Senior Regulatory Counsel, Americas

Overview

A global financial technology organization is seeking a Senior Regulatory Counsel to manage regulatory matters across the Americas region. This role focuses on advising on complex regulatory issues related to payments and financial services, including licensing, money transmission, and cross-border product offerings. The position involves supporting licensing, registration, and ongoing compliance obligations by designing and implementing appropriate measures and controls in partnership with Regulatory Compliance and other control functions.

Responsibilities

• Handle regulatory legal issues related to the business across the Americas.
• Provide strategic advice to cross-functional stakeholders regarding existing licenses/registrations and potential future license applications to support scaling in the Americas.
• Monitor, report, and influence trends and developments in payments and financial services regulation in the Americas.
• Collaborate closely with Product Legal, Regulatory Compliance, Risk, and Financial Crime Compliance teams to ensure compliance with applicable laws and regulations, including money transmission, stored value, FX, remittance, and card issuing rules.
• Support Product, Strategy, Management, and regional Commercial teams on new market entry and regulatory license expansion.
• Liaise with senior stakeholders globally to provide timely, pragmatic regulatory legal advice and risk assessments.
• Manage external legal counsel and consultants in the Americas to ensure high-quality, cost-effective support.
• Utilize AI and other tools to enhance the efficiency and effectiveness of the Regulatory Legal team.
• Provide legal advice on ongoing regulatory compliance and submission of regulatory reports and filings.
• Support government relations outreach to legislators and regulatory agencies in key Americas markets.

Requirements

• Qualified lawyer with at least 8 years of relevant post-qualification experience.
• Strong regulatory experience in fintech, reputable law firms, or financial institutions, ideally with exposure to payments, e-money, FX, remittances, and/or card issuing in the Americas.
• Proven success advising on regulatory matters, handling submissions, filings, and regulatory strategy in financial services or payments.
• Experience engaging directly with regulators in key Americas markets (federal and state/provincial).
• Deep understanding of the financial services regulatory environment in the Americas, especially payments, remittance, FX, issuing, and digital financial services.
• Excellent stakeholder management skills with the ability to work cross-functionally.
• Proactive, results-driven, and able to manage multiple priorities and deadlines.
• Strong communication skills to explain complex legal topics to non-lawyers and provide business-relevant solutions.
• Collaborative team player comfortable managing ambiguity and thriving in fast-paced environments.

Preferred Qualifications

• Combination of private practice and in-house experience.
• Experience supporting expansion into new markets and launching new regulatory licenses in fintech, payments, or financial services.
• Knowledge of consumer and commercial regulatory matters, including state money transmitter licensing (MTL) and federal prudential regulators.
• Familiarity with regulations such as Reg E, UDAAP, and TILA.
• Experience using or developing RegTech, LegalTech, or AI tools to enhance legal functions.
• Canadian payment processing and money services business experience, including familiarity with RPAA, Fintrac, and provincial financial licensing.

Compensation & Benefits

• Salary range: $200,000 - $280,000

Location

• Americas region (specific location details not provided)

Additional Information

• The role involves direct engagement with regulators and requires strong legal and regulatory expertise in the Americas financial services sector.
• The organization is committed to equal opportunity employment and values diversity.
• Applicants should be aware of recruitment scams; official communications will come from the organization's official email domain.
• The organization does not accept unsolicited resumes from search firms or recruiters without prior agreement.