Director, Global Licensing

Alpaca; Canada; Remote; CAD 100,000 - 130,000; Full time

Job summary

A financial services technology company based in Canada is seeking a skilled individual to lead their global licensing strategy across multiple jurisdictions. The ideal candidate will possess over 7 years of experience in international licensing within the fintech sector, demonstrating a successful track record of managing complex regulatory applications. This role entails overseeing the entire licensing process and ensuring compliance with various regulatory bodies worldwide. Competitive salary and benefits package offered.

Benefits

Competitive Salary & Stock Options

New Hire Home-Office Setup: One-time USD $500

Monthly Stipend: USD $150

Qualifications

• 7 – 12+ years of experience in international licensing and regulatory affairs.
• Strong working knowledge of cross-border regulatory frameworks.
• Proven ability to manage complex licensing projects.

Responsibilities

• Lead global license strategy and applications.
• Draft and maintain policies and compliance manuals.
• Manage filing and coordination for regulatory submissions.

Skills

International licensing experience

Regulatory affairs knowledge

Relationship management

Project management

Strong drafting skills

Job description

Alpaca is a US-headquartered self-clearing broker-dealer and brokerage infrastructure for stocks, ETFs, options, crypto, fixed income, 24/5 trading, and more. Ourrecent Series C funding round brought our total investment to over $170 million, fueling our ambitious vision.

Amongst our subsidiaries, Alpaca is a licensed financial services company, serving hundreds of financial institutions across 40 countries with our institutional-grade APIs. This includes broker-dealers, investment advisors, wealth managers, hedge funds, and crypto exchanges, totalling over 6 million brokerage accounts.

Our global team is a diverse group of experienced engineers, traders, and brokerage professionals who are working to achieve our mission ofopening financial services to everyone on the planet. We're deeply committed to open-source contributions and fostering a vibrant community, continuously enhancing our award-winning, developer-friendly API and the robust infrastructure behind it.

Alpaca is proudly backed by top-tier global investors, including Portage Ventures, Spark Capital, Tribe Capital, Social Leverage, Horizons Ventures, Unbound, SBI Group, Derayah Financial, Elefund, and Y Combinator.

Our Team Members:

We're a dynamic team of 230+ globally distributed members who thrive working from our favorite places around the world, with teammates spanning the USA, Canada, Japan, Hungary, Nigeria, Brazil, the UK, and beyond!

We're searching for passionate individuals eager to contribute to Alpaca's rapid growth. If you align with our core values—Stay Curious, Have Empathy, and Be Accountable—and are ready to make a significant impact, we encourage you to apply.

Your Role:

Lead global license strategy and applications across multiple jurisdictions (U.S., Canada, U.K./EU, MENA, APAC, LATAM), including new entity formation, application preparation, and full lifecycle project management to approval.

• Responsible for owning the end-to-end process of obtaining, establishing, and launching regulatory licenses across multiple jurisdictions. This includes:
• Leading all aspects of license applications and renewals.
• Drafting and maintaining policies, procedures, compliance manuals, and operational frameworks aligned with local regulations.
• Developing business plans, governance structures, and regulatory strategies to support new market entries.
• Managing preparation and submission of application materials, including forms, disclosures, and supporting documentation.
• Coordinating with internal stakeholders, regulators, and external counsel to ensure timely and successful approvals.
• Coordinate regulatory submissions for securities, crypto, and futures/derivatives licenses (e.g., broker-dealer, investment dealer, crypto asset service provider, money transmitter, introducing broker, FCM, or equivalent).
• Partner cross-functionally with Legal, Compliance, Risk, Finance, InfoSec, and Product teams to compile policies, procedures, corporate governance documents, and capital materials supporting applications.
• Oversee license maintenance – ensure renewals, notifications, ownership or officer changes, and condition fulfillments are tracked and submitted on time in all jurisdictions.
• Conduct market assessments – analyze new licensing opportunities, compare frameworks, and recommend strategic sequencing of global license expansion.
• Maintain a global license inventory and centralized repository of approvals, conditions, and regulator correspondence, with periodic leadership reporting and dashboards.
• Support strategic initiatives and M&A by coordinating change-of-control or post-transaction regulatory approvals with local counsel and regulators.
• Monitor regulatory developments affecting Alpaca’s existing and prospective licenses, providing early visibility and strategic guidance to leadership.

Required Qualifications and Experience:

• 7 – 12+ years of experience in international licensing and regulatory affairs within financial services, fintech, or digital assets (broker-dealer, FCM, crypto exchange, or payments firm).
• Demonstrated success leading multi-jurisdiction license applications and regulator engagements across North America, Latin America, Europe, the Middle East, and Asia.
• Strong working knowledge of cross-border regulatory frameworks and authorities (SEC/FINRA, CFTC/NFA, CIRO, FCA, CNMV, MAS, ADGM, CMA, DFSA, ASIC, etc.).
• Excellent relationship management skills with regulators and local counsel; diplomatic communicator who can represent the company in regulator-facing discussions.
• Proven ability to manage complex, high-stakes licensing projects end-to-end with minimal oversight.
• Strong drafting and organizational skills with meticulous attention to accuracy and presentation.
• Nice to have: experience structuring new entities, advising on prudential capital and governance requirements, and managing post-approval conditions or renewals.

How We Take Care of You:

• Competitive Salary & Stock Options
• New Hire Home-Office Setup: One-time USD $500
• Monthly Stipend: USD $150 per month via a Brex Card

Alpaca is proud to be an equal opportunity workplace dedicated to pursuing and hiring a diverse workforce.

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