General Manager - Legal

About Netwealth

Netwealth is a fast-growing fintech company, delivering market leading products with an award-winning and innovative wealth management platform.  We are on a mission to enable people to see wealth differently and discover a brighter future, not just for our clients, but also for our people.

Founded in 1999, with an entrepreneurial spirit, we are one of the fastest growing wealth management businesses in Australia.  With NextGen superannuation and investment technology, we are challenging the status quo.  We are agile and nimble, not stifled by bureaucracy.

We are proud of our team of talented people working hard to make life better for more Australian's.  Our values are who we are, how we tackle decisions, and how we want the world to see us - Curious, Optimistic, Courageous, Collaborative, Agile and Genuine.

The team

The Legal team at Netwealth provide legal advice and support across the organisation.  They are part of the Legal, Risk and Compliance function, which oversees risk and compliance, governance and legal matters for the Netwealth Group, which has different entities and roles as an ASX-listed company.

The Legal team is responsible for providing legal advice to Netwealth business areas and protect Netwealth’s rights by providing high quality, timely, commercially sound legal counsel and guidance on various matters, such as:

• Financial services laws and regulations, with a focus on superannuation, managed investments and IDPS
• Contractual matters, including drafting, negotiation, documenting commercial arrangements and risk mitigation for suppliers, clients, outsourced providers
• Managing the sourcing of external legal advice from law firms
• Managing litigation and disputes
• Providing advice in relation to transactions, property and leases, privacy, and other legal matters that arise

The opportunity

Due to the ongoing growth of Netwealth, this newly created General Manager, Legal role is responsible for leading the transformation of the legal department into a contemporary, best practice inhouse legal team and providing legal advice to the Boards, Committees, Executive and relevant stakeholders across Netwealth.  

You will:

• Be the key legal adviser to the Board, Committees, the CEO & Managing Director, Executive and senior staff
• Confidentially manage complex, commercially sensitive legal matters impacting Netwealth
• Provide strategic and tactical leadership on legal obligations and opportunities, and ensure the timely provision of accurate commercial legal advice across a broad range of issues to ensure Netwealth’s legal rights are protected and minimise the exposure of Netwealth to legal actions
• Develop and implement a strategic legal plan on behalf of Netwealth
• Provide high level proactive legal input into the formulation of business strategies
• Provide high quality, timely, commercially sound legal advice and guidance on financial services law and regulation, potential transactions, contractual arrangements, privacy, corporate matters and
• Lead the Legal team through coaching and leadership driving a performance culture within the team.
• Manage all external advisers to ensure the goals and objectives of the company are achieved within time frames and within budgets. Review external legal preferred supplier arrangements.
• Manage stakeholders' expectations so that deliverables and key dates are understood and met

About you

You are a strong leader and a skilled communicator, who can coach, direct, and guide your team to achieve the best outcomes.  Skills and experience you bring to the role.

• Law degree qualified, admitted as a Barrister and Solicitor and holding a current practising certificate. Minimum of 15 years' experience required.
• Substantive inhouse experience managing inhouse legal teams in similar sized ASX listed organisations
• Knowledge of best practice inhouse legal practices and experience driving and implementing change
• Legal experience in the wealth or financial services industries required. Managed investment, IDPS and/or superannuation experience highly preferred.
• Ability to drive strategic change while managing individual matters
• Outstanding written and verbal communication skills including the preparation of legal advice and other documents as required and highly developed negotiation skills
• Excellent time management, communication, presentation and stakeholder management skills.
• Ability to work independently and collaboratively in a fast paced and dynamic environment.

Life At Netwealth

At Netwealth, people are our core strength, and we invest in our employees no matter what stage of life they are in.  When you're at your best, we're at our best!

We prioritise the growth of our employees, and you'll be able to learn and develop yourself and your career at Netwealth.  We provide access to further education and diverse training opportunities, and we actively support internal mobility.  32% of our jobs filled in 2023 were from internal candidates.

We have a flexible and adaptable hybrid working policy with the expectation you'll spend 4 days a fortnight coming into our state-of-the-art office.  We're located in the heart of Melbourne's CBD and have all the bells and whistles you would expect - including modern end of trip facilities for your commute to work, and breakfast provided daily.

We have a number of benefits that have been designed with a focus on health and well-being, support and growth.  Some of these include:

• Family-friendly workplace, with parental leave and a kid's holiday programme
• Wellness and lifestyle perks including discounted gym memberships, income protection, flu shots, wellness weeks, shopping and retail discounts, access to financial wellbeing services
• We're a social bunch and love to get together regularly, participating in corporate sporting events, games and trivia nights
• Employee Resource Groups - LGBTQIA, Women of Netwealth, Culture Group, Carers Group
• Support for community involvement through volunteering and our Netwealth Impact Group

Apply now!

Here at Netwealth, we support and encourage everyone to bring their genuine selves to work (it’s one of our core values), and we’re proud of our inclusive and diverse workforce.  We are committed to this through our gender equality, disability, LGBTQIA+, well-being and cultural initiatives.  We are proud to be endorsed and certified by Work180, Family Friendly Workplaces and Great Place to Work.

Are you curious about this opportunity but don't meet every single requirement? Research shows that we don't always apply to jobs we are interested in unless we meet every single qualification. If you are excited about this role but don't tick every box, we encourage you to apply anyway!  If you require any reasonable adjustments throughout the recruitment process, please let us know by emailing ******@netwealth.com.au

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