Our client is searching for a Legal Risk and Compliance Advisor to join their team in Bedfordview, Johannesburg

Role Description and Duties:

• The Legal, Risk and Compliance Advisor provides integrated legal, regulatory compliance and risk advisory support across the organisation, with particular emphasis on the payments, fintech and broader financial services environment.

• The role is responsible for enabling commercially sound business decisions while ensuring that the organisation’s products, services, commercial arrangements, partnerships and operations comply with applicable legislation, regulatory requirements, payment industry rules, contractual obligations, internal policies and risk management frameworks.

• The incumbent will work closely with business, product, technology, operations, finance and commercial teams to identify and manage legal, regulatory and operational risks; strengthen governance and controls; and support the responsible introduction of new products, services and partnerships.

Legal Advisory and Commercial Support

• Provide practical, commercially focused legal advice to business units and management.

• Draft, review, negotiate and manage commercial agreements, including Customer agreements, Merchant agreements, Supplier and vendor contracts, Strategic partnership agreements, and technology and outsourcing agreements.

• Provide legal advice on commercial transactions and business initiatives.

• Identify and advise on contractual, regulatory, liability, indemnity, data protection, intellectual property and operational risks.

• Maintain contract templates, standard terms, clause libraries and contract approval requirements.

• Manage contracts through the full lifecycle, including initiation, drafting, negotiation, approval, execution, storage, monitoring, amendment, renewal and termination.

• Prepare legal opinions, advisory memoranda, reports, correspondence and briefing documents.

• Conduct or support legal due diligence relating to new partnerships, suppliers, acquisitions, investments and strategic projects.

• Advise on the legal and regulatory implications of new products, services, technologies, distribution channels and business models

Regulatory Compliance

• Monitor, analyse and interpret applicable legislation, regulations, regulatory directives, payment industry rules and relevant standards.

• Assess regulatory impacts on business operations and provide practical guidance.

• Translate regulatory requirements into practical business actions, controls, policies and procedures.

• Develop, review and maintain compliance frameworks, policies and procedures.

• Conduct compliance monitoring and compliance reviews.

• Facilitate compliance awareness and training programmes in liaison with the People Department.

• Support compliance relating to merchant onboarding, customer due diligence, transaction monitoring, data protection, complaints management and third-party relationships, where applicable

• Ensure compliance with payment industry regulations and standards

Risk Management

• Identify, assess and report legal, regulatory and operational risks.

• Maintain legal, compliance and operational risk registers.

• Support enterprise risk management activities and risk assessments.

• Monitor risk mitigation plans and corrective actions.

• Assist business units in implementing effective controls.

• Support audit remediation activities and regulatory findings management

Stakeholder Management

• Build strong relationships with internal stakeholders across business, operations, finance, technology and product teams.

• Liaise with regulators, legal service providers, auditors and industry bodies where required.

• Provide practical, business-focused legal and compliance guidance

Minimum Requirements:

Qualifications & Experience:

• Bachelor of Laws degree (LLB), at NQF Level 8, or an equivalent recognised legal qualification.

Advantageous:

• Admission as an Attorney of the High Court of South Africa.

• Postgraduate or professional qualification in compliance, risk management, corporate governance, financial regulation or commercial law.

• Relevant compliance practitioner or risk management certification.

• Training or certification relating to anti-money laundering, payments regulation, data protection or PCI DSS

Minimum Experience Required

• Minimum of 5-8 years’ relevant experience in legal, regulatory compliance, risk and governance roles.

• At least 3 years’ experience within payments, fintech, banking, financial services, merchant acquiring, card payments, digital payments or a closely related regulated environment.

• Demonstrated experience drafting, reviewing and negotiating complex commercial agreements.

• Practical experience applying regulatory requirements in a commercial operating environment.

• Experience conducting compliance monitoring, risk assessments and control reviews.

• Experience advising on new products, commercial partnerships, technology arrangements or outsourced services.

• Experience preparing reports for management, risk committees or governance forums.

• Experience engaging with regulators, auditors, external legal advisers or industry bodies.

• Experience managing regulatory, audit or compliance remediation activities.

• Experience in a high-growth fintech or technology-enabled financial services organisation will be advantageous

Knowledge and Expertise

• Payments industry regulatory frameworks.

• National Payment System (NPS) environment.

• Financial services legislation.

• Consumer protection legislation.

• Data privacy and information security requirements.

• Third-party risk management and outsourcing governance.

• Contract law and commercial law principles.

• Enterprise risk management principles.

• Corporate governance frameworks.

• Compliance monitoring and assurance practices

Technical Competencies

• Strong legal drafting and contract negotiation skills.

• Contract lifecycle management

• Regulatory interpretation and impact analysis

• Excellent analytical and problem-solving ability.

• Audit and remediation management

• Strong risk assessment and mitigation capability.

• Sound commercial acumen.

• Excellent written and verbal communication skills.

• Stakeholder engagement and influencing ability.

• Attention to detail and sound judgement.

• Ability to work independently and manage multiple priorities.

• High ethical standards and professional integrity.

• Strong organisational and project management skills

Behavioural Competencies

• Accountability and Ownership:

  • Takes end-to-end ownership of complex outcomes and holds self and others to clear commitments

• Judgement and Decision Making:

  • Integrates evidence, risk and stakeholder impact to make sound decisions in complex situations.

• Resilience and Adaptability:

  • Sustains performance through significant change and helps others navigate complex uncertainty

• Ethics and Integrity:

  • Navigates complex ethical tensions, challenges inappropriate conduct and protects organisational trust.

• Critical Thinking:

  • Synthesise complex and conflicting evidence, identifies bias and implications, and forms sound judgements

• Risk, Compliance and Governance:

  • Assesses complex risk, interprets requirements and designs proportionate controls, decision structures and accountable oversight

• Communication with Impact:

  • Explains complex matters clearly, listens actively and influences decisions with well-structured messages.

• Risk, Compliance and Governance:

  • Assesses complex risk, interprets requirements and designs proportionate controls, decision structures and accountable oversight.