Senior Legal Counsel (Investment Products)

Requirements

• Qualification: at least 3–5 years post-qualification experience (PQE) in the financial services industry. At least one German legal qualification (Erste Juristische Prüfung)
• Capital Markets Depth: Hands‑on understanding of lifecycles across a variety of investment products (stocks, investment funds, bonds, derivatives) at the level of a seasoned practitioner
• Industry Background: Experience in a regulated investment firm, fintech, infrastructure provider, or bank with a brokerage and custody product offering
• Regulatory Expertise: Strong command of EU and German financial law (MiFID, WpIG, WpHG). Exposure to UK (FCA) regulation or other European NCAs is a strong plus
• International Mindset: Familiarity with adapting core legal frameworks to new European markets and regulatory regimes
• Automation Advocate: Enthusiasm for streamlining the legal function through technology whether tooling, AI‑assisted review, or smarter process workflows
• Pragmatic and Direct: You focus on enabling growth through clear‑eyed risk judgement. You cut through complexity and give the business answers it can act on
• Languages: Professional fluency in English and German — essential for regulatory filings and high‑stakes stakeholder management

What the job involves

• As (Senior) Legal Counsel – Investment Products, you are part of the legal infrastructure that powers Upvest's Investment API.
• You bring a granular understanding of the capital markets lifecycle and you use it to build something durable: a scalable, cross‑border legal framework that keeps pace with a fast‑moving product
• Your mission is to enable Upvest's internationalisation by closing the gap between rigid financial regulation and flexible, API‑driven product design.
• Working within a high‑performing legal team, you will help ensure that as Upvest expands across the EEA, UK, and Switzerland, our product remains legally robust, commercially competitive, and technically precise
• Product Architecture & Compliance by Design: Be the legal authority on the lifecycle of financial instruments. Partner directly with Product and Engineering to co‑design features from fractional trading to new asset classes, translating MiFID II/III and WpIG into concrete technical requirements so compliance is built in from the first line of code, not bolted on after.
• Scalable Internationalisation: Own the legal adaptation of Upvest's core German investment offering as we expand into the UK, Switzerland, and the wider EEA. Define jurisdiction‑specific requirements while preserving a coherent, scalable product framework across markets.
• Regulatory Navigation: Serve as the internal expert on EU and German financial regulation. Monitor and interpret regulatory developments across MiFID, WpIG, WpHG, and MaRisk, and translate their implications into actionable guidance for Product, Operations, and Compliance.
• Institutional Contracting: Lead and support the negotiation of complex B2B agreements with institutional counterparties, including credit institutions and global fintechs, across Upvest's offering.
• Legal Ops & Automation: Drive the modernisation of Upvest's legal function. Champion the adoption of contract lifecycle management tools, AI‑assisted review workflows, and scalable processes that free up capacity for high‑value legal work.
• Cross‑functional Partnership: Act as a trusted adviser to Product, Engineering, Operations, and Compliance. Deliver clear, actionable guidance that enables commercial decisions cutting through complexity without creating bottlenecks.