Senior Lead Counsel - Product - Senior Vice President

Role Overview

The role is dedicated to the Rates and Markets Treasury businesses globally with focus in the UK, Europe, Middle East and Africa country clusters, covering all desks within the Rates and Markets Treasury businesses but primarily focussed on the Corporate Solutions Group, the Limited Recourse Trading Desk, the Rates cash businesses (including primary dealership) and part of the Rates & Currencies Structuring Group.

This is a role requiring a broad range of legal skills, ranging from an understanding of finance-linked hedging to the ability to structure complex, bespoke trades, both in an interest-bearing and Sharia-compliant context, to being able to work on financing products in both derivative and cash format. It will also require a working knowledge of ISDA definitional booklets, particularly the Rates and Credit Definitions, and the ability to work with both the desks and seniors within Legal on the strategic aspects of supporting the relevant businesses.

The successful candidate will be expected to cover a wide range of transactions and advice, primarily but not exclusively linked to the desks mentioned above, including:

• Finance-linked hedging and securitisation / warehouse hedging, including negotiating the wider transaction documents from a hedging perspective, overseeing the negotiation by the Belfast team of certain points in the derivative documentation and discussing relevant aspects with Risk and other functions.
• Bespoke financing structures, including Islamic financing, derivatives-based financing, collateralisation structures, financial guarantees and risk participation transactions.
• Technical elements of derivative documentation, including close-out provisions, optional and mandatory termination provisions and cash settlement calculations.
• Non-linear derivatives, particularly swaptions.
• Knowledge of the 2006 Definitions and 2021 ISDA Definitions and 2003 and 2014 ISDA Credit Definitions.
• General advice on disputes and queries arising from OTC transactions.
• General advice on cash trading including primary dealer activities.
• Training and supporting more junior lawyers in the team on the above.

This is an excellent opportunity for a lawyer experienced in, and keen to expand their knowledge of, a wide variety of products across both derivatives and cash. The successful candidate could either come from any of a general financing, SFT, or derivative background, but must be able and willing to cover all three areas. Ultimately they will be expected to demonstrate and be willing to develop their experience and understanding of complex financing structures (including derivatives, SFTs and note issuance), other complex structures such as Islamic financing, and derivatives products used by the Rates business across both the linear and non-linear derivatives spectrum.

Ultimately the successful candidate will be expected to be a subject matter expert for the Rates cash and derivatives businesses, monitoring complex issues that arise and escalating where necessary to work with Legal seniors to drive solutions and efficiency.

Preference for a candidate with:

• Significant post-qualification experience, ideally with some experience of working in-house.
• A strong, broad understanding of secured hedging structures (e.g. finance-linked hedging and securitisation / warehouse hedging).
• A good understanding of financial products and how they work and interact (e.g. bonds, trade financing, loans, derivatives, SFTs).
• Derivatives experience within any product group is essential, with knowledge of the 2006 and 2021 ISDA Definitions strongly preferred.
• Experience of structuring and/or managing complex transactions is preferred but not mandatory.
• Ability to work independently and efficiently.
• Ability to work under pressure.
• Excellent organisation skills.
• Good diplomatic skills and ability to interact with personnel with different working cultures / levels / background.
• Good written and oral communication skills.
• Ability to present complex issues simply to senior management.
• Fluent in English (written and oral).
• Interest in technology.
• Intellectual curiosity to learn about new products and new legal structures.

We work hard to have a positive financial and social impact on the communities we serve. In turn, we put our employees first and provide the best-in‑class benefits they need to be well, live well and save well.

By joining Citi London, you will not only be part of a business casual workplace with a hybrid working model (up to 2 days working at home per week), but also receive a competitive base salary (which is annually reviewed), and enjoy a whole host of additional benefits such as:

• Generous holiday allowance starting at 27 days plus bank holidays; increasing with tenure
• A discretional annual performance related bonus
• Private medical insurance packages to suit your personal circumstance
• Employee Assistance Program Pension Plan
• Paid Parental Leave
• Special…