Asia Legal Affairs Attorney (FSI)

Microsoft Corporate, External and Legal Affairs team (CELA) has an immediate opening for a highly skilled legal professional to lead its Financial Services Industry (FSI) work including regulatory engagement.

This unique Legal Affairs Attorney role, combining legal, industry and regulatory responsibilities, is based in Singapore, reporting to the CELA Head of Legal for Asia. The financial services industry in Asia is transforming rapidly to leverage the capabilities of the cloud and AI. The lawyer in this role will support this transformation and help ensure that it is aligned with regulatory goals and customer needs.

Microsoft’s mission is to empower every person and every organization on the planet to achieve more. As employees we come together with a growth mindset, innovate to empower others, and collaborate to realize our shared goals. Each day we build on our values of respect, integrity, and accountability to create a culture of inclusion where everyone can thrive at work and beyond.

Responsibilities

The Role Will Include:

• General legal counsel support for the Microsoft Asia CVP for FSI.
• Being a member of the CELA Asia Legal Leadership Team, working in close partnership with the CELA Asia Deal Team, other CELA teams, as well as the in-country CELA teams across Asia.
• Supporting the business goals by delivering CELA expertise, AI leadership, supporting digital transformation, and addressing regulatory developments at scale. The role will serve as a strategic legal advisor, leveraging industry and regulatory expertise in partnership with other Microsoft teams, clarifying regulations, identifying regulatory trends, and addressing concerns hindering cloud and AI adoption. The role will also help drive key legal peer-to-peer/ business engagements in financial services and engage with relevant external bodies.
• Collaboration and providing legal leadership with other Microsoft teams for the  engagement with FSI regulators in the region, trade bodies, regulatory events and associated work.
• Providing subject matter expertise to commercial attorneys negotiating FSI deals, leveraging internal tools and processes and advise/draft/identify solutions for the Global Deal Team and the CELA Asia Legal Leadership team on regulatory requirements, developments and trends that will impact FSI customer adoption of Microsoft AI and Cloud products and services.

Advocacy:

• Working with Microsoft teams, develop and lead the execution of Microsoft’s outreach strategy with FSI regulators and regulatory stakeholders in Asia.
• Work closely with regulators and regulatory stakeholders to ensure alignment of cloud adoption with regulatory frameworks, AI and other technologies in financial services in a secure, trusted manner.
• Be a spokesperson and contributor to external discourse on a wide range of legal/regulatory issues and initiatives related to Microsoft’s cloud and AI business with FSI customers.
• Working with the Asia regional teams , contribute to publications, blogs, and whitepapers and be a speaker at FSI customer and company events. 

Collaboration:

• Be an effective team player, dedicated to collective successes with the ability to promote cooperation and facilitate problem resolution in a timely, creative and professional manner.
• Able to influence others outside of direct reporting relationships, working with v-teams,  and in seeking and leveraging different perspectives to bring together creative and relevant solutions that drive business impact. 
• Able to work cross-group in a highly matrixed organization as well as possess the tools, intuition, capability and aptitude to engage, influence and sometimes direct a diverse, dynamic and empowered field organization based in Asia and worldwide.

Qualifications

Required Qualifications:

• Juris Doctor Degree or international equivalent degree AND 4+ years experience as a practicing attorney.
• Active license to practice law in a jurisdiction and capable of meeting admission requirements in relevant jurisdiction.
• Regional experience in Asia with exposure to financial services policy and regulatory engagements.
• OR equivalent experience.

Preferred Qualifications:

• Preferably 10+ years of experience as an attorney in law firm or in-house roles that have involved:
• financial services industry regulatory legal experience, helping understand, influence and shape the regulatory environment, engaging regulators and ensuring compliance with FSI cloud service requirements; and/or
• engaging externally with influencers and stakeholders important to Microsoft’s success, including FSI customer legal, risk and compliance community as well as FSI regulators and industry associations.
• Familiarity with Microsoft’s cloud and AI offerings and business models. 
• Highly developed written and oral communication skills; proven experience as an effective external spokesperson. 
• Comfort with ambiguity and with a bias for action in a fast-paced, highly matrixed environment.

Microsoft is an equal opportunity employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to age, ancestry, color, family or medical care leave, gender identity or expression, genetic information, marital status, medical condition, national origin, physical or mental disability, political affiliation, protected veteran status, race, religion, sex (including pregnancy), sexual orientation, or any other characteristic protected by applicable laws, regulations and ordinances. If you need assistance and/or a reasonable accommodation due to a disability during the application or the recruiting process, please send a request via the Accommodation request form.

Benefits/perks listed below may vary depending on the nature of your employment with Microsoft and the country where you work.

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