Interim Commercial Tech Counsel

A leading global financial institution in the search for an experienced Commercial Lawyer to join their International Technology & Operations Legal team on a 12‑month maternity cover contract.

If you think you are the right match for the following opportunity, apply after reading the complete description.

This is a senior role acting as the lead EMEA commercial lawyer for one of the organisation’s Services businesses, providing high‑impact legal support across complex commercial, technology, and regulatory matters. As such, candidates with a background in commercial tech are encouraged to apply.

Responsibilities

In this role, you will:

• Lead legal support for Services-related commercial contracting, including complex outsourcings, technology agreements, hosted services, AI‑related contracts, and data protection matters
• Advise procurement contract managers on third‑party supplier and outsourcing arrangements across a wide range of goods and services
• Provide senior legal input into major strategic and time‑sensitive projects spanning multiple business and practice areas
• Act as a subject matter expert, collaborating with regional and country legal colleagues on multi‑jurisdictional deals
• Support the business by assessing and managing legal risk, ensuring compliance with regulatory and operational resilience requirements
• Review and assess legal risks relating to Artificial Intelligence use cases
• Serve as an escalation point for product lawyers on commercial, technology, and data protection issues

Experience

The ideal candidate will have:

• Strong experience drafting, advising on, and negotiating complex commercial contracts, particularly: outsourcing, hosted services, software agreements, artificial intelligence and technology contracts
• Deep working knowledge of UK & EU data protection law, especially as it applies to contracting
• The ability to navigate regulatory frameworks such as: Operational Resilience requirements, EBA Guidelines on Outsourcing, PRA expectations
• Experience in financial services, private practice, or an in‑house legal function xwzovoh

Qualifications

• Qualified lawyer admitted to practise in the UK or Ireland
• Excellent analytical and organisational skills
• Strong ability to identify emerging risks and guide stakeholders accordingly
• High-level drafting ability and comfort managing complex negotiations
• Strong understanding of commercial legal issues
• Confident stakeholder manager, able to work with senior individuals across the organisation

Location

• Based in Belfast, working in line with the organisation’s hybrid model (3/2)
• Remote candidates may be considered if no suitable Belfast-based applicants are found