PalmPay is one of Africa’s fastest-growing fintech champions, building a robust digital ecosystem that provides millions of customers with unmatched choice, value, and security in financial services. By creating unique experiences for consumers and offering unparalleled scale to its partners, PalmPay is reshaping the future of digital finance across the continent.
To support this rapid expansion and safeguard its operations, PalmPay is seeking a highly skilled, commercially minded, and resilient Senior Legal Manager – Financial Litigation & Regulatory Disputes. This is a high-impact leadership role designed for an exceptional legal professional who thrives in fast-paced environments and possesses a deep understanding of banking, digital payments, and regulatory landscapes.
Role Purpose
As the Senior Legal Manager for Financial Litigation & Regulatory Disputes, you will lead PalmPay’s entire litigation, regulatory investigation, and complex dispute portfolio across Africa. You will be responsible for defining litigation strategy, managing high-value asset recoveries, responding to regulatory inquiries, overseeing external counsel, and providing sound counsel to executive leadership. This role requires an experienced financial litigation lawyer who can independently navigate complex legal challenges while protecting the company’s commercial and reputational interests.
Key Responsibilities
Your day-to-day responsibilities will cover critical areas of litigation management, regulatory engagement, and legal advisory, including:
- Strategic Litigation Management: Develop and execute litigation strategies from pre-action assessment through to trial, judgment, appeal, settlement, and enforcement.
- Financial Crime & Dispute Resolution: Lead disputes related to banking operations, fintech, commerce, and complex financial crimes, including unauthorized transactions, fraud, chargebacks, and asset recovery.
- Court Orders & Injunctions: Oversee prompt and precise responses to injunctions, garnishee orders, subpoenas, freezing orders, and preservation orders. Review and challenge defective or legally flawed court orders where necessary.
- Regulatory & Agency Engagement: Represent PalmPay before key regulatory bodies and law enforcement agencies, including the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), EFCC, NFIU, FCCPC, and others.
- Internal Investigations: Direct internal investigations concerning fraud, Anti-Money Laundering (AML), sanctions, and financial crimes, ensuring regulatory compliance at all stages.
- External Counsel & Budget Management: Manage external law firms across multiple jurisdictions, aligning on legal strategy, overseeing litigation budgets, and evaluating performance.
- Executive Advisory: Provide timely, strategic legal risk advice, crisis management support, and counsel on sensitive matters to executive management.
- Governance & Continuous Improvement: Establish standard litigation governance, reporting mechanisms, Key Performance Indicators (KPIs), and process improvements.
Key Performance Indicators (KPIs)
Success in this role will be measured by your ability to deliver results across these core parameters:
- Overall litigation success rate.
- Total value of financial recovery from disputes and fraud.
- Timeliness of responses to regulatory inquiries and compliance with court orders.
- Measurable reduction in the company’s litigation exposure and risk.
- Performance and cost-effectiveness of external counsel.
- Successful management of the legal litigation budget.
Required Qualifications & Experience
To be considered for this senior leadership role, candidates must possess:
- Education: An LL.B degree and admission to practice law in Nigeria (Call to Bar). An LL.M or relevant postgraduate degree is highly preferred.
- Experience: A minimum of 10 years of post-qualification experience (PQE), with at least 5 years leading litigation teams or portfolios for commercial banks, fintechs, or highly regulated financial institutions.
- Dispute Expertise: Extensive experience in commercial litigation, banking litigation, asset tracing, and civil recovery, including drafting high-quality pleadings, affidavits, and legal submissions.
- High-Value Track Record: Demonstrated experience managing high-value disputes (ideally valued at NGN 1 Billion and above) and managing external legal networks across jurisdictions.
- Core Skills: Exceptional courtroom strategy, negotiation, advocacy, and decision-making capabilities under pressure.
Preferred Experience
Candidates with exposure to the following areas will have a distinct advantage:
- Cross-border litigation and international arbitration.
- White-collar crime defense and regulatory investigation management.
- Digital payments, mobile money, and evolving fintech regulations in Africa.
Leadership Competencies
PalmPay is looking for a leader who demonstrates:
- Strategic Thinking: The ability to align legal outcomes with long-term business goals.
- Commercial Judgment: Balances legal risks against commercial opportunities effectively.
- Crisis Management: Remains calm, analytical, and decisive during high-stakes situations.
- Executive Communication: Translates complex legal issues into clear, actionable advice for C-suite executives.
What PalmPay Offers
- Regional Influence: Leadership exposure across PalmPay’s growing African markets.
- Functional Ownership: The opportunity to build and shape a world-class litigation function from the ground up.
- Competitive Compensation: Highly attractive salary, benefits, and performance-based incentives.
- Career Growth: Clear pathways for rapid career progression to Director/Head of Litigation.
Method of Application
Interested and qualified? Go to PalmPay on palmpaylimited.applytojob.com to apply
