Spark - Legal Senior Manager

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BBVA is a global company with more than 160 years of history that operates in more than 25 countries where we serve more than 80 million customers. We are more than 121,000 professionals working in multidisciplinary teams with profiles as diverse as financiers, legal experts, data scientists, developers, engineers and designers.

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BBVA Spark is the global business unit within BBVA (CIB) responsible for supporting high growth companies (seed, early growth, late growth and unicorns) and VC funds in all of their financial services needs, including but not limited to transactional products, short-term traditional lending, venture and growth lending, warehouse facilities, revenue-based finance and capital call lines. BBVA Spark also invests as LP in VC and PE funds in verticals such as growth, fintech, digital assets and decarbonization. Within BBVA Spark, the Legal team is responsible for:

• Leading and coordinating the legal advice to the banking businesses, investment and holding  teams of BBVA Spark, globally. 

• Playing a key role to the unit in terms of governance, decision-making, strategic projects, marketing & communication and launch of new products and services.

• Leading the advice to the unit in regulatory matters affecting BBVA Spark, such as fintech, blockchain, digital assets and tech-related matters, also serving as a front to the related units of the Bank in this regard.

About the job:

Responsibilities

This role will be a key player for implementing the above mandate, and for its relationship and coordination with all the teams of the unit globally, as well as with the Legal Services area and countries of the BBVA Group. In particular:

• Business:

  • Legal advice in designing, structuring, formalizing and monitoring venture debt, warehouse facilities, capital call lines, revenue-based finance and other structured finance solutions in Europe.

  • Answering legal queries issued by all members of the business, risk and monitoring units of BBVA Spark.

  • Coordinating with the in-house legal services of the Bank for transactional products' queries and for workout and distressed transactions and clients.

  • Coordinating with the in-house local legal services of the Bank in Latam and Europe for internal projects,  transactions and queries of clients of the corresponding nationalities.

  • Overseeing the activity of the external law firms advising the unit.

• General regulatory advice and knowledge:

  • Considering the innovative and disruptive features of the unit's clients, the role will play a key role as a "knowledge hub" of the unit for matters such as venture capital, fintech, payment services, blockchain, digital assets and other tech-related fields. The role will also liaise with other related teams of the Bank on this matter.

  • He/she will also handle the relationship with the European Investment Fund, and with other public institutions involved in the unit's business and investments activity.

• Venture capital investments:

  • Answering recurrent legal queries related to LPAs, side letters, Advisory Committee or Investment Committee approvals, conflicts of interest, warrants, etc. of venture capital and PE funds where the bank is invested.

• General legal and governance advice: 

  • The role will actively play a key role in advising other teams of the unit such as strategy, marketing & communications and concerning the launch of new products or services. 

Qualifications

• A qualified legal professional in Spain or the UK is required. A Bachelor's degree in Business, Economics, or Finance is desirable. LLM or Master's degrees in Law are also viewed favorably.

• From 6 years of experience in legal in-house teams of leading corporations and/or in top-tier law firms is required.

• Transactional expertise primarily in Banking, Finance & Fintech, and/or Corporate Law and Legal M&A. Experience advising fintechs, VC or tech companies is desirable. 

• Advanced level of Spanish and English.

Skills

• Great interest in areas of law and regulation different from its main expertise. Ability to contribute to knowledge of the unit, exchanging knowledge and experiences.

• Good communication skills, and ability to influence discussions with other colleagues across the geographies. Ability to synthesize in writing and orally complex ideas into few key messages.

• Strong organizational and project management skills to manage different tasks with competing deadlines. Great capacity to work under pressure.

• Team player mentality who lives by our values ("customers come first", "think big" and "one team").

• Other soft Skills: creativity, proactive mindset, empathy, innovation, customer orientation, problem-solving skills. 

• Occasional travel may be required (Spain, Europe, and/or Latam).

Skills: