R HIGHLY NEGOTIABLE PLUS ANNUAL PERFORMANCE BONUS
Our client began as a small start-up based in South Africa. From one office they are now present on five continents. They are aligned behind a common purpose, which is to invest for a better tomorrow.
They now seek a senior funds lawyer to join their team. You will report to the head of legal, Africa.
The legal team is a global team within the company, with qualified lawyers in South Africa,
the UK and the USA. The SA legal team has a diverse and broad remit and is responsible for managing all aspects of the firm’s legal affairs across the African continent, including fund structuring, maintenance and distribution; regulatory lobbying and advice; client and commercial agreement negotiation; and corporate initiatives and governance. The team also works closely with colleagues in London and New York on various matters.
This role is an opportunity to be a senior in-house “funds lawyer” in an experienced legal team within a major player in the global investment management industry. It is a strategic legal seat with direct exposure to senior stakeholders and an opportunity be involved in a variety of strategic initiatives and projects, particularly novel product initiatives, a diverse product set and transformational operational initiatives. The company has diverse and constantly evolving fund ranges and investment products (with a strong focus on digital assets, tokenisation and blockchain technology). You will be at the heart of several novel and groundbreaking product initiatives in this space.
JOB DESCRIPTION WILL INCLUDE BUT NOT BE LIMITED TO:
- You will be required to be lead fund and product work across their fund ranges:
- Lead the legal design, structuring and advice in relation to launching and maintaining the company’s mutual funds and retail products. Including CIS / unit trusts, AMETF’s, hedge funds, alternative funds, tokenisation, digital assets and retail-ised investment products in Africa (primarily South Africa, Namibia and Botswana) and also where global initiatives have an African element;
- Structure and negotiate strategic partnerships and relationships for the distribution of the company funds and products;
- Draft, negotiate and maintain core fund documentation including prospectuses, trust deeds, supplementals, terms and conditions, app and transaction forms and client communications;
- Oversee the distribution of the company’s digital assets, mutual funds and retail products. Drafting and negotiating terms of business; distribution; platform; broker and SLA agreements;
- Advise on all aspects related to the company’s African products and funds, including putting relevant relationship, counterparty, internal plumbing and governance arrangements in place and overseeing external counsel where necessary;
- Work in tight alignment with the global product, foundry, compliance, operations and investment teams;
- Provide advice in response to queries regarding the digital asset / tokenisation products, mutual and retail funds and products;
- Support the retail legal team on matters relating to our unit trust and linked investment services platform (LISP) and retail products;
- You will be required to be lead on product-specific regulatory work:
- Act as a regulatory lead on any regulatory or legislative initiatives that impact the African fund ranges. This includes driving lobbying efforts, interpretation, advice and implementation of complex regulation and legislation impacting the funds and products (particularly in the digital assets, crypto assets and tokenisation space);
- Collaborate with other internal stakeholders to shape and steer the engagements and interactions with regulators and ombuds in relation to company’s funds and products;
- Representing the company on industry bodies and initiatives;
- You will be required to distribution relationships:
- The nature and extent of the company’s distribution relationships for its funds and products is expanding and evolving;
- Maintaining, negotiating and plumbing complex new distribution relationships with asset allocators, intermediaries, multi-managers, DFM’s and strategic partners;
- You will be required to be the lead on M&A, special projects and reputationally sensitive work:
- The company is involved in a multitude of complex projects; corporate M&A transactions; joint ventures, strategic relationships; collaborations with major industry players across the globe; shareholder activism and ESG / active management initiatives; outreach, CSI and corporate upliftment initiatives; dispute resolution and reputationally sensitive engagements with external parties and also internal corporate initiatives to achieve specific outcomes;
- These initiatives all require significant amounts of strategic legal direction, oversight and sound judgment (together with mix of industry knowledge, business acumen, regulatory knowledge and an ability to drive actionable decision-making) in order to implement successfully and soundly;
- You will be responsible for AI and technology into the legal processes:
- Drive and implement AI and technology solutions – this is an important part of the role as they are in a phase of rapid technological advancement, adoption and implementation.
- They are not building a conventional legal team — they are reimagining how it operates, scales and delivers better outcomes in a technology-first environment.
CORE COMPETENCIES REQUIRED, BUT NOT LIMITED TO:
- You have the ability to build and maintain meaningful relationships;
- You have the ability to ‘approach and own’ and continuously look for opportunities to develop;
- You have excellent communication (verbal and written) skills in English and able to present complex legal concepts clearly to non-lawyers and senior stakeholders;
- You are driven and intellectually curious, with a strong keen eye for detail;
- You have a high conviction and comfortable sharing opinions and driving actionable decision-making;
- You have visible leadership skills – shaping direction, not just validating outcomes;
- You have the ability to analyse, interpret and assimilate information;
- You are comfortable in agile, cross-functional environments where priorities shift and innovation is constant.
CORE QUALIFICATIONS AND EXPERIENCE:
- You have a LLB or related tertiary legal qualification – this is essential;
- You have a minimum of 8 years current, relevant PQE with strong exposure to digital assets, tokenization, crypto, mutual funds, alternative funds and structured investment product;
- You have a mix of private practice and in-house experience – this is preferred, ideally within asset management or financial services experience;
- You have demonstrated experience in in structuring, maintaining and distributing mutual funds (including unit trusts, AMETF’s, hedge funds, alternatives funds, tokenised funds);
- You have good working knowledge and familiarity with fund structures and legal / regulatory regimes in core jurisdictions (South Africa, Namibia, Botswana). In particular, CISCA, COFI, FAIS, crypto asset regulations, FSRA, FMA, Banks Act, Namibian FIMA;
- You have demonstrated experience in autonomously handling complex projects/transactions and reputationally sensitive matters, including crisis response, media issues and stakeholder management;
- You have a broad generalist foundation across investment management, corporate, commercial, dispute resolution and governance;
- You are able to triage and lead on matters outside your core specialty;
- You are able to lead and own matters independently with minimal supervision;
- You have exceptional judgment on reputational risk.
You are a solutions driven person and use the law to find solutions to product issues and new instruments. You are able to think outside of the box but still be structured and on top of your SM and technical expertise. Great leadership; superb team