Job Description

About Us

At ANZ, we're shaping a world where people and communities thrive, driven by a common goal: to improve the financial wellbeing and sustainability of our millions of customers.

About the Role

The Head of Legal, Vietnam is a strategic leader responsible for ensuring legal risk management and robust governance across ANZ Vietnam. You will support the Board, senior management and business units by identifying and managing legal and regulatory risks, supporting sustainable business growth and customer outcomes, overseeing corporate governance and external counsel, and developing a high-performing legal team that works collaboratively across Vietnam and the broader International Legal network.

You are a member of the ANZ Vietnam Executive Committee. You will play an integral part to ANZ Vietnam, supporting its strategic agenda, providing legal and structuring advice on transactional and product-related matters, and ensuring alignment with both local and cross-border legal frameworks, in line with ANZ’s commitment to sound governance and risk management.

Banking is changing and we’re changing with it, giving our people great opportunities to try new things, learn and grow. Whatever your role at ANZ, you’ll be building your future, while helping to build ours.

Role Location: ANZ Branch, Ho Chi Minh City Vietnam

Role Type: Permanent, Full-time

What will your day look like?

As Head of Legal, Vietnam, you are accountable for:

Legal and regulatory risk

• Lead the identification, assessment and management of legal and regulatory risks affecting ANZ Vietnam’s business, protecting the Bank from financial, legal and reputational exposure.
• Provide timely, strategic and commercially practical legal advice to senior management and business stakeholders on complex transactions, regulatory matters, customer issues and strategic initiatives.
• Anticipate changes in Vietnamese laws, regulations and regulatory expectations; assess their potential impact on ANZ; and support the business in implementing appropriate responses.
• Partner with Risk, Compliance and other control functions to maintain a consistent and effective approach to legal, conduct and non-financial risk management.
• Support regulatory engagement and ensure significant legal issues are appropriately escalated, documented and managed in accordance with ANZ policies and governance requirements.

Strategic business partnership and customer outcomes

• Act as a trusted legal adviser to the Vietnam leadership team, providing solutions-focused advice that supports ANZ’s strategy, commercial objectives and risk appetite.
• Develop a strong understanding of ANZ’s customers, products, business priorities, financial performance and operating environment to deliver practical advice in the relevant commercial context.
• Support business initiatives and customer relationships that contribute to sustainable returns, cost efficiency and effective capital management.
• Enable positive customer outcomes by improving the clarity, consistency and usability of legal documentation and processes.
• Support the simplification, standardisation, automation and digital execution of contracts and customer documents, while ensuring legal and regulatory requirements continue to be met.

Legal operations, governance and external counsel

• Oversee the delivery of high-quality, timely and cost-effective legal services across the Vietnam business.
• Support corporate governance requirements for ANZ Vietnam including Board meetings, secretarial and governance obligations including reporting, shareholder meetings, Board committees and board-related matters as required.
• Ensure legal policies, processes, controls, records and knowledge-management practices are maintained, followed and continuously improved.
• Manage external counsel appointments and performance to ensure appropriate expertise, service quality, cost discipline and value for money.
• Maintain effective oversight of legal expenditure, material matters and external legal engagements.
• Promote effective knowledge sharing, training and legal awareness across the business.
• Participate in relevant industry groups and consultations to represent ANZ’s interests and contribute constructively to legal and regulatory developments.

Stakeholder management and collaboration

• Build trusted relationships with senior business leaders, regulators, external counsel and key internal stakeholders.
• Work collaboratively with Institutional Legal, International Legal, product legal teams, Risk, Compliance and offshore support teams to deliver coordinated, enterprise-wide outcomes.
• Connect the Vietnam business with relevant legal subject-matter experts and ensure advice is aligned across products, jurisdictions and functions.
• Communicate complex legal issues clearly and concisely, enabling stakeholders to make timely and informed decisions.
• Promote an “ANZ first” approach by balancing local business requirements with broader enterprise priorities and standards.

People leadership

• Lead, coach and develop the Vietnam Legal team, setting clear expectations and building the capabilities required to support current and future business needs.
• Foster an inclusive, engaged and high-performing team culture based on accountability, collaboration, continuous learning and constructive feedback.
• Ensure team members have appropriate development plans, training, support and opportunities to build their legal, commercial and leadership capabilities.
• Manage performance, workload, succession planning and resource priorities to maintain effective legal coverage and service continuity.
• Model ANZ’s values and promote a strong culture of ethical decision-making, risk awareness and professional excellence.

What will you bring?

To grow and be successful in this role, you will ideally bring the following:

• Bachelor of Laws or an equivalent recognised law degree.
• Current eligibility to practise law in Vietnam, including an appropriate lawyer practising certificate and bar membership where required for the role.
• Extensive years of relevant post-qualification legal experience gained within a major bank, financial institution and/or leading law firm.
• Substantial experience advising on banking and finance, capital markets, corporate, commercial and regulatory matters relevant to a financial institution operating in Vietnam.
• Strong knowledge of Vietnam’s legal and regulatory environment, including the laws, regulatory requirements and market practices affecting banking and financial services.
• Demonstrated experience providing strategic, commercially focused legal advice to senior executives and business stakeholders.
• Proven ability to identify, assess, communicate and manage complex legal and regulatory risks.
• Experience drafting, reviewing and negotiating significant commercial, financing and customer documentation.
• Experience managing external counsel, legal expenditure and complex or material legal matters.
• Strong stakeholder-management, influencing, negotiation and communication skills, with the ability to explain complex legal matters clearly.
• Cross-border financing, trade, payments, markets, regulatory, governance and non-financial risk experience.
• Experience engaging Vietnamese regulators, industry bodies and senior external stakeholders.
• Experience driving legal process simplification, operations, automation or technology-enabled improvements.
• Proven ability to work across cultures, functions and time zones in a complex matrix environment.
• Demonstrated people leadership experience, including coaching, developing and managing legal professionals.
• Professional fluency in Vietnamese and English, with the ability to provide clear written and verbal advice in both languages.

You’re not expected to have 100% of these skills. At ANZ a growth mindset is at the heart of our culture, so if you have most of these things in your toolbox, we’d love to hear from you.

So why join us?

From the moment you join ANZ, you'll be doing meaningful work that will shape a world where people and communities thrive.

But it's not just our customers who'll feel your impact. you'll feel it too. Because at ANZ, you'll have the resources, opportunities, and support you need to take the next big step in your career.

We're a diverse bunch at ANZ in different roles, different locations, doing different things. That's why we have a range of flexible working arrangements, so our people can 'make work, work for them'. We also provide a range of benefits including access to health and wellbeing services and discounts on selected products and services from ANZ and more.

At ANZ, you'll be part of an organisation where the different backgrounds, perspectives and life experiences of our people are celebrated. That's because we're committed to building a workplace that reflects the diversity of the communities we serve. We welcome applications from everyone and encourage you to talk to us about any adjustments you may require to our recruitment process or the role itself. If you are a candidate with a disability or access requirement, let us know how we can provide you with additional support.

To find out more about working at ANZ, visit https://www.anz.com.au/careers. You can apply for this role by visiting ANZ Careers and searching for reference number 124012.

Job Posting End Date

, 11.59pm, (Melbourne Australia)