Legal Associate

As a Legal Associate at Ozow, you will play a key role in supporting the legal function by assisting with the drafting, evaluation, and administration of contracts, as well as providing legal research and compliance support. You will work closely with the Head of Legal, the wider legal team, and multiple business units, including commercial, product, risk, operations, and compliance. You will be involved at the forefront of launching new products, considering regulatory requirements and business risks, and helping to ensure that Ozow remains compliant in South Africa and other jurisdictions of strategic interest. A core part of the role is regulatory compliance: monitoring developments in payments law, supporting licence and reporting obligations, and helping the business respond to new and evolving regulatory requirements. This is an exciting opportunity for a detail-oriented legal professional to grow within a fast-paced, innovative environment.

• Assist in drafting, reviewing, and processing contracts and related requests from the commercial, product, and finance team within agreed timeframes.
• Identify issues within contracting processes and communicate feedback to stakeholders.
• Track and resolve system issues relating to contractual processes.
• Monitor and research developments in payments law and financial services regulation and assess impact on Ozow.
• Track new and proposed regulations in SA and strategic jurisdictions, with practical briefings on required actions.
• Support licence applications, regulatory filings, and reporting to payments regulators.
• Help maintain compliance controls, registers, and monitoring to evidence ongoing adherence.
• Support the development, review, and implementation of internal policies, procedures, and standard templates.
• Apply risk management principles to people, processes, and systems.
• Provide sound and up-to-date feedback on legal and regulatory requirements.
• Flag material risks early and propose balanced, commercially sensible mitigation options.
• Maintain accurate and up-to-date records of legal documents, contracts, and approvals.
• Assist with managing contract repositories, trackers, and registers.
• Collaborate with internal and external stakeholders to resolve contractual and business risk issues.
• Defend the business position while ensuring that the business case prevails.
• Analyse trends and suggest changes to improve delivery to clients.

• An LLB qualification from a recognised institution.
• Admitted attorney.
• 3+ years of relevant post-article legal experience, preferably in corporate or commercial law.
• Experience in a payments or fintech company is a bonus.
• The ability to work independently in a structured and unstructured environment.
• Meticulous attention to detail and organisational abilities.
• Excellent written and oral communication skills.
• Comfortable with performing administrative tasks.
• Strong analytical and problem-solving skills.