Overview
This role provides legal partnership to Product, Engineering, and Finance teams focused on payments-related activities, including payroll funding, contractor payouts, cross-border payments, deposits, and FX. You will help translate regulation into clear product requirements, support launch activities across new markets with a focus on compliance and regulatory risk management, and help run the fintech compliance program for these products.
Responsibilities
Product
- Work with Product and Engineering from discovery through launch on payments, payroll, and payout features.
- Assess how money flows should be structured, including whether a flow triggers licensing requirements (money transmission, e-money, or payment services) and how to meet or design around them.
- Translate regulatory requirements into clear, practical product requirements.
- Draft and maintain product terms, payment terms, disclosures, and in-product legal text.
- Draft, review, and help negotiate agreements with partner banks, payment providers, and FX partners.
- Conduct legal reviews for launches in new markets and for new payment features.
- Provide balanced risk decisions and propose compliant alternatives rather than simply blocking work.
Fintech compliance
- Support development and day-to-day running of the compliance framework for payment activities, including AML/CTF, KYC/KYB, and sanctions screening.
- Assess licensing and registration needs across markets and obligations under partner bank and financial institution arrangements.
- Draft and maintain policies, controls, transaction monitoring, and regulatory reporting.
- Support engagement with regulators, auditors, financial institutions, and banks’ compliance teams.
- Monitor regulatory change in payments, data protection, and AI, and assess the impact on products.
- Train internal teams on compliance obligations and help ensure risks are raised early.
Requirements
- A law degree and qualification to practise in at least one jurisdiction.
- 3–5 years of legal experience in payments or fintech, either in-house or at a law firm with a strong payments practice.
- Hands-on experience advising product teams, including at least one product or market launch supported from design to go-live.
- Solid knowledge of payments regulation (e.g., PSD2/EMD in the EU and UK, US money transmission rules) and AML/CTF requirements.
- Experience working with banks or payment providers and negotiating related agreements.
- Ability to explain complex rules in plain language and provide clear, practical advice.
- Strong judgement on risk and comfort making decisions with incomplete information in a fast-moving environment.
- Fluent English, written and spoken.
Preferred Qualifications
- Experience in payroll, EOR, HR tech, or global workforce platforms.
- Experience with license applications or regulator engagement.
- Knowledge of data protection (GDPR) and AI regulation as they apply to financial and HR products.
- Experience building a compliance function from an early stage.
Compensation & Benefits
- Competitive compensation.
- 100% remote work.
Location