of colleagues meet.
 

The role

We are looking for an enthusiastic and commercial Senior Incentives lawyer to join our Incentives team. We are interested in hearing from you if you are a Senior Associate with  post-qualification experience within a recognised Incentives practice in a law firm, accountancy firm, consultancy firm or in-house.

We advise clients through our four integrated sub-groups – Tax, Employment, Incentives and Pensions – delivering coordinated, cross‑border support on transactional, advisory and contentious matters. Our lawyers combine deep technical expertise with strong commercial and sector insight, embedding tax, workforce, remuneration and pensions considerations within the wider legal and regulatory framework. Working closely with corporate, finance, restructuring and disputes teams across jurisdictions, we provide pragmatic, solution‑focused advice on complex, multi‑jurisdictional and high‑risk issues. We act for a diverse international client base, including private capital sponsors, asset managers, multinational groups, financial institutions, trustees and insurers.

We advise public and private companies on remuneration, incentives and employment tax globally. We are trusted advisers on complex and sensitive remuneration matters, including remuneration policy, incentive design and operation and the remuneration aspects of corporate governance, regulatory issues, reputational risk, disclosure and senior executive hires and exits. 

Our work spans the full spectrum of legal, regulatory and tax matters, including remuneration packages, share-based and cash compensation - from all-employee plans, LTIPs, MIPs and deferred compensation to bespoke arrangements. We advise on standalone advisory matters and on major corporate transactions, including M&A, IPOs and other transformational events.

Our diverse client base, international footprint and broad industry experience give us a strong global perspective on emerging trends and evolving market practice.

We are far more than a traditional "share plans" team and cover a full range of remuneration and incentives work looking at legal, regulatory, tax and governance issues as well as reputational risk. 

We are a market leading team ranked 'Tier 1' in legal directories both in the UK and globally.  We have a strong and globally diverse client base including global quoted companies, large private companies and private equity houses and their investee companies.  We also have a healthy split of advisory and transactional work (this is not a "corporate support" team; we focus on standalone advisory projects around 50% and supporting on strategic transactions around 50%.
 

Who you will work with

The team is close knit, and everyone works together. We make sure every member of the team gets a good mix of work type and clients.
 

What you will be responsible for / do

The types of work you would be involved with would include:

• design, drafting and implementation of all types of discretionary and all-employee incentives plans;
• managing legal, regulatory and tax advice on global incentive plans and remuneration arrangements;
• advice on remuneration governance, design, reporting, remuneration committee and shareholder issues (e.g. "say on pay" and director remuneration reports/policies);
• advice on remuneration regulation (e.g. financial service sector remuneration);
• remuneration advice on board and senior executive hires and terminations;
• advice on corporate governance, regulatory and tax issues affecting incentives and remuneration;
• employment tax advice; and
• the remuneration aspects of public and private M&A, IPOs, capital raisings and other corporate transactions.
   

Your experience

• Strong academic history and legal skills  are important. Equally as key  is enthusiasm, commerciality and a real desire to help develop our team further.
• We want to recruit lawyers who not only have great  technical skills but who:
  • can demonstrate a keen interest and enthusiasm to learn about our clients' businesses;
  • can work in teams, sharing knowledge and contributing to overall success;
  • are empathetic, responsive and reliable;
  • are commercial and innovative in the solutions they deliver to clients; and
  • are good at fostering relationships with clients.
     

How we will support you

From your first day with us, you will have varied opportunities to continuously grow and develop your skills and knowledge. From formal training, informal coaching and mentoring through to skills-based and technical training and on the job learning.
 

Hybrid working

This role follows our 'balanced' hybrid working approach and as long as business needs allow, you will be supported to work in a hybrid way with the expectation of working from the office for a minimum of 50% of your time.
 

What we offer including our broad range of benefits and working environment

When you join Clifford Chance, you will have access to a broad range of benefits to support you across many aspects of your personal and professional life including financial, wellbeing, lifestyle, and family friendly benefits. For more information on what we offer specifically in the UK, please visit our What We Offer page on our career site. 

Equal opportunities

At Clifford Chance, we understand that our true asset is our people. Inclusion is good for our team and their families, our firm and society.

We are committed to treating all employees and applicants fairly and equally regardless of their gender, gender identity and expression, marital or civil partnership status, race, colour, national or ethnic origin, social or economic background, disability, religious belief, sexual orientation, or age.  This applies to recruitment and selection, terms and conditions of employment including pay, promotion, training, transfer and every other aspect of employment.

We have a variety of flourishing employee networks. These networks are a place for colleagues to share experiences and advocate for change wherever they see an opportunity for improvement.

Our goal is to deliver an equality of opportunity, an equality of aspiration and an equality of experience to everyone who works in our firm. 

Find out more about our inclusive culture here.