Legal Officer

Role Overview

This position sits at the point where credit decisions meet legal risk, supporting a lender that serves borrowers who often rely on secured facilities to grow small businesses or manage short-term cash needs. Day to day, the holder of this role reviews and hardens loan and security documentation before funds are disbursed, then stays involved when a facility turns delinquent — advising on recovery options, instructing external counsel, and keeping recovery activity within the bounds of consumer protection and data privacy rules. The work matters because sloppy documentation and compliance gaps are expensive: a defective charge or a mishandled default notice can cost the institution a recoverable debt or expose it to regulatory sanction.

Key Responsibilities

• Draft, review and negotiate facility agreements, charge instruments, chattel mortgages, guarantees and related security documents, ensuring each facility is properly secured and enforceable before disbursement.
• Manage the perfection and discharge of securities, including registration and updating of charges with the relevant registries, and maintain accurate records of security held against each account.
• Handle the full default lifecycle: issuing demand and statutory notices, instructing auctioneers and external advocates, and monitoring recovery files through to settlement or judgment.
• Carry a portfolio of commercial litigation and debt recovery matters, briefing and supervising external counsel while controlling costs and reporting progress to management.
• Advise business teams on regulatory compliance matters affecting lending, including microfinance and banking regulation, consumer protection obligations, data protection requirements and anti-money laundering and counter-financing of terrorism controls.
• Review and strengthen internal policies, standard loan templates and customer-facing terms so they reflect current law, regulatory guidance and the institution's risk appetite.
• Support AML/CFT and know-your-customer processes by advising on suspicious transaction escalations, sanctions screening queries and record-keeping standards.
• Deliver practical legal training and guidance to credit, collections and branch staff on documentation standards, default procedures and the limits of acceptable recovery conduct.

Requirements & Qualifications

• At least three years of post-qualification legal experience, ideally gained within financial services, banking, microfinance, debt recovery or commercial litigation.
• Bachelor of Laws (LL.B) degree from a recognised university.
• Advocate of the High Court of Kenya, or an equivalent relevant professional legal qualification where the candidate's background is in a comparable jurisdiction.
• Working knowledge of secured lending and security perfection, including the practical steps needed to make security enforceable against a defaulting borrower.
• Familiarity with the regulatory framework governing lenders in Kenya, spanning financial services regulation, consumer protection, data protection and anti-money laundering and counter-financing of terrorism obligations.
• Strong drafting ability, with a track record of producing clear loan, security and demand documentation without excessive supervision.
• Confidence managing litigation and external counsel, including cost control and file progress reporting.
• Sound judgement on when to escalate, and the ability to explain legal risk in plain terms to commercial colleagues.

Applications, comprising an updated CV and a cover letter, should be sent to [email protected]. The closing date for applications is 25 September 2026.