Column - Senior Counsel, Strategic Partnerships (Payments)

San Francisco, California , USA$210k - $300k+ Equity3w ago

In Office Senior NA Banking Fintech Lawyer Senior Advisor Legal Documentation

Requirements

• Currently licensed in a U.S. state, J.D. or equivalent, with 7–15+ years as a practicing lawyer; priority given to candidates with both law firm experience and in-house experience at a fintech and/or a financial institution. • Deep expertise counseling product teams on banking infrastructure and embedded finance solutions, with particular depth in payments, money transmission, and money-movement regulatory frameworks. • Ability to independently draft and negotiate complex commercial agreements, with a strong understanding of both contract law and commercial transactions • Comprehensive knowledge of the regulatory framework governing banking partnerships and fintech services. • Deep working knowledge of NACHA rules, card network operating regulations, Regulation E, UCC Article 4A, BSA/AML requirements, and OFAC sanctions frameworks as they apply to payment products. • Experience structuring agreements and advising on payment processing agreements, funds-flow structures, settlement mechanics, and chargeback/dispute frameworks. • Proven ability to manage a high volume, cross-functional workload without sacrificing quality or speed • A strong desire to work at the center of fintech/bank innovation, coupled with comfort and experience making fast, sound, and supported risk decisions, especially where the legal landscape isn’t black and white. • Pay transparency • Pay transparency • Compensation packages at Column include base salary, equity, and benefits. New hire offers are made based on a candidate's experience, expertise, geographic location, and internal pay equity relative to peers. • The annual base salary range for this position is $210,000 - $300,000 + equity. • What you’ll get from us: • 🏥 Comprehensive health, dental, and vision plans, including options that are 100% covered by Column for you and 100% covered for your dependents! • 👶 Comprehensive family planning and fertility benefits via partnership with Carrot, including reimbursement of up to $20,000 in qualified expenses • 💳 FSA and HSA account options to enable use of pre-tax money for medical and dependent care expenses • 📈 401k plan, including self-directed brokerage options • 🌴 Flexible time-off policy - take the time off that you want and need to relax and recharge • 👶 100% paid parental leave, including 16 weeks for birth mothers, 12 weeks for primary caregivers, and 8 weeks for secondary caregivers • 🍽️ Catered lunches and dinners for SF employees

Responsibilities

• Structure Bank-Fintech Payments Partnerships End-to-End: Lead the legal structuring of 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. Draft and review key customer-facing terms and marketing materials, structure onboarding flows and applications, determine BSA/AML requirements, conduct true lender analyses, and own every legal detail of rolling out a new Column-backed product. Work closely with engineering to design a flow-of-funds model and reflect that product structure in legal documentation. • Structure Bank-Fintech Payments Partnerships End-to-End: • Own complex agreements end-to-end: Structure, draft, and negotiate complex customer and third-party partnership agreements covering a broad range of banking products and services. • Own complex agreements end-to-end • Drive Product Strategy & Innovation: Be the strategic legal voice enabling product innovation across our credit and lending portfolio. Partner closely with business teams and fintech partners from ideation through launch, anticipating challenges and architecting creative solutions that balance business needs with regulatory requirements. Advise on credit product structuring, and the legal implications of new lending features and partnership models. • Drive Product Strategy & Innovation: • Own Regulatory Architecture: Build and evolve regulatory frameworks for existing and new products. Leverage your deep expertise in Reg E, NACHA rules, card network rules, money transmission, TISA, Reg CC, UCC Article 4A, and the evolving frameworks for real-time payments. Partner with compliance and risk teams to develop scalable approaches that protect the business while enabling growth. • Own Regulatory Architecture: • Lead Subject Matter Expertise: Be a go-to authority on legal and regulatory requirements impacting payments products. Share insights on regulatory developments and their practical implications. Help establish Column as a thought leader in banking infrastructure. • Lead Subject Matter Expertise: • Leverage Technology & AI: Embrace and drive the adoption of technology — including AI and automation tools — to increase the efficiency, speed, and scalability of legal workflows. Identify opportunities to use AI and partner with engineering teams to build legal tooling that gives Column a structural advantage. • Leverage Technology & AI: • Scale Operations: Design and implement legal processes that can scale with hypergrowth. Improve partner onboarding efficiency while maintaining robust compliance. Build repeatable frameworks that enable the business to move faster. Develop template loan program agreements, disclosure packages, and servicing frameworks that accelerate new partnership launches. • Scale Operations:

Benefits

• 🎉 Regular team building events, including annual offsite • We look forward to hearing from you • Column is committed to working with the best and brightest people from the broadest talent pool possible. We value bringing together a team with different perspectives, educational backgrounds, and life experiences, and believe a diversity of ideas is what allows us to develop the best solutions. All qualified individuals are encouraged to apply. • If you need assistance or a reasonable accommodation during the application and recruiting process, please reach out to [email protected]. • We participate in the E-Verify program in certain locations as required by law. Learn more about the E-Verify program here.