Senior Managing Counsel, Europe

The appointed person will be the primary legal business partner and will be responsible for all legal aspects of a cluster of countries in Europe. The function reports into a Senior Managing Region Counsel. The appointed person will be expected to make a significant contribution to the successful management and growth of the business. Mastercard has its Regional Headquarters in Waterloo, Belgium and its Global Headquarters in New York. The position is based in Waterloo, Belgium or London, UK.

Job responsibilities
• Responsible for legal support related to a cluster of countries, including both the personal delivery of work, and the co-ordination of input from other legal department members as required.
• In charge of some functional responsibilities for the Europe Region.
• Legal work includes drafting, review and negotiation of commercial contracts with clients and suppliers, corporate housekeeping, and general advice and assistance (mainly on commercial contract and marketing matters).
• Assist the sales teams in managing and mitigating legal and commercial risks.
• Manage external legal counsels in the assigned countries.
• Monitor legislative and regulatory developments in the assigned countries.
• Support the business in its commercial and strategic role.
• Work together with and assist other departments as required, both on a local/regional and a global level such as but not limited to Finance, the Franchise Department, Risk Management as well as their assigned functional in-house counsels.
• Conduct local training/monitoring of global Law Department policies such as contract policy training.
• Contribute to various law department initiatives.
• Work together with the other members of the Law Department both in Europe and the rest of the world in view of delivering an outstanding service to the business in a spirit of an integrated and streamlined approach which fits both into the local/regional and global strategy.
Selection Criteria

Qualifications
• Qualified to practice in one or more UK / European countries.
• any additional qualifications including on an international level are an asset.
Essential Knowledge/Experience/Attributes
• Relevant post-qualification experience in general commercial legal matters in a reputable law firm and/or as in-house lawyer, preferably in the financial services, banking or technology sector; Experience in providing legal support to US organizations and experience in corporate law, IT law considered an asset.
• Demonstrate strong leadership qualities.
• Fluent in English (both orally as in writing); any additional European languages will be considered an asset.
• Must have a strategic mindset and be able to effectively discuss with and advise senior management regarding complex matters or challenging situations.
• Must be able to contribute and operate effectively within a diverse multicultural organization.
• The candidate should have a positive "can do it" attitude, be stress resistant and ready to go the extra mile.
• The candidate should be a team player who is both organizationally savvy and a strong communicator able to collaborate cross-functionally and across regions.
• Thorough, meticulous and attention to detail but nevertheless able to prioritize, focus on the important rather than just urgent matters and get the job done.
• Good commercial judgment and creative approach to problem-solving.

Corporate Security Responsibility

All activities involving access to Mastercard assets, information, and networks comes with an inherent risk to the organization and, therefore, it is expected that every person working for, or on behalf of, Mastercard is responsible for information security and must:

• Abide by Mastercard's security policies and practices;
• Ensure the confidentiality and integrity of the information being accessed;
• Report any suspected information security violation or breach, and
• Complete all periodic mandatory security trainings in accordance with Mastercard's guidelines.