Legal Counsel, Payments

Wealthsimple Inc.; Toronto; Remote; CAD 90,000 - 130,000; Full time

Job summary

Wealthsimple Inc. is seeking a Legal Counsel for Payments to join the Neobanking regulatory team. This position is crucial in providing legal insights on payments law and working with various teams on regulatory alignment and compliance. With a focus on financial freedom, Wealthsimple invites you to empower millions in achieving their financial goals.

Benefits

Competitive salary with health benefits

Retirement savings matching plan

20 vacation days and unlimited sick days

$1,500 wellness budget annually

90 days international work program

Company-wide wellness days off

Qualifications

• 4+ years of legal experience focusing on payments law.
• Experience with regulatory bodies and compliance in financial services.
• Strong ability to communicate complex legal topics effectively.

Responsibilities

• Lead legal advocacy efforts related to payments.
• Provide legal advice on payments law and regulatory compliance.
• Draft and review client-facing terms and conditions.

Skills

Communication

Regulatory insight

Advocacy

Collaboration

Strategic thinking

Education

Juris Doctor (JD) or equivalent degree

Job description

Your career is an investment that grows over time!

Wealthsimple is on a mission to help everyone achieve financial freedom by reimagining what it means to manage your money. Using smart technology, we take financial services that are often confusing, opaque and expensive and make them transparent and low-cost for everyone. We’re the largest fintech company in Canada, with over 4 million users who trust us with more than $70 billion in assets.

Our teams ship often and make an impact with groundbreaking ideas. We're looking for talented people who keep it simple and value collaboration and humility as we continue to create inclusive and high-performing teams where people can be inspired to do their best work.

About the role

Wealthsimple is looking for a Legal Counsel, Payments to join our Neobanking regulatory team. Reporting to the Director, Neobanking Strategy & Payments Legal, you will play a key role in supporting the development, commercialization, and regulatory alignment of Wealthsimple’s payment products and infrastructure. You’ll work cross-functionally with Legal, Compliance, Product, Engineering, Risk, and Policy teams to help navigate a rapidly evolving landscape.

This role will be critical in providing legal guidance on regulatory, competition, and product matters related to the Retail Payments Activities Act (RPAA), Real-Time Rail (RTR), and other payments initiatives in Canada.

We’re looking for someone who brings practical legal insight, has strong regulatory instincts, and thrives in a fast-paced, high-impact environment.

In this role, the candidate will have the opportunity to:

• Lead Wealthsimple’s legal advocacy efforts in the payments space, including interactions with regulators such as the Department of Finance, Bank of Canada, and Competition Bureau.
• Provide legal and strategic advice on payments law, stablecoins as payment instruments, consumer protection, and competition issues in support of our product, engineering, and government relations teams.
• Support Wealthsimple’s regulatory initiatives including RPAA registration and ongoing compliance, and help shape our legal strategy related to Real-Time Rail participation.
• Draft, review, and update client-facing terms and conditions and product disclosures.
• Collaborate the intersection of securities law (particularly CIRO rules) and payments law.
• Assist with resolving complex client complaints and regulatory escalations.
• Advise on commercial agreements and relationships related to payments infrastructure.
• Collaborate on legal aspects of product development for payments features related to the intersection of securities law (particularly CIRO rules) and payments law.
• Work with outside counsel on specialized or complex legal questions.

Skills we’re looking for:

• 4+ years of legal experience with a focus on competition, consumer protection, or payments law, ideally in a heavily regulated industry, or law firm environment.
• Advocacy experience in a heavily regulated industry, particularly on issues related to competition and consumer protection.
• Practical experience working with regulators to advance business objectives and resolve complaints in a creative and collaborative way.
• Pragmatic and results-oriented experience negotiating agreements, particularly for complex digital and financial services.
• Strong communication skills and ability to distill complex legal topics into clear, actionable advice for diverse audiences.
• Collaborative and proactive mindset with a willingness to roll up your sleeves.
• Comfortable navigating ambiguity and evolving regulatory frameworks.
• A strategic thinker with a builder mentality who thrives in a fast-moving, mission-driven environment.

Nice-to-haves:

• Experience advising on European or U.S. financial regulatory frameworks
• French language skills
• Familiarity with anti-money laundering (AML) laws
• Previous in-house experience at in a heavily regulated industry

Why Wealthsimple?

Competitive salary with top-tier health benefits and life insurance

Retirement savings matching plan using Wealthsimple for Business

20 vacation days per year and unlimited sick and mental health days

Up to $1,500 per year towards wellness and professional development budgets respectively

90 days away program: Employees can work internationally in eligible countries for up to 90 days per calendar year

A wide variety of peer and company-led Employee Resource Groups (ie. Rainbow, Women of Wealthsimple, Black @ WS)

Company-wide wellness days off scheduled throughout the year

We’re a remote-first team, with over 1,000 employees coast to coast in North America. Be a part of our Canadian success story and help shape the financial future of millions — join us!

Read our Culture Manual and learn more about how we work.

Technology & Innovation at Wealthsimple

We believe the future belongs to those who innovate boldly. At Wealthsimple, every team member is expected to lean into new technologies, including AI, and tooling to rethink how we work, solve problems faster, and create even greater value. We're looking for people who are not just comfortable with change but energized by it. Our commitment is to build a company that evolves at the pace of the world around us, and we want you to help lead that future.

DEI Statement

At Wealthsimple, we are building products for a diverse world and we need a diverse team to do that successfully. We strongly encourage applications from everyone regardless of race, religion, colour, national origin, gender, sexual orientation, age, marital status, or disability status.

Accessibility Statement

Wealthsimple provides an accessible candidate experience. If you need any accommodations or adjustments throughout the interview process and beyond, please let us know, and we will work with you to provide the necessary support and make reasonable accommodations to facilitate your participation. We are continuously working to improve our accessibility practices and welcome any feedback or suggestions on how we can better accommodate candidates with accessibility needs.