Senior Product Counsel - Payments

Overview

This role involves serving as Senior Product Counsel for a payments business within a financial technology organization. The position focuses on providing strategic legal counsel for payments partnerships and product launches, including bank accounts, wallets, card programs, real-time payments, remittance, global money movement, deposit insurance, sweep products, and payment processing capabilities. The role requires close collaboration with fintech partners and internal teams such as Go-to-Market, Engineering, Compliance, Risk, and Finance to drive product development and regulatory compliance.

Responsibilities

• Provide strategic legal guidance to enable product innovation across the payments portfolio.
• Partner with business teams and fintech partners from ideation through launch, anticipating challenges and designing solutions that balance business needs with regulatory requirements.
• Advise on legal and operational implications of new payment rails, transaction types, and money-movement features.
• Develop and maintain regulatory frameworks for existing and new products, leveraging expertise in Reg E, NACHA rules, card network rules, money transmission, TISA, Reg CC, UCC Article 4A, and real-time payments.
• Collaborate with compliance and risk teams to create scalable approaches that protect the business while enabling growth.
• Serve as the subject matter expert on legal and regulatory requirements impacting payments products, including ACH origination and receipt, wire transfers, card issuing and acquiring, card network rules, scheme compliance, payment processor relationships, push-to-card, and instant payment capabilities.
• Advise on payments-specific BSA/AML, OFAC, and fraud risk considerations, including transaction monitoring, suspicious activity reporting, and sanctions screening.
• Drive adoption of technology, including AI and automation tools, to increase efficiency and scalability of legal workflows.
• Design and implement scalable legal processes to support hypergrowth, improve partner onboarding efficiency, and maintain compliance.

Requirements

• Licensed to practice law in a U.S. state with a J.D. or equivalent degree.
• 7–15+ years of legal experience, preferably with both law firm and in-house experience at a fintech or financial institution.
• Deep expertise counseling product teams on banking infrastructure and embedded finance solutions, especially payments, money transmission, and money-movement regulatory frameworks.
• Comprehensive knowledge of regulatory frameworks governing banking partnerships and fintech services.
• Familiarity with NACHA rules, card network operating regulations, Regulation E, UCC Article 4A, BSA/AML requirements, and OFAC sanctions as they apply to payment products.
• Experience advising on payment processing agreements, funds-flow structures, settlement mechanics, and chargeback/dispute frameworks.
• Ability to work at the intersection of law and technology, including understanding API specifications, funds-flow diagrams, and translating technical architecture into legal risk assessments.

Compensation & Benefits

• Annual base salary range: $210,000 - $300,000 plus equity.
• Comprehensive health, dental, and vision insurance plans, including options fully covered for employees and dependents.
• Family planning and fertility benefits with reimbursement up to $20,000 in qualified expenses.
• Flexible Spending Account (FSA) and Health Savings Account (HSA) options.
• 401(k) plan with self-directed brokerage options.
• Flexible time-off policy.
• 100% paid parental leave: 16 weeks for birth mothers, 12 weeks for primary caregivers, and 8 weeks for secondary caregivers.
• Catered lunches and dinners for employees in San Francisco.
• Commuter benefits.
• Regular team-building events, including an annual offsite.

Location

The position is based in San Francisco, with benefits and amenities tailored to this location.