Senior Legal Counsel, Governance & Company Secretarial
Wise · Brussels, Belgium
Wise is a global technology company, building the best way to move and manage the world’s money.
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As part of our team, you will be helping us create an entirely new network for the world's money.
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Job description
You will serve as the principal governance advisor and strategic partner to the Boards, local management and executive committees of Wise’s Belgian and Dutch entities and their branches, which operate under the supervision of the National Bank of Belgium (NBB) and the De Nederlandsche Bank (DNB) respectively. You will help ensure our corporate governance and operational resilience continue to meet the highest standards of governance discipline.
In this high-impact role, you will be responsible for sustaining and enhancing our subsidiary governance framework, supporting operational resilience, and navigating complex regulatory environments. You will act as the key liaison between local management and subsidiary Boards and the Group, ensuring that governance is not just a process, but a strategic enabler of our global scale-up.
You will advise the subsidiary Boards and executive committees directly and operate with a high degree of autonomy and mandate across multiple regulated entities and two regulators.
What you’ll do: Provide a full governance and company secretarial service to the relevant Wise entities. This includes:
- Regulatory and legal advisory: Act as trusted legal advisor to the Boards and local management on regulations affecting Wise’s European entities - including NBB and DNB supervisory expectations, and fit-and-proper and governance requirements. Advise on regulatory authorisations, variations and notifications, support supervisory engagement and regulatory correspondence, and translate EU and Belgian/Dutch regulatory change into practical board-level action. Provide independent legal judgment on the regulatory dimensions of new products, licences and group restructurings.
- Corporate governance ownership: Act as the primary governance advisor for multiple complex and regulated subsidiaries. Lead the end-to-end lifecycle of board and executive committee management, including agenda setting, driving high quality reporting and meeting minutes, tracking actions and maintaining statutory records.
- Entity governance and regulatory compliance: Managing the annual board calendars to secure timely approvals, renewals, compliance attestations, statutory filings, and mandatory regulatory evaluations. Monitor changes in the legislative and regulatory landscape, advising the Board and senior management on the impact of new requirements and best practices.
- Stakeholder management: build and maintain strong, credible working relationships with internal and external stakeholders, including executives, non-executive directors and external service providers. Influence and constructively challenge senior decision-makers - including demanding and strongly-held personalities - presenting complex governance issues clearly and steering them towards pragmatic solutions that balance growth objectives with regulatory expectations.
- Governance maturity: Drive the maturity of our subsidiary governance as we expand through continuous process improvement and enhancing governance frameworks that adapt to a rapidly growing, global subsidiary group.
- Belgian or Dutch-qualified lawyer with at least 7 years’ post-qualification experience or Corporate Secretary equivalent with comparable legal and governance experience
- Knowledge of either Belgian company law (including the Companies and Associations Code) and/or Dutch company law (including Book 2 of the Dutch Civil Code), as well as the relevant corporate governance codes.
- Experience advising regulated financial-services entities on regulatory matters, whether in-house or in private practice.
- Demonstrated ability to navigate complex regulatory frameworks.
- Proven ability to influence, and constructively challenge, senior stakeholders, building credibility quickly at the most senior levels, advising the business on key risks and developing solutions.
- Strong command of regulatory concepts and supervisory expectations, with the judgement to anticipate what regulators such as the DNB and NBB will expect and to translate those imperatives into practical governance action.
- Ability to operate autonomously in fast-paced environments, managing multiple high-priority workstreams without sacrificing precision or quality.
- Experience providing governance services for a subsidiary entity within a multinational group.
- Fluent in English and either French or Dutch, with the other language as a strong advantage.
Allowances and vouchers
- Meal vouchers (Edenred): €8.00 per working day. The employer pays €6.91 and the employee pays €1.09.
- Eco-cheques: €250 a year, pro-rated and paid in June, for buying ecological products and services.
- Sports and culture cheques: €100 a year for sports clubs, cultural events, books and tickets.
- Home office and communications allowance: €159.48 net per month to support hybrid or remote work.
- Representation allowance: €50 net per month.
- Phone bill reimbursement: Up to €40 per month, claimed through WebExpenses.
Commuting and mobility
- Public transport allowance: €34 per month for commuting within Brussels.
- Train subscription: A half-time train card for employees who commute from outside Brussels.
- Bicycle allowance: €0.10 per kilometre cycled to work.
- Company car scheme: Eligible employees can join a car benefit programme run through the Ayvens platform.
For everyone, everywhere. We're people building money without borders — without judgement or prejudice, too. We believe teams are strongest when they are diverse, equitable and inclusive.
We're proud to have a truly international team, and we celebrate our differences.
Inclusive teams help us live our values and make sure every Wiser feels respected, empowered to contribute towards our mission and able to progress in their careers.
If you want to find out more about what it's like to work at Wise visit Wise.Jobs.
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