Senior Legal Cousel

Payaza is a leading African payments and fintech company enabling businesses and individuals to collect, disburse, and manage money seamlessly across multiple countries. With innovative products such as Payaza Give, Chat & Pay, Collections, Branches, Payment Links, Checkout SDK, Payouts, Sub-Accounts, Multi-Currency Accounts, Settlement Infrastructure, and Payaza MoneyTag, we power the financial journeys of merchants, SMEs, enterprises, creators, nonprofits, and consumers with speed, reliability, and scale. Our vision is to build the backbone of payments across Africa, delivering seamless financial experiences for businesses and individuals alike.

Our Products & Services

• Collections: Accept payments via cards, mobile money, bank transfers, USSD, and Wave.
• Branches: Dedicated virtual accounts for franchise, branch, and multi-location collections.
• Payment Links: Simplified online invoicing and global payment acceptance.
• Checkout SDK: Secure payment integrations for websites, mobile applications, and businesses.
• Payouts: Send funds via bank accounts, mobile money, Wave, or Payaza MoneyTag.
• Sub-Accounts: Flexible accounts tailored to different business and marketplace use cases.
• Multi-Currency Accounts: Seamless account funding, collections, and settlements in multiple currencies.
• Settlement Infrastructure: Reliable, configurable, and multi-country settlement support.

Role Overview

We are seeking an experienced, commercially minded, and highly motivated Senior Legal Counsel to join our Legal team. Reporting to the Head, Legal, you will serve as a trusted legal advisor across the business, providing strategic legal guidance while independently managing complex legal matters and supporting Payaza’s continued expansion across Africa.

The ideal candidate is capable of operating with minimal supervision, balancing legal risk with commercial objectives, managing legal projects end-to-end, and leading junior members of the Legal team. This role requires deep expertise in commercial law, fintech regulations, corporate governance, contract negotiation, and cross-border transactions within a fast-paced technology environment.

Key Responsibilities

• Provide practical, commercially focused legal advice to business leaders and cross-functional teams.
• Draft, review, negotiate, and manage complex commercial agreements, including merchant, partnership, technology, SaaS, vendor, procurement, and enterprise contracts.
• Advise on fintech, payments, banking, data privacy, consumer protection, AML/CFT, and regulatory compliance matters across multiple jurisdictions.
• Support licensing applications, regulatory engagements, and ongoing compliance obligations with financial regulators.
• Identify legal and regulatory risks and develop practical mitigation strategies aligned with business objectives.
• Lead legal support for strategic partnerships, product launches, market expansion, and new commercial initiatives.
• Provide legal guidance on corporate governance matters.
• Manage disputes, pre-litigation matters, law enforcement matters and liaise and coordinate with external counsel for quick resolutions.
• Develop, maintain, and improve legal templates, policies, playbooks, and contract management processes.
• Partner closely with Product, Engineering, Compliance, Risk, Finance, Operations, Sales, and People teams to support business growth.
• Supervise, mentor, and develop Legal Officers and other junior legal team members.
• Review legal work prepared by subordinates to ensure quality, consistency, and compliance with internal standards.
• Monitor emerging legal and regulatory developments across the fintech ecosystem and advise management on potential business impact.
• Perform other legal and strategic responsibilities as assigned by the Head, Legal.

Qualifications

• LL.B (Bachelor of Laws) from a recognized institution.
• Barrister-at-Law (B.L.) and qualified to practice in Nigeria.
• LL.M. or relevant postgraduate qualification is an added advantage.
• Membership of relevant professional bodies is an advantage.

Experience

• 6–10+ years’ post-call legal experience, preferably within fintech, and the financial services sector, technology companies, or a top-tier commercial law firm.
• Proven experience drafting and negotiating high-value commercial agreements.
• Strong knowledge of financial services regulation, payments, fintech, corporate governance, and commercial law.
• Experience supporting cross-border transactions and multi-jurisdictional regulatory matters.
• Previous experience with regulators and law enforcement agencies.
• Demonstrated ability to work independently with minimal supervision while managing multiple priorities.
• Previous experience supervising or mentoring legal professionals is highly desirable.

What We Offer

• Opportunity to shape the future of payments and financial services in Africa.
• A dynamic and innovative work environment with a high-performing team.
• Competitive compensation and performance-based incentives.
• Health benefits, training, and professional development opportunities.
• A culture of ownership, creativity, and growth.