Legal Associate

About the role

We are seeking a Legal Associate to join our growing legal team at Lean. This role will act as a first line of support for the Legal function, helping manage and triage day to day legal work within the team and across the business.

The primary focus of the role will initially be the review and management of commercial contracts. The role will then expand to include broader legal operations, administrative support, and ad hoc legal requests as the successful candidate develops within the position.

This is an excellent opportunity for a commercially minded legal professional who is eager to gain hands on experience across a range of legal matters in a fast growing fintech environment.

The Moment

Lean has tripled in size over the past twelve months. We're on track to triple again next year.

What started as the region's pioneering Open Finance platform is now becoming something bigger: a multi product infrastructure company powering payments, data, and lending across MENA. We're expanding into new markets, opening offices, acquiring businesses, and building capabilities that didn't exist here before.

We've processed billions of dollars in transactions. We're trusted by 300+ clients, from Binance and Careem to Etisalat, and backed by General Catalyst, Sequoia, and Shorooq. Our $67.5M Series B was just the beginning.

What you will do

• Commercial Contract Review: Review, draft, and mark up commercial agreements including NDAs, MSAs, DPAs, vendor agreements, and other standard commercial contracts. Identify legal risks, propose fallback language, and support negotiations where required.

• Contract Lifecycle Management: Manage contracts throughout their lifecycle using contract management systems (e.g. Ironclad), including version control, approvals, execution, and record keeping.

• Template Management: Support the development, maintenance, and standardization of contract templates and playbooks to improve efficiency and consistency across the business.

• Legal Operations & Administration: Provide day to day operational support to the Legal team, including maintaining legal records, coordinating document execution, and assisting with corporate documentation such as resolutions and internal approvals.

• Cross Functional Collaboration: Work closely with internal teams including sales, product, people, finance and compliance to help address routine legal requests and facilitate contract execution.

• Regulatory & Compliance Awareness: Support the Legal team in monitoring and implementing legal and regulatory requirements across the UAE and KSA, particularly in areas such as data protection and financial services regulation.

• General Legal Support: Assist with ad hoc legal tasks and projects as they arise and contributing to improving legal processes and unlocking strategic work.

What we are looking for

• Experienced legal professional (ideally a qualified lawyer) with experience in commercial contract review and drafting, ideally within a law firm or in house legal team.

• Experience reviewing and marking up commercial agreements, including NDAs, MSAs, DPAs, SLAs, and vendor contracts.

• Strong understanding of standard commercial contract structures and key contractual provisions such as liability, payment terms, service levels, and data protection clauses.

• Experience using contract lifecycle management tools (e.g. Ironclad) and document management systems is highly desirable.

• Fluent in Arabic and English, both written and spoken.

• Strong Microsoft Word/Google Docs and Excel skills, including document redlining and version management.

• Basic familiarity with regulatory frameworks relevant to fintech and data protection in the UAE and KSA is a plus.

• Keen understanding of business principles and able to apply legal knowledge pragmatically, considering the commercial context and providing solutions that support business growth and mitigate risk effectively.

• Able to manage multiple priorities and work effectively under pressure in a fast paced environment.

• Curious, adaptable, and eager to learn in a dynamic and evolving business environment.

• Strong attention to detail with excellent organizational and communication skills.

• Collaborative, with a proactive attitude toward problem solving.

• Experience with, or exposure to, virtual assets (including cryptocurrencies and stablecoins) is a plus.

Benefits

Not only do we offer competitive salaries, private healthcare, and flexible office hours, but we also insist that every member of the team hold a meaningful equity stake in the business to ensure long term alignment.

Lean is proud to be an equal opportunity workplace and is an affirmative action employer. We are committed to equal employment opportunity regardless of race, color, ancestry, religion, sex, national origin, sexual orientation, age, citizenship, marital status, disability, gender identity or Veteran status.