Senior Commercial Counsel

We are working with a high-growth financial-services platform that is expanding its in-house Legal team and seeking a commercially minded attorney to help build the legal infrastructure supporting its most important customer, vendor, and strategic-partnership relationships.

This is not a conventional in-house commercial counsel role centered solely on reviewing standard SaaS agreements. The position will involve structuring and negotiating sophisticated banking, payments, lending, and fintech partnerships—often at the intersection of commercial objectives, product innovation, and regulatory requirements. You will work closely with Sales, Partnerships, Risk, Compliance, Product, and business leadership to develop practical legal solutions that enable the company to scale safely.

This is a hybrid, in-person role in San Francisco, with an expectation of being in the office approximately three to four days per week. Relocation candidates are welcome.

What You’ll Do

Lead the structuring, drafting, negotiation, and execution of complex commercial agreements from initial business discussions through closing and ongoing relationship management.
Advise on agreements involving a broad range of banking and financial-services products, including payments and money movement, banking-as-a-service arrangements, deposit accounts, card programs, lending products, vendor relationships, and strategic partnerships.
Partner closely with Sales, Business Development, Partnerships, Risk, and Compliance teams to understand commercial goals, risk tolerance, customer requirements, and regulatory considerations for each transaction.
Develop scalable legal playbooks, templates, policies, processes, and contract inventories that improve speed, consistency, and risk management as the business grows.
Negotiate with high-growth fintechs, enterprise customers, vendors, and strategic partners, balancing business priorities with legal, regulatory, and operational requirements.
Serve as a strategic thought partner on how the company structures products, contracts with customers and partners, and manages legal risk across its distribution channels.
Support the broader Legal function on a range of matters as needed, including product and regulatory analysis, examinations, subpoenas, corporate-governance materials, litigation support, and emerging legal issues.
Help strengthen the overall Legal operating model by improving agreements, workflows, policies, and internal processes.

What We’re Looking For

8+ years of legal experience as a practicing attorney.
Strong experience drafting, negotiating, and managing complex commercial agreements independently.
Prior law-firm experience in technology transactions, fintech, financial services, payments, banking, or a related practice area is highly valued.
In-house experience at a fintech, bank, payments company, financial institution, lending platform, or similarly regulated business is strongly preferred.
Demonstrated ability to lead sophisticated negotiations involving multiple stakeholders, competing priorities, and meaningful commercial or regulatory complexity.
A practical, business-oriented approach to legal advice, with sound judgment around risk allocation, negotiation strategy, and when to escalate issues.
Strong project-management skills and the ability to manage multiple matters, stakeholders, and deadlines in a fast-moving environment.
Excellent written communication, attention to detail, and comfort operating with a high degree of autonomy.

Helpful Backgrounds

Candidates with any of the following experience will be particularly relevant:

Commercial banking products and services, including ACH, wires, deposit accounts, lending, cards, cash management, sweeps, check issuance, and check deposit.
Payments, money movement, embedded banking, banking-as-a-service, or fintech partnership structures.
Lending products, structured finance, credit facilities, or other financing arrangements.
Money-transmission regulation or payments-related regulatory frameworks.
Building scalable contracting processes, template suites, approval frameworks, and legal playbooks within a growing company.

Why This Opportunity

This is a high-impact role for a lawyer who wants to work on more than standard commercial contracting. The successful candidate will help shape the legal and commercial frameworks behind innovative banking and fintech relationships, work directly with senior business stakeholders, and contribute meaningfully to the evolution of a growing legal function.

We are also recruiting for a Senior Commercial Counsel position within the broader legal team and would be happy to discuss that opportunity with candidates whose background may be a stronger fit for a more senior-level remit.