Legal Counsel - Legal Services

Shawbrook provides finance to a wide range of customer segments that value the premium experience, flexibility and certainly we deliver.  We are a purpose-led organisation, with a focus on delivering long-term sustainable value for all our stakeholders.

We have a diversified offering, with our innovative lending propositions tailored to meet specific customer needs in carefully selected markets across SME, Real Estate and Personal. Our products range from complex structured credit facilities for growth-focused businesses to mortgages for professional landlords and property investors, as well as simple loans for consumers delivered digitally.  We fuel our lending through customer deposits, which we attract by delivering a premium experience, choice and consistently great value to smart savers.

The business model we have created is unique and difficult to replicate, with our ‘best of both’ approach combining deep human expertise with advanced digital, tech and data capabilities.  This combination not only allows us to deliver excellent customer experiences, but to do so efficiently and at scale.  We are proud of our innovative and agile culture, which drives consistently high employee engagement scores and makes Shawbrook an attractive destination for the best talent.If you’re willing to roll up your sleeves, contribute new ideas and believe anything is possible, you’re our kind of person

Work with us because you:

• Want to be part of a bank built for the dynamics of the modern world
• Relish a challenge and enjoy a fast-paced, innovative and hardworking culture
• Enjoy finding new and better ways to solve complexity and make things happen
• Want to belong to a diverse culture that stands shoulder to shoulder with minority and underrepresented groups
• Care about society and the environment and want to be part of a business that cares too
• Want to continue to grow professionally and be the best version of yourself

This role sits within the Legal Services team, which supports the core of Shawbrook’s business, its lending and savings activities. You will work alongside the teams that drive the Bank’s day to day performance, partnering closely with colleagues across product, originations, operations and risk. The exposure is broad, consistently business facing and central to how the Bank operates. 

The work is varied, pacey and often complex. You will advise across SME and corporate lending, commercial real estate lending, regulated and unregulated mortgage products, consumer credit and savings. 

This role is ideal for a lawyer who is energised by variety, comfortable balancing legal risk with commercial pragmatism and motivated by the opportunity to influence meaningful business decisions in an ambitious, growth-focused bank. 

Key Responsibilities

• A Front-Line Partner to the Lending and Savings Businesses 
• You will provide timely, proactive and high-quality legal advice across Shawbrook’s lending and savings platform, supporting product structures, launches and enhancements from concept through to execution. 
• You will manage complex legal and regulatory matters, interpret evolving financial regulation and work closely with originations, operations and risk teams to ensure solutions are robust and scalable. 
• You will combine strong technical judgement with commercial instinct, enabling an entrepreneurial and growth-driven bank to move forward decisively within its legal risk appetite. 
• Contributing Beyond the Core 
• While your primary focus is Legal Services, there will be ad hoc opportunities to support wider Legal initiatives where your expertise adds value, including regulatory change programmes, structural or product transformation initiatives and mergers and acquisitions. 
• From time to time, you may work alongside colleagues across the Legal function, including Legal Strategy, to provide coordinated and commercially intelligent advice on significant or complex initiatives as business needs evolve. 
• Driving Robust Governance and Intelligent Risk-Taking 
• You will identify and assess legal and regulatory risk early, translate complex regulation into practical business-ready guidance and embed workable frameworks that support sustainable growth. 
• Strengthening Legal Delivery 
• You will deliver high-quality work in-house, contribute to developing guidance and precedents, and actively leverage technology, including AI, to enhance efficiency and scalability. 
• We are building a modern Legal function that pairs strong technical judgement with smart, practical use of digital tools to support a growing business. 
• Legal is expected to operate as a strategic enabler. You will contribute to knowledge-sharing and, where appropriate, support internal training to strengthen commercial and legal awareness across the organisation. 

Skills & Experience

Strong banking and financial regulation experience is advantageous. You will ideally have gained this experience within a regulated financial institution or a leading law firm, giving you a clear understanding of how legal advice operates in a regulated commercial environment. 

We are not defining this role by a rigid checklist. The Legal team at Shawbrook brings together a diverse range of backgrounds and experiences. What matters most is mindset and capability. 

You are likely to thrive in this role if you: 

• Bring strong commercial judgement and sound, practical decision-making on risk 
• Are confident engaging directly with business stakeholders 
• Take ownership while knowing when to challenge and when to ask questions 
• Are curious, intellectually engaged and motivated by growth 
• Are comfortable embracing technology, including AI, and adapting to change as part of a modern legal function 

This role will feel particularly natural if you have worked in-house, especially within a regulated financial services environment, where judgement, stakeholder awareness and the ability to balance regulatory requirements with commercial objectives are critical. 

If you understand how legal advice needs to land in a business context, balancing regulation, commercial ambition and operational reality, and you enjoy learning quickly and operating beyond a narrow specialism, this could be a compelling next step. 

What You’ll Gain 

• Exposure across the full breadth of Shawbrook’s lending and savings businesses and the opportunity to contribute directly to the Bank’s ambitious growth plans. 
• End-to-end visibility across the lifecycle of products and customer journeys and a platform to develop into a senior in-house banking lawyer within a growth-focused institution. 

Qualifications & Education 

• We recognise that great lawyers do not all follow the same path. 
• While a legal qualification is expected, we assess candidates on their skills, judgement, mindset and potential — not simply on sector background or years of post-qualification experience. 
• Shawbrook is also committed to providing opportunities to all candidates, and understand that not all candidates may possess a qualification or education aligned to the role. We will assess each candidate on their individual experience and skills, and not solely on level of education. 
• If you are excited by the scope of the role and believe your skills are transferable, we encourage you to apply. 

Your Wellbeing - We take your health and well-being very seriously by providing a range of benefits to give you and your family peace of mind. These include:

• Market leading family friendly policies such as access to our Maternity, Adoption and Paternity policies from Day 1 of your employment
• Free access to Headspace, a mindfulness & meditation digital health app
• Free access to Peppy digital health app that offers personalised support through fertility treatment becoming a parent or menopause
• EAP (Employee Assistance Programme) - Offering you support on a wide range of subjects including financial concerns, mental wellbeing and more general queries around family, work, housing, and health
• Cycle to work scheme
• Discounts on gym membership
• Contributory pension scheme & death in service

Your Lifestyle - It’s important you strike the right balance between your work and personal life. We provide benefits to support you when at work and when you’re enjoying your leisure time.

• Minimum of 27 days holiday per year
• Option to buy or sell holiday days through our flexi-holiday scheme
• Discounts on gym membership nationwide
• Access to discounts on a range of high street and online brands
• Community support and charitable giving

Your Contribution - We’re focused on rewarding those that go the extra mile in helping us achieve our goals.

• Participation in our annual discretionary bonus scheme designed to reward your contribution to our success
• Proudly Shawbrook recognition scheme focused on recognising our role models and thanking our colleagues for a job well done