Legal Commercial Team Lead

Emerging Travel Group is a global travel-tech company whose brands have been operating in over 220 source markets since 2010. We specialize in developing advanced online booking platforms for all types of clients — from individual tourists to travel agents and companies organizing business trips. Our solutions empower hoteliers to effortlessly showcase their accommodations, boosting visibility and attracting a broader audience.

We’re looking for a Commercial Legal Team Lead to lead our in-house legal team and support the company’s work across international markets. You’ll manage the team while staying close to the business: advising on contracts, products, payments, and regulatory matters, and helping teams find workable solutions as the company grows.

The role involves working with colleagues across the business and external lawyers in different jurisdictions. You’ll help the company understand legal risks, respond to regulatory changes, and launch products and business models with the right legal foundations.

This is a remote vacancy open to candidates who are willing to work in the European time zone and are qualified to practice law in England & Wales, the US or an EU Member State.

Job Responsibilities:

• Team leadership
• Lead and develop the in-house legal team, set priorities, and ensure the business receives clear, timely advice.
• Take the lead on complex legal matters and coordinate external counsel across multiple jurisdictions.
• Support the professional development of junior and mid-level legal team members.
• Lead cross-functional legal projects and work with stakeholders across the business.
• Commercial contracting
• Draft and negotiate commercial agreements, including partnership, B2B and B2C, licensing, and technology agreements.
• Advise teams on contractual structures, identify key legal and commercial risks, and recommend practical solutions.
• Support strategic transactions and international commercial arrangements.
• Product and business support
• Work with product and business teams on travel products, booking flows, customer journeys, ancillary services, cancellations, refunds, and payment solutions.
• Advise on the legal aspects of new products and business models.
• Support market entry and international expansion, including local regulatory assessments.
• Regulatory, payments, and risk management
• Advise on payment flows, merchant models, PSP integrations, and the legal aspects of cross-border payment structures.
• Help the business navigate rules affecting online travel, including consumer protection, e-commerce, package travel, intermediary liability, payments, digital platforms, and privacy.
• Track changes in laws and regulations and help the business understand and address their impact.
• Help ensure the company’s operations comply with relevant requirements, including GDPR and ePrivacy.
• Disputes and cross-border matters
• Support dispute resolution, including pre-litigation matters, arbitration, and cross-border litigation.
• Manage complex legal matters across jurisdictions, working with internal stakeholders and external counsel.

Requirements

• Qualified to practise law in England and Wales or an EU Member State or holds a degree from a university in one of these countries.

• 8+ years of post-qualification experience, including substantial in-house work with an international consumer technology, digital platform, or travel technology business operating across the EU and UK.
• Experience working with an online travel agency (OTA), bedbank, travel marketplace, travel distribution platform, or travel technology company.
• Experience leading or managing a legal team, or taking ownership of major cross-functional legal projects.
• Strong commercial contracting experience across common-law and civil-law jurisdictions.
• A sound understanding of the rules affecting online travel businesses, including consumer protection, e-commerce, package travel, intermediary liability, payments, digital platforms, and privacy.
• Experience advising on commercial and product matters across several European jurisdictions.
• Confidence managing complex cross-border matters and working with external counsel.
• Strong project management skills and the ability to work effectively with teams across the business.
• A practical approach to legal advice: you can explain risks clearly and help colleagues decide what to do next.
• Fluent English, both written and spoken (C1 or higher).
• Fluent Russian, both written and spoken is a plus.

Benefits

• Flexible schedules and opportunity to work remotely.
• Ambitious and supportive team who love what they do, appreciate each other, and grow together.
• Internal programs for adaptation and training, development of soft skills, and leadership abilities.
• Partial compensation for participating in external training and conferences.
• Corporate English school: Group and individual lessons, speaking clubs with colleagues from all over the world.
• Corporate prices on hotels and travel services.
• MyTime Day Off - an extra non-working day without loss of compensation.

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