Senior Legal Counsel - Contracts

Nottingham Trent House (95002), United Kingdom, Nottingham, Nottinghamshire

Senior Legal Counsel - Contracts

Our Mission

We’re on a mission to be a force for good in lending. Throughout our almost 30-year history, we’ve consistently been recognised as a great place to work; in 2026, Capital One was officially ranked 9th in the UK’s Best Workplaces™ list. Hear from our team about what it’s like working at Capital One UK.

About the role

Capital One is seeking an experienced in-house commercial contracts solicitor to join our dynamic UK Legal Team. As a financial institution, ensuring robust supplier contracts is essential, and our Contracts team plays a vital role in managing risk across third-party engagements.

Reporting to the Head of UK Contracts, you will provide expert legal advice to business teams on a range of supplier contracts—including outsourcing, SaaS, and technology agreements—as well as broader commercial matters. If you are a collaborative team player with strong commercial acumen, excellent communication skills, and robust contract drafting experience, this role offers an exciting next step in your career.

What you'll do

• Draft and negotiate contracts: Prepare, review, and negotiate complex agreements, including SaaS, technology, outsourcing, software licences, NDAs, and variations.

• Manage business workstreams: Partner with key internal stakeholders and supplier managers to seamlessly integrate legal requirements and ensure timely project delivery.

• Advise on legal and regulatory risk: Evaluate strategic and regulatory risks—such as data protection and outsourcing requirements—collaborating with legal specialists where necessary.

• Support and mentor the team: Supervise and mentor junior team members on contract negotiation, legal research, and workload management.

• Maintain relationships and compliance: Build strong relationships with internal and external stakeholders, monitor legislative changes, manage outside counsel, and strictly uphold contract policies.

The skills and experience you need

• Professional qualification: Qualified solicitor with substantial post-qualification experience (PQE) in commercial law.

• Commercial contracting background: Proven expertise in drafting and negotiating complex commercial contracts, with in-house or financial services experience strongly preferred.

• Regulatory and legal domain knowledge: Strong practical understanding of data protection law, alongside the ability to navigate emerging risk areas such as AI terms, IP, and TUPE.

• Track record of delivery: Demonstrated experience managing multiple workstreams and delivering high-quality results within a fast-paced environment.

• Stakeholder management: Proven ability to build trusted relationships with cross-functional teams, external counsel, and third-party suppliers.

Recommended Skills

• Strategic problem-solving: Ability to apply strategic thinking to help the business navigate complex challenges and commercial risks.

• Tailored communication: Excellent written and verbal communication skills, with the ability to adapt your style to suit technical, legal, or executive audiences.

• Prioritisation and agility: Exceptional workload management and organisation skills, with the flexibility to adapt quickly to changing business needs.

• Collaboration and team leadership: Strong interpersonal skills for mentoring junior colleagues and working effectively within multi-disciplinary teams.

• Digital mindset: A forward-thinking approach to leveraging digital tools and technological solutions to optimise legal advice and contract drafting.

Where and how you'll work

This is a permanent position based in our Nottingham office. 

We embrace a hybrid approach to work. You'll spend three days a week in the office (Tuesday-Thursday), with Monday and Friday being dedicated work-from-home days.

Our offices are designed to inspire and support you. At our Nottingham head office, you'll find an on-site gym, restaurant and dedicated Learning Loft. Our London office boasts a rooftop running track and coffee bar. 

What’s in it for you

We invest in the growth of our people alongside our business. You will have extensive opportunities to learn and develop your career, including access to up to £5,000 in funding for external qualifications.

In addition to career development, our comprehensive benefits package is designed to grow with you, ensuring your wellbeing is prioritised at every stage of your career:

• Wealth & Future: Competitive pension and performance-based bonus schemes

• Holidays: Start with 25 days of annual leave, increasing with tenure. Need more? You have the option to buy 5 additional days.

• Health: Access premium care through our private medical insurance.

• Family Support: We champion your milestones with enhanced parental leave.

A full list of our benefits is available here.

What you should know about how we recruit

We pride ourselves on hiring the best people, not the same people. Building diverse and inclusive teams is the right thing to do and the smart thing to do. We want to work with top talent: whoever you are, whatever you look like, wherever you come from. We know it’s about what you do, not just what you say. That’s why we make our recruitment process fair and accessible. 

We value diversity, inclusion and belonging at our core. We empower our associates to do great work by creating an inclusive culture—one that values diverse perspectives, fosters collaboration and encourages innovative ideas—and a place where associates of all backgrounds can thrive by bringing their most authentic selves to work. We call this our Culture of Belonging, and it rests at the heart of our business.

Our associate-led Business Resource Groups were created to help support our diverse population and include over 10 groups across our offices. Because each Business Resource Group is as unique as the population it serves, they offer a range of activities, networking opportunities, special events and learning programmes to associates

Capital One is committed to diversity in the workplace.

If you require a reasonable adjustment, please contact ukrecruitment@capitalone.com  All information will be kept confidential and will only be used for the purpose of applying a reasonable adjustment.