Job Summary

Currentlty to one of our location we are looking for a Head Outside Counsel & Spend Management.

This role could be based in UK and Singapore. When you start the application process you will be presented with a drop down menu showing all countries, Please ensure that you select a country where the role is based.

The role is accountable for the end‑to‑end external legal services model for the Bank, including law firm and ALSP selection, pricing strategy, alternative fee arrangements, competitive tendering, billing governance, conflicts oversight and supplier performance management. The role combines enterprise‑level vendor leadership, commercial and legal judgement, and strong governance discipline, acting as a senior adviser to Legal leadership and partnering closely with Finance, Risk and Operations to optimise value, manage risk and improve outcomes from external legal spend.

Key Responsibilities

Strategy
•    Define, own and lead the Bank’s global strategy for outside counsel and legal supplier management, covering law firms, ALSPs and other legal third parties, ensuring alignment with Legal and Group priorities.
•    Establish, own and continuously evolve a comprehensive external counsel management framework, including performance metrics, scorecards, benchmarking, and formal relationship and performance reviews with key firms.
•    Set and own the global approach to legal pricing, rate strategy and value delivery, including alternative fee arrangements (AFAs), blended rates, and innovative pricing models.
•    Shape and own the long‑term structure of legal panels and supplier networks across regions, balancing capability, geographic coverage, diversity, resilience and cost effectiveness.

Business
•    Lead commercial negotiations with strategic law firms on behalf of the Bank, including rates, fee structures, AFAs and engagement terms, supported by market benchmarking and financial analysis.
•    Oversee the design, governance and execution of competitive tendering and RFP processes for external legal work, ensuring robust scoping, fair evaluation and optimal outcomes for the Bank.
•    Provide senior legal and commercial judgement on the selection and ongoing use of outside counsel for high‑value or strategically important matters, including escalation and challenge where appropriate.
•    Analyse external legal spend data and market trends to identify opportunities for cost reduction, efficiency gains and improved value, presenting clear insights and decision‑oriented recommendations to senior Legal and Finance stakeholders.
•    Sponsor and oversee the Legal Bill Review programme, ensuring compliance with billing guidelines, effective challenge of non-compliant charges, and continuous improvement in billing quality.

Skills and Experience

•    Manage Vendors
•    Legal Function
•    Strategic Sourcing 
•    Data Insight and Analysis
•    Operational Risk (TPRM Governance)
•    Business Acumen

Qualifications

•    Significant senior‑level experience as a practising lawyer and/or external counsel management leader, gained within a global financial services organisation or similarly complex in‑house legal environment.
•    Recognised expertise in external counsel and legal supplier management, with demonstrated accountability for setting and executing legal vendor strategy, panel design and legal spend optimisation at scale.
•    Strong legal and commercial judgement, with a proven ability to navigate complex and ambiguous issues relating to external legal services, pricing structures, alternative fee arrangements and supplier governance.
•    Well‑developed commercial and financial acumen, including the ability to analyse legal spend, interpret financial and performance data, and translate insight into strategic recommendations and cost optimisation outcomes.
•    Credibility and influence at senior levels, with a proven ability to partner effectively with Legal, Finance, Risk and Operations leadership, and to engage confidently and authoritatively with senior external counterparties.
•    Qualified lawyer with an appropriate legal qualification and licence to practise in a relevant jurisdiction, or equivalent senior legal experience, with the professional standing to command trust and authority in external counsel relationships.

About Standard Chartered

We're an international bank, nimble enough to act, big enough for impact. For more than 170 years, we've worked to make a positive difference for our clients, communities, and each other. We question the status quo, love a challenge and enjoy finding new opportunities to grow and do better than before. If you're looking for a career with purpose and you want to work for a bank making a difference, we want to hear from you. You can count on us to celebrate your unique talents and we can't wait to see the talents you can bring us.

Our purpose, to drive commerce and prosperity through our unique diversity, together with our brand promise, to be here for good are achieved by how we each live our valued behaviours. When you work with us, you'll see how we value difference and advocate inclusion.

Together we:

• Do the right thing and are assertive, challenge one another, and live with integrity, while putting the client at the heart of what we do
• Never settle, continuously striving to improve and innovate, keeping things simple and learning from doing well, and not so well
• Are better together, we can be ourselves, be inclusive, see more good in others, and work collectively to build for the long term

What we offer

In line with our Fair Pay Charter, we offer a competitive salary and benefits to support your mental, physical, financial and social wellbeing.

• Core bank funding for retirement savings, medical and life insurance, with flexible and voluntary benefits available in some locations.
• Time-off including annual leave, parental/maternity (20 weeks), sabbatical (12 months maximum) and volunteering leave (3 days), along with minimum global standards for annual and public holiday, which is combined to 30 days minimum.
• Flexible working options based around home and office locations, with flexible working patterns.
• Proactive wellbeing support through Unmind, a market-leading digital wellbeing platform, development courses for resilience and other human skills, global Employee Assistance Programme, sick leave, mental health first-aiders and all sorts of self-help toolkits
• A continuous learning culture to support your growth, with opportunities to reskill and upskill and access to physical, virtual and digital learning.
• Being part of an inclusive and values driven organisation, one that embraces and celebrates our unique diversity, across our teams, business functions and geographies - everyone feels respected and can realise their full potential.