Head of Legal / General Counsel

Head of Legal / General Counsel

Remote (UK) · Four or five days per week · £100,000–£120,000 (four-day) / £125,000–£150,000 FTE plus share options

Tune Exchange is an early-stage, well-backed UK fintech. We are hiring our first dedicated senior lawyer to own the legal and compliance function through authorisation and into launch. This is a foundational appointment reporting directly to the Founder and CEO. Depending on your profile, the role can be structured as Head of Legal or as General Counsel.

Why this role is unusual

You help define the legal and regulatory shape of a genuinely new regulated category, not another payments or lending product.

You are the first legal hire, with the scope to build the function on your own terms.

You work directly with the Founder, close to the strategic decisions.

Four or five days a week, your choice, fully remote in the UK.

What you will own

The FCA Part 4A authorisation application as legal project lead, working with the Founder and external regulatory counsel. The first 12 to 18 months are dominated by this programme.

The regulatory and compliance framework: Regulatory Business Plan, ICARA, wind-down plan, and the operational policies (AML, CASS, conflicts, market conduct, outsourcing, risk).

Commercial and platform contracts, supplier agreements, and the templates that let the business scale.

Corporate and fundraising support, governance, employment, data protection, and intellectual property.

The relationship with external specialists, who handle niche opinions while you orchestrate and implement.

We do not expect you to be a subject matter expert across every legal discipline. The role is about senior judgement and knowing when to bring in specialist advice.

What we are looking for

Qualified solicitor of England and Wales (or equivalent, with substantive English-law experience), with a maintained practising certificate.

8 to 15 years post-qualification experience is the core profile: a senior regulatory or financial services lawyer ready to step into a first in-house leadership seat. More senior candidates, including former partners and experienced GCs, are equally welcome.

Direct experience of FCA-regulated firms, either in-house at an authorised firm or advising regulated financial services clients, with real exposure to FCA Handbook material.

Comfort with regulatory perimeter analysis (FSMA, the RAO, transferable securities, collective investment schemes) and the practical work of preparing an FCA authorisation.

Genuine appetite to be the sole legal hire in an early-stage business and to build from first principles.

Strong commercial drafting and negotiation across the breadth of an SME legal function.

Comfort with ambiguity and novelty, and good judgement under imperfect information.

Strongly desirable

Willingness to hold SMF16 (Compliance Oversight) on authorisation, subject to the FCA's Fit and Proper assessment. The structure currently anticipates this, but it is not a condition: compliance accountability may sit with an external consultant or a later hire initially. Candidates who prefer not to hold an SMF are welcome to apply.

Prior SMF experience, or a senior role in a UK FCA Part 4A authorisation, particularly for a novel business.

SME or scaleup in-house experience as the sole or senior legal voice.

Familiarity with international regimes (EU and US) that may apply as the business expands.

Compensation and working pattern

Cash salary of £100,000 to £120,000 at the four-day pattern, or £125,000 to £150,000 at five days, paid pro-rata to the pattern you choose.

A meaningful EMI share option grant alongside salary, agreed as part of the offer.

Employer pension, 25 days annual leave plus bank holidays (pro-rated to the four-day pattern where chosen), fully remote in the UK with occasional travel reimbursed.

On the four-day pattern, outside non-competing professional work is permitted, subject to a written conflicts framework.

How to apply

Send a short covering note and your CV through LinkedIn. Applications are reviewed on a rolling basis. We particularly encourage candidates from underrepresented groups in financial services law.