Job Description

It’s never been a more exciting time to join Vistra. 

At Vistra our purpose is progress. We believe that our clients have the power to change the world and to do great things for global progress, and we exist to remove the friction that comes from the complexity of global business – to help our clients achieve progress without friction.

But progress only happens when people come together and take action. And we’re absolutely committed to building a culture where our people can do just that. 

We have an exciting opportunity for you to join our team as Senior Legal Counsel In-House Reporting to the Head of Aviation, this full-time, permanent position is based in Ireland and offers local coverage, allowing you to make a significant impact on our Aviation business and its growth.

Purpose of Role

The Senior Legal Counsel In-house (the Legal Counsel) will serve as a key member of the Service Delivery team in Ireland providing strategic and day-to-day legal support across the full breadth of the organization's activities. Reporting to the Head of Aviation / Head of Service Delivery Aviation, the Legal Counsel will act as a trusted advisor to the business on a wide range of corporate, commercial, and transactional matters. The role requires close collaboration with senior management, business teams, compliance, finance, human resources, IT and operational teams as well as with global teams across the organization of Vistra as a whole.

The Legal Counsel will operate with a high degree of autonomy while maintaining alignment with the broader legal strategy and risk appetite of the organization. The role offers significant exposure to complex legal issues arising from the provision of corporate services in a highly regulated environment and lots of opportunities to add value to the organization.

Key Responsibilities

• Lead legal support for aviation, asset-backed securitisation and other structured finance and capital markets transactions, including review and negotiation of management agreements, letters of engagement trust arrangements, security documents and related transaction documentation
• Review, draft and negotiate transaction documentation and completion deliverables, ensuring legal, regulatory and commercial risks are appropriately managed
• Provide practical legal advice to aviation client servicing teams on transaction execution, ongoing administration and interpretation of transaction documents
• Manage relationships with external counsel, transaction parties and key stakeholders involved in aviation and capital markets transactions
• Advise on corporate governance, legal risk, outsourcing arrangements and intra-group agreements.
• Draft, review and maintain legal templates, contractual precedents, policies and governance documentation
• Prepare legal reports, board papers and governance updates for directors and senior management.
• Support insurance matters, director indemnities, claims and risk management processes.
• Provide guidance on data protection, privacy and regulatory developments impacting the business and its clients.
• Monitor legal and regulatory developments affecting the aviation, financial services and corporate services sectors.
• Provide annual Legal training to the service delivery teams on Director duties and Document/Deed execution and other areas, as identified by the service delivery teams.
• Support restructuring projects, corporate transactions and strategic initiatives across Ireland.
• Drive legal operations improvements including adoption of legal technology tools where relevant.

Technical skills

The ideal candidate will possess the following technical competencies and experience:

• Qualified solicitor, with a degree in law, preferably in company law and/or contract law.
• Candidates must have minimum 5 years’ Post Qualification experience , gained at a reputable law firm and/or in an in-house legal role at a corporate services provider, financial institution or similar company.
• Expert knowledge of Irish company and contract law, aviation/structured finance experience preferable
• Strong legal drafting skills in both English, with the ability to prepare clear, precise, and commercially sound legal documentation.

Attributes

We are looking for a candidate who demonstrates the following personal and professional qualities:

• A strong analytical mindset, with the ability to distill complex legal issues into clear, practical legal advice. The candidate is comfortable working independently and taking ownership of matters from inception through to resolution, also if the road to resolution is not clear at the outset.
• A pragmatic and business-oriented approach to legal advice, balancing legal risk with commercial objectives and operational realities.
• The ability to work effectively in a fast-paced environment and cope with competing priorities and stressful situations.
• Strong stakeholder management skills aiming to build and maintain trusted relationships across the organization.
• Deploys his or her interest in standardization, automation, and/or digitization to help the Legal Department move into a new way of working with (and sometimes without) the artificial intelligence tools of Vistra and the Legal Department

If you are excited about working with us, we encourage you to apply or have a confidential chat with one of our Talent Acquisition team members. Our goal is to make this a great place to work where all our people can thrive. We hope you join us on this exciting journey!