Special Counsel, Transactions (M&A and Bank Partnerships)

Overview

The organization is seeking an experienced transactional attorney to join the Transactions team within the Legal department. This role supports two connected areas:

• Corporate Development and Ventures (including mergers and acquisitions, strategic transactions, and venture investments)
• Financial Partnerships (including agreements with banks and other financial institutions that support reserve, treasury, and payments operations)

Under the direction of the Deputy Assistant General Counsel, Transactions, you will serve as a senior individual contributor and trusted advisor, independently leading transactions from inception through negotiation, signing, closing, and, where relevant, implementation or integration.

The role also uses AI as a core part of day-to-day transactional work and helps shape how the team operates in an AI-enabled environment.

Responsibilities

• Support mergers, acquisitions, divestitures, asset purchases, and other strategic transactions, including:
  • Structuring deals
  • Conducting due diligence
  • Drafting definitive agreements
  • Coordinating signing, closing, and integration matters
• Advise on joint ventures, minority and venture investments, strategic partnerships with an equity component, and other non-ordinary-course transactions, including:
  • Term sheets, investment agreements, side letters, and ancillary agreements
• Structure, draft, and negotiate agreements with banks and financial institutions supporting reserve, treasury, and payments operations, including:
  • Deposit, custody and safeguarding, account control, and cash management arrangements
• Partner across internal stakeholders by leading transactions that involve Legal, Regulatory, Risk, Compliance, Tax, Corporate Governance, Product, and others; coordinate with outside counsel when appropriate
• As needs arise, support select commercial transactions where the organization provides products, services, or technology to banks and other financial institutions
• Develop and expand transaction templates, playbooks, diligence tools, processes, and metrics to increase speed, consistency, and effectiveness across recurring transaction types
• Help design and lead adoption of AI-enabled workflows across the Transactions team, including:
  • Rethinking how transactional legal work is structured and delivered
  • Using AI to improve diligence, contract review, issues lists, drafting, deal tracking, and other recurring workflows
  • Experimenting with new approaches and taking responsibility for reviewing and validating AI-assisted work for accuracy, confidentiality, privilege, and risk
• Use AI to accelerate due diligence, compare counterparty drafts against playbooks and prior positions, and prepare first drafts of issues lists, term sheets, and ancillary documents
• Identify recurring workflows where AI can improve speed and consistency, and help other attorneys, interns, and business partners adopt effective practices
• Maintain full responsibility for the work product, including reviewing and validating AI-assisted outputs for accuracy and legal judgment, and protecting privilege, confidentiality, and material non-public information

Requirements

• J.D. or foreign equivalent and active membership in good standing of at least one U.S. State Bar
• 7+ years of transactional legal experience at a leading law firm, an in-house legal department, or a combination of both
• Substantial experience with M&A and other corporate transactions and/or financial services transactions, including:
  • Structuring transactions
  • Drafting first-turn agreements
  • Leading negotiations and diligence
  • Independently driving complex matters through signing and closing
• Strong working knowledge of corporate and commercial law and sound business judgment, including the ability to coordinate legal, regulatory, tax, accounting, securities, and operational considerations while balancing legal risk and commercial objectives
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills, strong ownership and organization, and the ability to manage multiple matters simultaneously in a fast-moving, rapidly changing environment
• Demonstrated familiarity with and practical use of generative AI in legal or other professional workflows, including:
  • Sound judgment about when and how to use AI
  • Validating outputs
  • Protecting privileged, confidential, and material non-public information in a public company environment

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience with banking, deposit, custody, safeguarding, treasury, or other financial services agreements and/or seller-side technology or financial services transactions involving regulated financial institutions, digital assets, stablecoins, payments, cross-border transactions, or other fintech businesses
• Experience building, implementing, or scaling AI-enabled workflows, prompts, templates, playbooks, or tools for a legal team

Compensation & Benefits

• Base pay range: $200,000 - $262,500
• Starting pay is determined by factors including relevant experience, skill set, qualifications, and other business and organizational needs. Compensation ranges may differ for candidates in other locations.

Location

Compensation ranges may differ for candidates in other locations.