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

Overview

This role is part of the Transactions team within the Legal department. The position supports corporate development and venture transactions—such as mergers and acquisitions, strategic transactions, and venture investments—along with financial partnerships, including agreements with banks and other financial institutions that support reserve, treasury, and payments operations.

In addition, the role may support select commercial transactions involving products and services for banks and other financial institutions as needs arise.

Responsibilities

• Lead strategic transactions end-to-end, from inception through negotiation, signing, closing, and—where relevant—implementation or integration.
• Support mergers, acquisitions, divestitures, asset purchases, and other strategic transactions, including:
  • Structuring
  • 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
  • Ancillary agreements
• Structure, draft, and negotiate agreements with banks and financial institutions supporting reserve, treasury, and payments operations, including:
  • Deposit, custody, and safeguarding arrangements
  • Account control and cash management arrangements
• Serve as a trusted advisor to internal stakeholders across Corporate Development and Ventures, Treasury, and Financial Partnerships, coordinating with Legal, Regulatory, Risk, Compliance, Tax, Corporate Governance, Product, and others as needed.
• Coordinate with outside counsel where appropriate.
• As needs arise, support select commercial transactions where the organization provides products, services, or technology to banks and other financial institutions, partnering with Business Development and Product and translating business objectives into practical contractual terms.
• Develop and expand transaction templates, playbooks, diligence tools, processes, and metrics to improve speed, consistency, and effectiveness across recurring transaction types.
• Help design and lead adoption of AI-enabled workflows for the Transactions team, including:
  • Rethinking how transactional legal work is structured and delivered
  • Improving diligence, contract review, issues lists, drafting, deal tracking, and other recurring workflows
  • Experimenting with scalable processes and playbooks
  • Reviewing and validating AI-assisted work product for accuracy, confidentiality, privilege, and risk

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, sound business judgment, and 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, with strong ownership and organization; ability to manage multiple matters in a fast-moving, change-prone environment.
• Demonstrated familiarity with and practical use of generative AI in legal or other professional workflows, including judgment about when and how to use AI, validation of outputs, and protecting privileged, confidential, and material non-public information in a public company environment.
• Passion for the organization’s mission and values, financial technology, and the potential of stablecoins, digital assets, and blockchain technology.

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, including 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

Not specified in the provided job description.