Head of Legal & Compliance

Synectics Solutions

  • Stoke-on-Trent
  • Permanent
  • Full-time
  • 1 hour ago
Synectics are a leading force in the provision of innovative data driven business solutions. For more than 30 years we have specialised in building complex data management and software products for well-known companies around the world.We are seeking a highly capable and commercially focused Head of Legal & Compliance to join our leadership team. This role will serve as the primary legal advisor on all commercial, corporate, compliance, and transactional matters while playing a pivotal role in scaling our legal infrastructure and supporting our growth strategy.The successful candidate will combine strong legal acumen with operational rigour, demonstrating proven ability to build structured, scalable contract management systems and lead compliance functions in a high-growth, PE-backed environment.This role would also be suitable for someone wishing to step up into their first General Counsel position.Key Responsibilities
  • Act as trusted legal advisor to the CEO, executive leadership, and cross-functional teams.
  • Lead all legal, corporate governance, and regulatory matters, ensuring robust support for commercial operations.
  • Build and manage a scalable contract management system (CMS), including version control, approval workflows, contract lifecycle management, and post-signature monitoring.
  • Ensure all client contracts fully address legal, insurance, SLA, cybersecurity, data privacy, and disaster recovery requirements.
  • Develop and enforce policies that enable structured, consistent contract management across the organisation.
  • Draft, review, and negotiate a wide range of complex commercial contracts, including enterprise SaaS agreements, MSAs, NDAs, DPAs, SLAs, and partner agreements.
  • Embed legal review workflows to support a scaling sales environment, ensuring alignment with contract governance protocols.
  • Oversee compliance obligations, ensuring proactive management of regulatory requirements and PE reporting frameworks.
  • Lead the development and operational management of the compliance function, embedding a proactive compliance culture and effective internal controls.
  • As a manager of the team, the successful candidate would be expected to adopt a hybrid working approach, combining office-based and remote working.
  • Manage corporate insurance arrangements, including professional indemnity, cyber, and commercial liability coverage, ensuring alignment with contractual risk profiles.
  • Collaborate with InfoSec, Product, and Security teams to ensure contractual, privacy, and disaster recovery provisions are operationally embedded.
  • Handle disputes, claims, and litigation, engaging and managing external counsel as needed.
  • Develop and lead the in-house legal team, building scalable processes while remaining hands-on.
  • Provide legal training and guidance to commercial, sales, and operational teams.
Key Requirements
  • 5+ years PQE, with a blend of law firm and in-house roles in B2B SaaS or technology companies.
  • Demonstrated experience building and managing contract management systems and scalable legal frameworks.
  • Proven expertise in customer contracts, including legal, insurance, SLA, cyber, security, and disaster recovery provisions.
  • Management experience of a compliance team is preferred, but not essential.
  • Experience managing corporate insurance portfolios to support business and contractual needs.
  • Significant experience working in PE-backed organisations with direct exposure to investor reporting and governance structures.
  • Deep understanding of SaaS licensing models, privacy laws (GDPR, CCPA), and commercial contracting.
  • Hands-on leadership style with a proven ability to build, lead, and develop in-house legal and compliance teams.
  • Excellent communication, negotiation, and stakeholder management skills.
  • Willingness to adopt a hybrid working approach, with regular office presence required to build relationships, drive collaboration, and lead operational delivery.
  • This role would also be suitable for someone wishing to step up into their first Head of Legal & Compliance position.
What You’ll Get
  • The autonomy to structure your day and own your responsibilities.
  • A culture that supports collaboration, continuous improvement, and individual growth.
  • A range of benefits designed to support you in and outside of work.
We create bespoke solutions that enable private and public sector organisations to truly understand their customers, manage risk and prevent fraud. And we do it well – to date we’ve helped to save over £5 billion.From opportunistic to organised, fraud affects everyone. We as consumers pay the price of fraud in every financial or insurance product that we take out. The use of our products helps our clients avoid risk, which in turn benefits us as consumers. We’re not just an IT business, our products have real world impact.Join us and shape the future.

Synectics Solutions