Counsel

Our Purpose

We work to connect and power an inclusive, digital economy that benefits everyone, everywhere by making transactions safe, simple, smart and accessible. Using secure data and networks, partnerships and passion, our innovations and solutions help individuals, financial institutions, governments and businesses realize their greatest potential. Our decency quotient, or DQ, drives our culture and everything we do inside and outside of our company. We cultivate a

culture of inclusion

for all employees that respects their individual strengths, views, and experiences. We believe that our differences enable us to be a better team - one that makes better decisions, drives innovation and delivers better business results.

Job Title

Counsel

The appointed person will be a vital part of the Europe regional legal team. The team oversees the general legal and regulatory needs of the Europe region which covers 44 countries.

The appointed person will be the primary legal business partner and will be responsible for all legal aspects of a cluster of countries in Europe, where needed in co-operation with other legal department members. The appointed person will be expected to make a significant contribution to the successful management and growth of the business. The position is based in Waterloo (Belgium).

Job responsibilities
- Generally responsible for all legal support related to a cluster of countries, including both the personal delivery of work, and the co-ordination of input from other legal department members as required.
- In charge of some functional responsibilities for the Europe Region.
- Legal work includes drafting, review and negotiation of commercial contracts with clients, suppliers and partners and general advice and assistance on commercial, marketing and (new) technologies matters.
- Assist the sales teams in managing and mitigating legal and commercial risks.
- Manage external legal counsels in the assigned countries.
- Monitor legislative and regulatory developments in the assigned countries.
- Support the business in its commercial and strategic role.
- Work together with and assist other departments as required, both on a local/regional and a global level such as but not limited to Finance, the Franchise Department, Risk Management as well as their assigned functional in-house counsels.
- Conduct local training/monitoring of global Law Department policies such as contract policy training.
- Contribute to various law department initiatives, including initiatives to support Mastercard’s and the law department’s digital strategy.
- Work together with the other members of the Law Department both in Europe and the rest of the world in view of delivering an outstanding service to the business in a spirit of an integrated and streamlined approach which fits both into the local/regional and global strategy.

Selection criteria:
Essential Knowledge/Experience/Attributes
- Qualified to practice in law in one or more Belgian/European jurisdictions.
- Relevant post-qualification experience in general commercial legal matters in a reputable law firm and/or as in-house lawyer, preferably in the financial services, banking or technology sector; Experience in providing legal support to US organizations and experience in corporate law, IT law considered an asset.
- Fluent in English (both orally as in writing); any additional European languages will be considered an asset.
- Must be able to contribute and operate effectively within a diverse multicultural organization.
- Thorough, meticulous and attention to detail but nevertheless able to prioritize, focus on the important rather than just urgent matters and get the job done.
- Good commercial judgment and creative approach to problem-solving.
- Flexible and capable of working efficiently in a fast evolving environment.
- Enjoy working in a team and enjoy sharing knowledge, but able to work independently and take on responsibilities.

COVID-19 Considerations

Corporate Security Responsibility

All activities involving access to Mastercard assets, information, and networks comes with an inherent risk to the organization and, therefore, it is expected that every person working for, or on behalf of, Mastercard is responsible for information security and must:

- Abide by Mastercard’s security policies and practices;
- Ensure the confidentiality and integrity of the information being accessed;
- Report any suspected information security violation or breach, and
- Complete all periodic mandatory security trainings in accordance with Mastercard’s guidelines.