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This is Adyen: Ali Harley, Associate Legal Counsel
We sat down with Ali Harley, Associate Legal Counsel, to talk about leaving private practice to build at Adyen.
Meet Ali Harley, an Associate Legal Counsel in our Corporate Legal team. Transitioning from tech M&A in venture capital law, Ali initially worried about the restrictive "legal police" stereotype attached to in-house roles. At Adyen, however, she discovered the opposite: a culture anchored in collaborative partnership rather than policing.
Now, after more than a year at Adyen, Ali has already helped drive long-term impact, playing a core part in Adyen's first acquisition and beyond. We sat down with her to talk about her journey, cross-functional projects, and what it really means to build a career here.
How would you describe your role within Corporate Legal?
I sit in Corporate Legal, which means focusing directly on the internal strategic issues the organisation needs advice on. Our team is highly embedded in the wider company; we provide legal guardrails for Adyen’s long-term strategy.
A significant and incredibly interesting part of my day-to-day involves handling corporate development and Intellectual Property (IP). Because Adyen is a publicly listed company in the Netherlands, the corporate governance piece is also a huge focus. To get it all done, the Legal team sits closely with Compliance and Regulatory teams.
You also recently stepped up to support the Commercial Legal team. What was the experience like?
I loved it. It was a fantastic opportunity to see how merchant negotiations and direct agreements come to life. Working together with Sales and Account Management felt like being right on the front line of the business and in the trenches, getting deals done and moving with speed.
The merchant needs can be radically different from one hour to the next: You could be partnering with a big vending machine supplier to figure out liabilities and warranty guardrails for a specific physical terminal.The next hour, you might pivot to a small online-only business who is tracking chargebacks or the policy abuse of a welcome discount.
Taking on this volume of work gave me incredible exposure and allowed me to build connections across different departments. I got to see how the Legal team operates end-to-end, which meant I could join the interviewing panel for new team members.
Working with people like Roxanne (Head of Deal Desk), Mariana and Allison ( both Senior Legal Counsels) is amazing. Maintaining those connections proves that the ‘silo effect’ doesn’t happen here, even when we are based in different countries and time zones. It was an invaluable experience and something very typical of Adyen: when a team needs support, we all help. Winning together is more important.
Coming from a private law firm background, what was your biggest culture shock?
The level of autonomy you have from the beginning completely shocked me. Exceptionally so. I am entirely trusted to do excellent work. In my initial interview with Tom (Head of Corporate Legal), he told me: “All I expect from you is excellent work.” You are empowered to do your role in a way that works for you. As for the flat hierarchy, you feel empowered to make decisions. You don’t need to run things up layers of corporate hierarchy to get something done. A big part of this comes down to being in the office, sitting together and having that immediate accessibility.
You’re hired for your expertise, and trusted to use your judgement. Nobody is hovering over my inbox or counting billable hours; we’re empowered to do great work and connect as real people. When I call Jesse (Team Lead for Finance & ESG reporting), it never feels purely transactional, we always catch up on personal milestones first, whether that's a new home or his newborn twins.
That is the culture. You form those genuine human connections here.
People often call legal teams the "police" or the "handbrake" of a business. Is that the case at Adyen?
I used to think of in-house legal teams that way! You always hear stories from friends that their colleague runs past the Legal team saying, "We have already done this, can you quickly give the stamp of approval?” then they are disappointed when the Legal team has to say no.
I don’t see that at Adyen at all. Our leadership team has done the legwork to embed us in the conversations much earlier. We partner together. Because we are part of the planning before things happen, we already have the background knowledge. We do a lot of work to stay in tandem with the business.
If you could pick one project from your last year that perfectly illustrates the scale of Adyen, what would it be?
The €750M Talon.One acquisition is the standout. As we are a publicly listed company, the project was confidential. We operated as a very lean team carrying a heavy workload. The group was selected based on our unique backgrounds and skills to keep the transaction off-the-record while ensuring the best experts were in the room. We soon after acquired a second company, Orb, Inc. working quickly to close the two transactions concurrently.
I honestly thought I was hanging up my ‘M&A lawyer’ boots when I signed the offer at Adyen! It was an incredible experience to see from the in-house side, working-side-by-side with my colleagues.
Adyen was widely known for its ‘build vs. buy’ philosophy, so being a core part of the company’s first major acquisition within my first year was amazing. Coming straight out of private practice, experiencing that level of visibility makes you wonder: is it the right place, right time? Or is it just ‘being’ at Adyen? It comes down to saying ‘yes’ to opportunities. I have learnt an immense amount and now I get to help integrate two businesses!
How would you describe your direct teammates to a candidate looking to join?
My team is a tapestry of experience, and we all constantly learn from one another. We come from different countries, levels of experience, and career backgrounds, which is exactly why it works. In this role, you must expect the unexpected.
We lean on each other heavily and openly ask for input or advice. We sit together, talk about life and share knowledge. Most importantly, we don’t have a blame culture. There is no shame in not knowing something and we genuinely enjoy each other’s company.
When interviewing a potential teammate, what is the number one trait you look for?
I find that being curious and proactive in solving the problem yourself to be a crucial trait. Showing comfort with ambiguity is a good sign. It can feel like a million things are happening all at once, but if you can order the chaos and create structure that works for you, then this is the place for you.
The learning curve for payments, products, schemes, and technical architecture is incredibly steep. But you won’t survive in isolation. Winning together is what matters most to us: people are always excited to step in and ask how they can support you. That is the energy you receive the moment you join. We all want you to succeed.
