Legal Counsel

Valiant Finance (Valiant) is a Sydney-based fintech that has built a world-class technology platform to unlock business finance. Our mission is to connect businesses to the right finance at the right time. Our proprietary technology automates loan origination, orchestrates data and creates a beautiful digital borrowing journey.

Our technology is delivered via two major platforms: [1] our commercial broker platform has unlocked AUD 3bn of funding for Australian businesses from over 100 different lenders; and [2] our enterprise platform powers embedded finance at point-of-sale for global equipment vendors in Australia, the US and the UK. We are a high-growth founder-led business, backed by world class investors including Salesforce Ventures, Westpac’s Reinventure, ANZ, MA Financial and Carthona Capital.

THIS OPPORTUNITY

We are hiring a ‘full stack’ Legal Counsel (LC). The LC will be the lawyer at the centre of Valiant’s day-to-day, contributing to every element of the legal function – enterprise deals, lender panel relationships, regulatory posture, privacy, people matters and corporate housekeeping. The LC will operate on the legal front line and flank the CFO & General Counsel on strategic growth initiatives.

This is not a job reviewing contracts from a quiet corner. The LC will be a prominent adviser in major areas of the business, sitting inside deal teams as Valiant negotiates platform agreements with some of the largest technology OEMs, banks and equipment financiers in the world, across Australia, North America and the UK / Europe, etc. This LC role is AI-forward and will be fully equipped (and encouraged) to deploy AI every day to build legal machinery and carve a path through legal dross. We currently use Claude CoWork but are ultimately agnostic on the highest-performing models and other legal software comprising the LegalOps tech stack.

The LC will demonstrate strong technical foundations in commercial law, high attention to detail, sharp plain-English drafting and an ownership mindset over Valiant’s legal position. Beyond raw technicals, the LC will also represent Legal day-to-day as a commercial partner for the business: advice that lands as here’s what to do next rather than a long-form memo, risk framed in dollars and deal momentum, and an instinct for the fastest risk-adjusted path to ‘yes’.

The LC will enjoy playing centre midfield a broad mandate to get sh1t done in a fast-paced environment. They will bring structured commercial logic to messy situations by building precedents, playbooks and processes. In these situations, the LC will also show themselves to be scrappy and tenacious. Valiant is a scale-up and the LC will have no problem attacking problems with limited resources, and adapting quickly if (when) things don’t go as planned.

The LC will join a lean, high-performance function which prides itself on cut-through and perspicacity. Reporting into the CFO & General Counsel, the LC will AI agents and external counsel day-to-day as required. Over time, a high-performing LC will be well-positioned and considered for ascension to Senior Legal Counsel over next 2+ years and potentially Head of Legal as the business grows. The LC will have a front-row legal seat to growth, as we scale Valiant to $100m+ revenue across three continents.

WHAT YOU’LL DO

Commercial Contracting & Enterprise Deals

• Own the day-to-day flow of funding partner agreements (including commission, volume-incentive and trail structures), referral partner Platform Services Agreements and general commercial / vendor contracts
• Sit inside the Enterprise sales motion through 6–12 month deal cycles with major counterparties (OEMs, banks, captive financiers, resellers), from termsheet through signature, implementation and renewal
• Draft, negotiate and manage Valiant’s enterprise agreements end-to-end – master platform and framework agreements with global OEMs and funding partners, plus the short-form program and country schedules that ‘clip in’ beneath them
• Build and relentlessly improve Valiant’s precedent bank and negotiation playbooks, so that standard deals become fast, consistent and (eventually) self-serve for the business

Regulatory, Privacy & Compliance

• Act as the internal expert on the regulatory perimeter for commercial finance broking and embedded finance in Australia, and coordinate specialist external counsel across US and UK / European requirements
• Own Valiant’s privacy and data protection program across all geographies (Privacy Act / APPs, GDPR, US state regimes), including consents, notices, data-sharing arrangements and biometric / KYC data flows
• Support in-platform compliance guardrails and funding partners
• Review marketing, promotions and customer-facing collateral before release

Corporate, Governance & Transactions

• Run company secretarial matters with meticulous accuracy: board papers, minutes, resolutions, registers, regulatory filings and multi-entity administration across AU, US and UK
• Support new market entries: entity establishment, local counsel selection and localisation of platform terms

Legal Operations & AI Evolution

• Operate, manage and control the legal systems stack day-to-day (contract lifecycle, e-signature, entity management, matter tracking)
• Ruthlessly scope, brief and manage external counsel – pulling work in-house wherever quality allows, and unapologetically driving to the best possible fees and terms when it doesn’t
• Support the research, selection and integration of new legal tools and software, including experimentation and gradual adoption of artificial intelligence (AI) solutions with appropriate judgment and auditability

Leadership & Business Partnering

• ‘Hold the line’ on legal risk appetite – protecting Valiant’s commercial position while finding the fastest risk-adjusted path to ‘yes’
• Educate and train the business (Sales, Product, Technology, Finance, People & Talent) so teams can move quickly within clear guardrails
• Establish strong legal operating rhythms, deal calendars, reporting and escalation pathways into the CFO & General Counsel

Disputes, Employment & Everything Else

• Take first-line carriage of complaints, disputes and insurance matters – arriving with recommendations, not just problems
• Provide practical support on employment and contractor matters across onshore and offshore teams
• Protect and manage Valiant’s IP and trademark portfolio as the brand expands internationally

WHAT YOU’LL BRING

• You’ve already earned your stripes as a high-performer inside a reputable law firm: minimum 4+ years PQE in a corporate / commercial, banking & finance or technology practice, holding an Australian practising certificate. Now you’re ready to break-out from private practice and go deep on one business’s multi-year growth, rather than constantly cycling through matters and timesheets.
• You draft with precision and negotiate with spine. The other side knows they won’t get much past you and they respect you even if they don’t like you. You’re comfortable holding your ground against counterparties many times Valiant’s size – and equally comfortable knowing which points aren’t worth the fight.
• You’re an organised person with your own personal productivity preferences, hacks and systems. You are personally invested in the work you deliver, and you like to make sure you’ve ‘covered all your bases’ – frankly, it bugs you when someone else makes silly mistakes or fails to take obvious next steps.
• You’re totally happy to roll up your sleeves and be in-the-detail day-to-day – jumping into customer transaction histories, turning mark-ups, chasing for execution, keeping registers immaculate – provided you also have exposure to strategic thinking. You intend to quickly prove that you can ‘own’ things and be trusted to make business-affecting decisions.
• You can debate black-letter law but you’re not a legal robot. You can translate ‘legal’ into plain language for any audience, you enjoy working with other people and tend to build authentic friendships and networks with colleagues over time.

LIFE AT VALIANT

• Pup-friendly, open-plan HQ in the heart of Surry Hills, steps from Sydney’s best cafes and restaurants
• Hybrid working model — balance buzzing office days with focused work-from-home time
• Monthly social catch-ups and big quarterly events to connect with the team and have some fun
• On-the-job training, internal learning sessions and paid tertiary education options to grow your career
• Employee Assistance Program (EAP) providing confidential support services
• Employee benefits program with exclusive perks across a wide range of brands
• A front-row seat to fintech growth as we scale toward $100m+ revenue

READY TO JOIN US?

Apply via the link below or send your resume and portfolio to jobs@valiant.finance.