Head of Legal

Funding Societies | Modalku is the largest SME digital finance platform in Southeast Asia. We are licensed and operating  in Singapore, Indonesia, Thailand, Malaysia andVietnam, and backed by Sequoia India (Peak XV), Softbank Vision Fund, Khazanah and SMBC bank amongst many others. Funding Societies | Modalku provides business financing to small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), which is funded by individual and institutional investors, as well as payments solutions to SMEs and consumers
Here at Funding Societies | Modalku we live by our core values GETFS:

• Grow Relentlessly: Strive to become our best, most authentic selves.
• Enable Teamwork, Disable Politics: Only by forging togetherness, we help each other succeed.
• Test Measure Act: Stay curious and reinvent ourselves, through innovation and experimentation.
• Focus on Impact: Create impact through bias for action and tangible results.
• Serve with Obsession: Build win-win relationships for the long-term by having a customer obsession.

We are seeking an experienced and strategic Head of Legal (Director level) to lead our legal function across Southeast Asia. As the Head of Legal, you will be responsible for shaping the legal, regulatory, and governance infrastructure that supports our growth across five markets: Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand, and Vietnam.

You will serve as a key strategic advisor to the team, working closely with commercial, product, operations and compliance to navigate legal complexity across markets. Your mandate is to enable responsible innovation and growth while protecting the company's interests, guiding legal input across product design, commercial structuring, regulatory engagement, and strategic initiatives such as fundraising.

What you will do: 

• Lead and scale the regional legal function, overseeing in-house counsels and managing external legal partners across all operating markets.
• Play a critical role in driving the company's path to profitability by enabling compliant yet commercially viable business models, proactively managing legal risk exposure, and leading cost-effective legal operations at scale.
• Provide strategic legal guidance on digital lending, payments, embedded finance, and product innovation — ensuring alignment with evolving regulatory frameworks.
• Review, draft, and negotiate complex commercial agreements, including those related to partnerships, product innovation, data sharing, platform integrations, secured lending, and IP.
• Proactively manage regulatory interactions and licensing requirements, particularly in high-impact markets.
• Advise on and manage litigation or enforcement processes, especially for secured lending and litigation-led collections.
• Own legal risk management related to data privacy, consumer protection, anti-bribery, and cross-border operations.
• Support corporate strategic events, such as M&A, fundraising etc, with a focus on entity structure, due diligence, and board governance.
• Drive adoption of legal technology and automation tools to improve the Legal team's overall effectiveness.

Requirements

What we are looking for: 

• 12+ years of relevant legal experience, including regional experience in Southeast Asia; a mix of law firm and in-house experience is highly valued.
• Legal qualifications in Singapore, Malaysia, or other common law jurisdictions; admission to practice is preferred.
• Experience working within or advising on civil law jurisdictions (e.g., Indonesia, Thailand, Vietnam) is highly preferred.
• Good understanding of regulatory environments across Southeast Asia, with expertise in both developed and emerging markets
• Strong experience in financial services, fintech, digital lending and/ or payments is preferred.
• Proven ability to balance commercial pragmatism with legal integrity in high-growth, cross-functional environments.
• Experience managing legal teams and external counsel across multiple jurisdictions.
• Exceptional judgment, communication, and stakeholder management skills.

Benefits

• Time off - We would love you to take time off to rest and rejuvenate. We offer flexible paid vacations as well as many other observed holidays by country. We also like to have our people take a day off for special days like birthdays and work anniversaries.
• Flexible working - We believe in giving back the control of work & life to our people. We trust our people and love to provide the space to accommodate each and everyone's working style and personal life.
• Medical benefits - We offer health insurance coverage for our employees and dependents. Our people focus on our mission knowing we have their backs for their loved ones too.
• Mental health and wellness - We understand that our team productivity is directly linked to our mental and physical health. Hence we organize org-wide fitness initiatives and engage partners to provide well-being coaching.
• Tech support - We provide a company laptop for our employees and the best possible support for the right equipment/tools to enable high productivity

Interested to know more about us? Learn about our stories here.