Senior Associate - Corporate M&A

Senior Associate — Corporate M&A | Sydney or Melbourne

▸Senior Associate — Corporate M&A (Sydney or Melbourne)

▸Top-tier firm | High-profile, complex transactions

▸Genuine career investment — not just a seat at the table

The Firm

Our client is a leading Australian law firm with one of the most active and highly regarded corporate M&A practices in the country. The firm is consistently ranked in Doyle's Guide, Legal 500, and Chambers Asia-Pacific for its work across public and private M&A, equity capital markets and corporate advisory — with a national and international client base that spans listed companies, private equity, financial institutions and sovereign investors.

The corporate team operates at genuine market depth. It is well-credentialled, well-resourced and — critically — well led, with a partnership that is commercially engaged, strategically minded and invested in the development of its senior associates. This is not a firm where senior associates are left to find their own way; it is one where the infrastructure, the mentorship and the ambition to build long-term practitioners are genuinely present.

Full details of the firm — including team structure, transaction pipeline and career pathway — can be provided confidentially to suitable candidates who wish to progress.

The Opportunity

Sydney and Melbourne's M&A markets are two of the most active in the Asia-Pacific region. Deal flow across public M&A, private acquisitions and equity capital markets has remained strong, underpinned by sustained activity from private equity, continued appetite for cross-border transactions, and a corporate sector navigating strategic portfolio adjustment at scale. For a senior associate with strong technical foundations and the ambition to develop into a market-leading practitioner, the conditions — and the right firm — matter enormously.

VIXA is working with a firm that is actively investing in its corporate M&A capability in Sydney and Melbourne and is seeking a Senior Associate who is ready to take on greater responsibility, work on genuinely complex transactions and build the profile and relationships that underpin a long-term career in corporate law at the highest level.

The Role

The incoming Senior Associate will work across a broad corporate M&A practice, with exposure to:

• Public and private M&A — including takeovers, schemes of arrangement, and business and asset acquisitions and disposals
• Equity capital markets — IPOs, placements, rights issues and ASX listing rule compliance
• Joint ventures, restructurings and recapitalisations
• Corporate governance advisory for listed and private clients
• Cross-border transactions with international counsel coordination

The role carries real responsibility. Senior associates in this team are expected to run significant transaction workstreams, draft and negotiate complex transaction documents, advise clients directly, and actively support and develop junior lawyers. This is a role for someone who is ready to operate at that level — and who wants the platform to do so.

About You

We are seeking a Senior Associate with the following profile:

• 5–8 years' post-admission experience with a substantive corporate M&A focus
• Strong technical capability across public or private M&A, with ECM experience an advantage
• Excellent drafting skills and the commercial judgment to advise clients on complex, time-sensitive transactions
• Experience from a top-tier or leading international firm
• A team orientation — someone who invests in junior colleagues and operates collaboratively within a high-performing group
• The interpersonal credibility and ambition to build long-term client relationships over the course of a career

How to Express Interest

Please reach out to Scott Francis, Managing Director, at VIXA Partners to explore this opportunity on a strictly confidential basis.

Email: ***email_hidden***

Phone: 0481 205 057

Web: vixa.com.au

About VIXA Partners

VIXA Partners is a specialist executive legal recruitment firm focused exclusively on Partner and senior lawyer placements across Australia's top-tier and upper mid-tier law firms. We operate across Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Perth and Canberra.

Scott Francis, Managing Director of VIXA, brings over 25 years of direct experience inside Australia's leading law firms — as a lawyer for 20 years in top-tier and international firms, and as National Executive Talent Manager at one of Australia's leading top-tier firms (responsible for partner recruitment nationally). He is an admitted lawyer in New South Wales, Queensland and New Zealand, is recognised as a dispute resolution lawyer in Legal 500 Asia Pacific, and is an accredited Executive Leadership Coach.

This depth of first-hand experience — inside the firms, inside the roles, inside the partnerships — means VIXA provides genuinely informed advice that goes well beyond what a conventional recruiter can offer. We understand the strategic direction of leading firms, the nuances of practice areas, and what it takes to assess technical capability, cultural fit and long-term career trajectory at the senior associate level.

Our approach is consultative, relationship-driven and unhurried. We take the view that a move at senior associate level is one of the most consequential decisions in a lawyer's career — and we treat it accordingly. Candidates are encouraged to ask every question, take their time and reach a decision that is genuinely in their best interests.

No information about you will ever be shared with any party without your express consent. Your details, your enquiry, and the existence of any conversation between us will remain strictly confidential.