LEGAL COUNSEL – AMERICAN EXPRESS AUSTRALIA

We’re looking for an energetic, creative, and pragmatic lawyer to join our Sydney legal team and take on the role of Manager & Counsel for Global Merchant and Network Services. This role suits a lawyer with broad, general commercial experience, ideally with some financial services practice thrown in. Above all, we need a self-starter who is intellectually curious, collaborative and can be relied upon to get the job done.

Who are we?

American Express is one of the most recognised brands on the planet. Since its early beginning as a freight forwarding company in 1850, change has been the only constant in its 150+ year history. American Express has literally seen and been it all. We practically invented the traveller’s cheque; we made credit cards cool and travelling easy. And all along the way one thing has remained our constant and singular focus –providing the world’s best customer experience every day.

We are an inclusive workplace with collaboration at our heart, committed to serving the communities in which we live and work. As much as we are driven to win, we strongly believe in winning the right way.

The current moment sees financial services and payments in a state of intense disruption, innovation and competition. Driven by new technology, the regulatory environment struggles to keep pace. We need people who can help our business teams get in front of the commercial, legal and regulatory change that typifies this moment. There has never been a better time to be a lawyer at American Express.

Who are you?

You are you, and that’s how we like it. But it’s also important that you have some of the following:

Must Haves

• Experienced PQE & a current Practising Certificate

• Strong communication skills, both written and verbal (i.e. the ability to communicate complex things in a concise way and provide clear choices)

• Sound commercial contract drafting and negotiating skills

• Pragmatic

• Good commercial judgment

• Confidence working in the grey

• Sufficient nous and resourcefulness to thrive in areas where you have limited or no experience

• Great collaboration skills with demonstrated ability to work cooperatively and efficiently

• Highest standards of ethics and professional integrity

Great to Haves

• Some relevant regulatory experience in payments, financial products, privacy, AML/KYC and other financial industry regulation

• Experience working in-house

• Some big deal and negotiation experience and passion for getting the deal done

• Experience managing a diverse workload with multiple stakeholders

Good to Haves

• Interest in payments, financial services and the legal and regulatory issues impacting those areas

• Experience managing multiple time zones and burning the candle at both ends

• Interest in contributing to the social enterprise goals outside of core legal role (e.g. Pro Bono work, Corporate Sustainability, volunteering and community engagement)

What does the job look like?

This is a role supporting our Global Merchant and Network Services business in Australia and New Zealand and involves working in a team. This is a busy role, with a large internal client base, which whilst largely contract driven, can include everything from advisory work, disputes management, product development and cross over into other parts of our business.

One of the great things about working in our team, is that you’ll get to try your hand at almost everything if you stay here long enough (and we all do!). We like people who put their hand up.

Types of work that you will be required to do include:

• Drafting, negotiating, and advising on commercial contracts – in particular large partnership agreements with corporate clients, and regional and global merchant, acquiring, sponsorship, and marketing agreements as well as some technical processing agreements.

• With support, leading negotiations with corporate and merchant partners on a range of significant and complex deals

• Provide general legal and regulatory advice across a range of commercial matters (with support from senior lawyers) – including on novel legal issues

• Reviewing and updating a range of Terms & Conditions, Privacy Statements and Contract Templates

• Monitoring, researching, and providing clear and succinct advice to the business on legal and regulatory changes that impact American Express and assisting with strategies to deal with them.

• Supporting the launch of new products, services, and capabilities in Australia as well as Internationally

• Coordinating and managing legal advice and support on multi-jurisdictional projects (including liaising with our lawyers in other countries)

• Delivering training and developing tools and guidance to help business colleagues make sense of the legal and regulatory world around them

If this sounds like something you are interested drop us your CV. Don’t sell yourself short - it’s ok if you don’t tick all of our boxes, we value people who give things a go!