Assistant General Counsel

Overview

This role involves serving as Assistant General Counsel, leading and managing external legal matters and providing strategic legal counsel as a consumer-finance organization grows. The position has primary responsibility for managing consumer litigation and arbitration, regulatory examinations and investigations, enforcement matters, and escalated legal complaints.

Responsibilities

• Lead the strategy and response across individual and class-action litigation, arbitration, threatened claims, demand letters, subpoenas, and other adversarial matters.

• Manage matters end-to-end, including initial assessment, internal fact development, discovery, motion practice, settlement strategy, trial preparation, and resolution.

• Assess legal, financial, operational, customer, and reputational exposure and provide clear recommendations to senior leadership.

• Direct and manage outside counsel, including matter strategy, staffing, budgets, performance, and work-product quality.

• Maintain clear reporting on active matters, significant developments, potential exposure, and emerging trends.

• Support responses to regulatory examinations, investigations, inquiries, enforcement actions, and requests for information.

• Manage regulatory matters from initial request through investigation, response, remediation, settlement, or other resolution.

• Develop response strategies in partnership with the General Counsel & Chief Compliance Officer, Legal Operations, outside counsel, and relevant internal stakeholders.

• Serve as a legal point of contact for federal and state regulators.

• Identify patterns across regulatory matters and escalated legal complaints and communicate relevant risks to the appropriate business owners.

• Serve as a trusted legal advisor to the General Counsel & Chief Compliance Officer and senior leaders on strategic business initiatives, new products, and evolving operational priorities.

• Partner with Compliance, Risk, Operations, Product, and Sales to identify, assess, and address legal and regulatory risks associated with new and existing initiatives.

• Translate complex or evolving legal requirements into concise, practical, risk-based recommendations.

• Evaluate legal risk, potential exposure, and competing business considerations to clarify options, tradeoffs, and paths forward.

• Provide legal guidance through the lifecycle of strategic initiatives, from early-stage concept and design through implementation, launch, and ongoing operation.

• Lead or support cross-functional legal workstreams on high-priority initiatives by aligning stakeholders and clarifying legal requirements.

• Develop practical frameworks, playbooks, and scalable legal processes to improve consistency, speed, and quality of legal decision-making.

Requirements

• Juris Doctor from an accredited law school.
• Active license to practice law in good standing in at least one U.S. jurisdiction.
• Ability to practice as in-house counsel in Virginia and/or the District of Columbia.
• 8+ years of relevant legal experience at a law firm, financial institution, fintech company, regulatory agency, in-house legal department, or a combination of these environments.
• Experience in a fintech, high-growth lending, or other dynamic and highly regulated environment.
• Experience with at least one of the following: lease-to-own products, point-of-sale financing, non-prime lending, bank-partnership models, or consumer-loan servicing.
• Significant experience managing complex litigation, arbitration, regulatory investigations, enforcement matters, or other adversarial proceedings.
• Demonstrated experience advising business leaders on new products, strategic initiatives, or operational changes, including identifying legal and regulatory risks and translating them into practical, business-oriented recommendations.
• Strong knowledge of federal and state consumer-financial-services laws and regulations, including laws applicable to lending, servicing, payments, credit reporting, collections, and lease-to-own products.
• Ability to assess legal risk in areas where the law or regulatory expectations may be evolving, incomplete, or subject to interpretation.
• Strong advocacy, analytical, negotiation, collaboration, and communication skills, including the ability to provide senior leaders concise, actionable, risk-based advice.
• Sound judgment and ability to independently manage multiple high-stakes matters while partnering effectively with cross-functional teams.
• Practical, proactive, intellectually curious approach with an execution mindset in a fast-moving environment.

Preferred Qualifications

• Direct experience with the CFPB, FTC, state attorneys general, state financial-services regulators, or similar agencies.
• Capital Markets experience.

Compensation & Benefits

• Salary range: $180,000–$235,000 per year (depending on experience and location).
• Additional compensation: eligible to participate in a company bonus plan.
• Benefits include:
  • Comprehensive medical, dental, and vision coverage
  • 20 PTO days + 11 paid holidays
  • 401(k) retirement with company matching
  • Student Loan & Tuition Reimbursement
  • Commuter assistance
  • Parental leave (maternal + paternal)
  • Inclusion and Associate Engagement Programs

Location

Richmond, VA; Arlington, VA; or Remote (U.S.). Associates near one of the office locations may work in-office, hybrid, or remotely. Remote opportunities are available to candidates throughout the United States.

Application Deadline

Applications will be accepted until position is filled.