Job Description
We’re looking for a German Legal Counsel
We are the leading and fastest growing Alternative Lender in the German market. A market that is still developing and we are there to shape it. Iwoca has established strong cooperations with the leading banks, financial advisors and platforms in Germany, like Commerzbank and eBay.
However, we’re still near the start of our journey – our aim is to finance a million small businesses within a decade and so we need more smart, hands-on people to help us reach this goal.
We are recruiting a German qualified lawyer on a part-time basis to primarily work with our German business and report to iwoca’s Head of Legal.
About us
Fast, flexible finance empowers small businesses to manage their cash flow better and seize opportunities - making their business and the economy stronger as a whole. At iwoca, we do just that. We help businesses get the funds they need, when they need it, often within minutes.
We’ve already made several billion in funding available to over 100,000 businesses since we launched in 2012, and positioned ourselves as a leading Fintech in Europe. Our mission is to finance one million businesses. We’ll get there by continuing to make our finance ever more relevant and accessible to more businesses by combining cutting-edge technology, data science and a 5-star customer service.
Our culture
We’re expanding fast across our offices in London, Leeds and Frankfurt. With all this growth, we’re looking for people who want to learn on the job and lead projects, knowing that your ideas will impact thousands of small businesses.
Your mission
Support and advise teams across the German business, including lending propositions (product development), customer acquisition, customer success, marketing and people ops (HR).
Draft, review and negotiate partnership, customer and supplier contracts by providing pragmatic and commercial support
identify and implement process improvements to make legal work more efficient, including building out and maintaining templates, playbooks and decision frameworks for our partnership and customer acquisition agreements
Improve and maintain the business’ policies and procedures relating to GDPR for our key stakeholders - customers, employees and partners
Instruct and manage external legal counsel, and manage legal budget with the guidance of the Head of Legal and GM of Germany
Support any regulatory matters relating to licensing to lend to and collect from customers in Germany, and ensure our product complies with all elements of German law.
Support corporate housekeeping, management of constitutional documents and statutory books, and ongoing filing requirements across our German entities.
There will be opportunities for you to:
Advise and educate other members of the legal team on areas of your competence through formal and informal training
Manage and mentor a German-speaking paralegal through tasks assigned to you
Get involved more broadly with the Legal function, including in the UK and Luxembourg and any other jurisdiction in which we may operate
Requirements
You are an experienced lawyer, qualified in Germany
You are fluent in German and English
You have experience in:
commercial contracts, partnership and broker agreements
GDPR and data protection laws, and have been involved in implementing policies and procedures to ensure compliance
working in an in-house environment, particularly a fintech or finance business
You are smart, meaning you:
use thoughtful legal analysis to quickly cut through legal and commercial complexity
give concrete feedback in a way that facilitates decision-making
You are motivated, meaning you:
go above and beyond to deliver high quality legal work in line with deadlines
curious about all parts of the business and the challenges they face
You are humble:
no ego, we’re in it together
you proactively reflect on individual and team performance on a task.
understand where gaps exist in legal skills and knowledge and engage external counsel where appropriate.
It would be also nice if you:
have some knowledge and understanding of lending businesses, and the regulation applying to business lending in Germany
have some experience with employment law issues
have some experience of working with Luxembourg fund structures
appreciate the importance of quantifying legal risk to inform decision-making
are willing to work some of the time in one of our offices
are interested in growing with our dynamic German business and, in the future, other countries in which we may operate
We want to make iwoca a place where everyone feels welcome, where you can confidently be yourself. We understand that inclusivity, and diversity that comes through greater inclusivity, isn't an optional add-on; it's the core ingredient of what makes us great. We care about making iwoca a healthy and happy community for all of our team members to thrive in.
Our benefits
We put a lot of effort into making iwoca a brilliant place to work:
Offices in London, Leeds and Frankfurt.
Events and clubs, like bingo, comedy nights, yoga classes, football…
Two company retreats a year, we’ve been to France, Italy, Spain and further afield
Plenty of drinks and snacks in our offices
We offer a wide range of benefits:
Medical insurance from Vitality, including discounted gym membership
25 days’ holiday, an extra day off for your birthday and the option to buy or sell an additional 5 days of annual leave
Instant access to emotional and mental health support with our partner, Spill
Share options
Generous maternity and paternity leave
A nursery tax benefit scheme to help you save money
Paid volunteering day to support your chosen charity
Extra leave if you want to travel or study
One-month fully paid sabbatical after 4 years
Cycle-to-work scheme
Electric car scheme
And to make sure we all keep learning, we offer:
An L&D budget for everyone, including a book budget
Company-wide talks with internal and external speakers
Access to learning platforms like Treehouse if you want to learn to code
For more information:
iwoca benefits & policies: coda.io/d/iwoca-benefits-policies