Senior Legal Counsel

⚖️ Senior Legal Counsel (Banking Partnerships)

Banking Infrastructure Platform

$210,000 - $300,000 + Equity

San Francisco (Hybrid)

About the Company

A high growth fintech is looking for a Senior Legal Counsel to help structure and launch some of the most innovative banking partnerships in the market. Founded by leaders from companies such as Plaid, Square, Affirm and Blend, the business is rebuilding banking infrastructure from the ground up. By combining technology with a nationally chartered bank, they enable fintechs to launch products faster, operate more efficiently, and remove many of the complexities traditionally associated with banking partnerships.

As the company continues to scale, they need a commercial and product minded lawyer who can work directly with fintech clients, internal stakeholders, and leadership to bring complex financial products to market.

Senior Legal Counsel

About the Role

We are seeking a Senior Legal Counsel to own bank fintech partnerships from initial discussions through launch, expansion, and ongoing growth.

This is not a traditional legal role focused solely on contracts or regulatory advice. You will sit at the intersection of legal, product, commercial, compliance, and strategy teams, helping structure innovative financial products while navigating complex regulatory requirements.

The ideal candidate will be comfortable operating in fast moving environments, partnering closely with business leaders, and balancing commercial objectives with regulatory obligations.

Ideal Candidate

• 8 - 15 years experience
• Experience at a top 25 law firm
• Experience at a high-growth Fintech/Financial Service
• Product/Commercial split. Managing partnerships from end-to-end

Role Overview

As Senior Legal Counsel, you will act as a strategic partner to the business, helping fintech clients launch products across payments, lending, deposits, cards, and embedded finance.

You will work closely with leadership, product teams, engineering, risk, compliance, and external partners to structure programmes, negotiate agreements, develop scalable frameworks, and support product innovation.

This role offers significant exposure to executive leadership and the opportunity to influence how leading fintech products are built and delivered.

What You'll Do

Bank Fintech Partnerships

• Structure and launch complex banking and embedded finance partnerships.
• Support products across payments, lending, deposits, cards, wallets, and money movement.
• Advise business teams on product design, implementation, and launch strategy.
• Partner with stakeholders to bring new financial products from concept to market.

Commercial Agreements

• Draft, negotiate, and manage sophisticated commercial and partnership agreements.
• Lead negotiations with fintech clients and strategic partners.
• Develop scalable documentation frameworks that support future growth.
• Balance commercial objectives with legal and regulatory requirements.

Product & Regulatory Strategy

• Advise product, commercial, and engineering teams on legal and regulatory considerations.
• Support the development of innovative banking and fintech products.
• Provide guidance on regulatory frameworks across lending, payments, and banking infrastructure.
• Identify risks and develop practical solutions that enable business growth.

Cross Functional Leadership

• Partner closely with Compliance, Risk, Finance, Product, Operations, and Engineering.
• Act as a key legal stakeholder on strategic initiatives and partnership launches.
• Help create scalable processes that improve efficiency across the organisation.
• Support leadership on high impact projects and business initiatives.

Legal Operations & Innovation

• Improve legal processes through automation, technology, and AI tools.
• Build repeatable frameworks that accelerate partnership onboarding and product launches.
• Help scale legal operations as the business continues to grow.
• Drive efficiency while maintaining strong legal and compliance standards.

What They're Looking For

• J.D. qualified lawyer licensed within a US jurisdiction.
• 7+ years of legal experience across law firm and/or in house environments.
• Strong experience supporting fintech, banking, payments, lending, or embedded finance businesses.
• Proven ability to draft and negotiate complex commercial agreements.
• Deep understanding of banking partnerships and fintech regulatory frameworks.
• Experience advising product and commercial teams on financial services offerings.
• Knowledge of payments, lending, cards, deposits, money movement, or banking infrastructure.
• Strong commercial judgement and ability to balance risk with business objectives.
• Track record of managing multiple workstreams in fast paced environments.
• Passion for fintech innovation and building products at the intersection of banking and technology.

Why Join?

• Work on some of the most innovative fintech and banking partnerships in the market.
• Direct exposure to executive leadership and strategic decision making.
• Significant ownership and autonomy from day one.
• Opportunity to shape products used by leading fintech companies.
• Strong compensation package including meaningful equity participation.
• High calibre team with experience building category defining fintech businesses.
• Front row seat to the future of banking infrastructure and embedded finance.

If you're a commercially minded fintech lawyer who enjoys building products, structuring partnerships, and working at the forefront of banking innovation, we'd love to speak with you.