Senior Legal Consultant

About the role

This role positions you as the primary legal expert responsible for shaping covenant analytics and research products in the high yield debt markets. You will review and analyze high yield bond documentation to generate commercially focused insights that directly inform our product roadmap. You will craft topical reports on market events and secondary situations in collaboration with 9fin's journalists and credit analysts to deliver timely analysis to clients. You will explain covenant trends and innovations through thematic reports that help clients understand structural shifts and emerging risks. You will answer specific client questions regarding covenant packages, testing assumptions, and clarifying the operational impact of terms. You will leverage 9fin's proprietary technology to build, validate, and expand our covenant databases with precision and consistency. You will partner closely with engineering and product teams to design and refine legal and covenant product features that enhance usability and depth. You will serve as a subject matter expert by delivering seminars, teach-ins, and podcast segments that reinforce 9fin's thought leadership in leveraged finance. You will represent 9fin in press interactions and at industry conferences to articulate the platform's insights and vision. This position offers the chance to operate with significant autonomy within a fast-moving start-up that values clarity, impact, and work-life balance.

Key facts

What you'll do

• Conduct in-depth reviews of high yield bond documentation to extract and interpret covenant structures, obligations, and risks.
• Produce analytically rigorous reports on market events and secondary situations that highlight covenant implications and investor concerns.
• Develop thematic research that maps covenant innovations and trends across sectors, providing clients with actionable intelligence.
• Respond to targeted client inquiries on specific borrower covenant profiles, package strength, and comparative market positioning.
• Utilize 9fin's proprietary technology stack to curate, tag, and enrich covenant data, ensuring accuracy and usability at scale.
• Collaborate with engineering and product teams to define specifications for legal and covenant-related features, testing, and releases.
• Deliver thought leadership content such as seminars, teach-ins, and podcast segments that explain complex covenant mechanics to sophisticated audiences.
• Act as a credible representative of 9fin in media appearances and industry conferences, communicating insights and platform capabilities.
• Translate complex legal documents and market practices into clear, concise, and commercially relevant summaries for non-legal stakeholders.
• Support the creation of client-facing materials that highlight the strategic value of covenant analytics in investment and risk decisions.
• Maintain awareness of market and regulatory developments affecting high yield covenants and communicate implications to internal teams.
• Contribute to internal knowledge frameworks that enhance the consistency, depth, and reusability of covenant analysis across the platform.
• Partner with cross-functional teams to align legal insights with product strategy, sales enablement, and client delivery objectives.
• Identify opportunities to enhance product features based on frontline client feedback and evolving market practices in covenant structuring.

Requirements

• Hold an LLB or LLM law degree or an equivalent legal qualification that meets the standard required for legal practice in relevant jurisdictions.
• Have accumulated 8 or more years of experience within high yield capital markets teams at top-tier law firms or leading in-house legal departments.
• Demonstrate extensive experience drafting, reviewing, and negotiating high yield bond documentation and related ancillary agreements.
• Possess a keen commercial awareness of leveraged finance markets, including an understanding of capital structures, covenants, and investor dynamics.
• Exhibit a solid technical understanding of how leveraged finance covenants and related definitions operate in practice and how they are interpreted.
• Maintain a strong existing network of relationships within the leveraged finance community, including investors, issuers, and advisors.
• Show excellent networking and relationship building skills, with a track record of engaging effectively with clients and market participants.
• Communicate effectively in writing and verbally, with the ability to synthesize complex legal concepts into clear, concise, and persuasive narratives.
• Operate effectively both independently, managing complex tasks with minimal supervision, and collaboratively within cross-functional teams.
• Align with 9fin's commitment to building a fair and inclusive workplace, supporting efforts to promote diversity, equity, and belonging.
• Be based in or able to relocate to London, with flexibility to work remotely as needed in accordance with company policy.
• Comply with 9fin's standards for professionalism, confidentiality, and ethical conduct in all interactions with clients and partners.
• Be available during core business hours to support collaboration with global teams and clients across multiple time zones.
• Demonstrate a proactive approach to learning and development, engaging with training resources and applying new skills to the role.

Nice to have

• Experience working with AI tools and platforms focused on data extraction, analysis, or workflow automation.
• Familiarity with legal technology tools used for document review, contract analysis, or data management in a financial services context.
• Exposure to regulatory or policy issues affecting debt markets, financial infrastructure, or data sharing frameworks.

Practical notes

• Hybrid working model with flexibility to decide how, where, and when you do your best work.
• Option to work abroad for up to 3 months in any 12-month period.
• 1 month paid sabbatical after 5 years of service with 9fin.
• Enhanced parental leave and flexible working arrangements available in line with company policy.
• Professional learning and development budget to support ongoing skills growth.
• AI experimentation budget of £800 (UK) per employee to trial AI tools relevant to the role.
• Employment is subject to successful completion of background checks as required by role and regulatory standards.