Global Legal Associate: Fintech and Compliance

Overview

This role serves as a legal partner to Product, Engineering, and Finance teams on activities involving money movement—such as payroll funding, contractor payouts, cross-border payments, deposits, and FX. You will help translate regulation into clear product requirements, support launches without creating regulatory risk, and help operate the fintech compliance programme that keeps relevant products compliant after go-live.

Responsibilities

Product (payments, payroll, payouts)

• Partner 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.
• Convert regulatory requirements into 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 guidance and propose compliant alternatives rather than simply blocking work.

Fintech compliance

• Support the development and day-to-day operation of the compliance framework for payment activities, including AML/CTF, KYC/KYB, and sanctions screening.
• Help 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.
• Track regulatory changes in payments, data protection, and AI, and assess impacts on products.
• Train internal teams on compliance obligations and help ensure risk is 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, with 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

• Remote (100% remote).