Associate General Counsel - Personal Wealth Products

Empower; Greenwood Village (CO); Hybrid; USD 180,000 - 260,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Medical, dental, vision, and life ins

401(k) plan with company matching

Financial advisory services

Job summary

Empower Annuity Insurance Company of America is seeking a seasoned attorney to join the Personal Wealth product organization as lead counsel. You will advise on wealth offerings, partner across product, compliance, risk, and business teams, and help shape innovative, compliant solutions.

You will navigate ERISA, fiduciary duties, and regulatory regimes while guiding product governance and third-party partnerships in a fast-moving environment.

Qualifications

• J.D. and active bar membership required.
• 15+ years advising retail wealth management businesses (RIA, broker-dealer, or hybrid).
• Strong knowledge of wealth management legal frameworks including SEC, FINRA, and state regimes.
• Experience supporting product strategy, development and launch in fast-paced or tech-enabled environments.

Responsibilities

• Advise on design, development, and distribution of innovative wealth offerings.
• Partner with product, compliance, risk, and business leaders from concept through launch.
• Coordinate across Empower’s legal team to deliver aligned guidance with a single voice.
• Navigate SEC and ERISA fiduciary obligations and state regulatory requirements.
• Advise on AI and data-driven governance in wealth products and client disclosures.

Skills

Executive presence

Cross-functional influence

Regulatory compliance

Legal drafting

Education

J.D. and active bar membership

Job description

Our vision for the future is based on the idea that transforming financial lives starts by giving our people the freedom to transform their own. We have a flexible work environment, and fluid career paths. We not only encourage but celebrate internal mobility. We also recognize the importance of purpose, well-being, and work-life balance. Within Empower and our communities, we work hard to create a welcoming and inclusive environment, and our associates dedicate thousands of hours to volunteering for causes that matter most to them.

Chart your own path and grow your career while helping more customers achieve financial freedom. Empower Yourself.

Empower is transforming how Americans experience wealth, bridging workplace retirement and personal wealth products and services to deliver more holistic, accessible financial solutions. We are seeking a seasoned attorney to join our legal team as a strategic partner to our Personal Wealth product organization.

This role has primary accountability for supporting the development and delivery of personal wealth products. You will partner across retirement, wealth, compliance, and business teams where those areas intersect. Few organizations operate at this scale across both retirement and personal wealth, creating a unique opportunity to design integrated solutions for millions of customers.

You will help design and launch next-generation wealth solutions that reach millions of customers. If you are energized by building, not just reviewing, and want to help shape the future of retail wealth, this role offers a unique platform to do so.

What you will do:

• Serve as lead counsel to the Personal Wealth product organization, advising on the design, development, implementation and distribution of innovative wealth offerings
• Partner closely with product, compliance, risk and business leaders from concept through launch, ensuring aligned, practical solutions across legal, risk and compliance while enabling speed to market
• Coordinate across Empower’s broader legal team to deliver aligned, consistent, and business-oriented guidance, ensuring a “one voice” approach to legal advice
• Navigate complex legal and regulatory frameworks, including the Investment Advisers Act, the Exchange Act, SEC and FINRA rules, ERISA/DOL fiduciary standards, and state laws and regulations
• Advise on product structures and distribution across direct-to-consumer and advisor-led channels
• Provide guidance on SEC and ERISA fiduciary obligations as applicable, Reg BI, conflicts of interest management, and client disclosures
• Advise on and help shape Empower’s approach to the responsible use of artificial intelligence and data-driven technologies in wealth products, including evolving state and federal guidance and rulemaking related to predictive analytics, conflicts of interest, model governance, and client communications
• Support product governance, regulatory filings and client-facing materials
• Advise on third-party partnerships and evolving fintech capabilities
• Monitor regulatory and industry developments, translating them into practical guidance for product, compliance, and other legal stakeholders

What Sets This Role Apart

• Direct impact: Shape products that support millions of retirement plan participants and personal wealth clients as their financial needs evolve
• Builder mindset: Work closely with the product organization to shape strategy and enable execution
• Innovation with purpose: Help expand access to sophisticated wealth solutions
• Enterprise impact: Shape products and solutions that serve millions of investors across their financial lifecycle
• Strategic seat at the table: Partner directly with senior product and business leaders to shape product direction, not just advising on execution
• Innovation in a regulated environment: Help navigate and define approaches in emerging areas like AI, digital advice, and retail access to new products and services

What You Bring

• J.D. and active bar membership
• 15+ years of experience advising retail wealth management businesses (RIA, broker-dealer, or hybrid)
• Strong knowledge of wealth management legal and regulatory frameworks including deep familiarity with SEC, FINRA, and state regulatory regimes particularly related to duties of care, disclosure, and conflicts of interest
• Exposure to emerging wealth products including direct indexing, alternatives, retirement income strategies
• Experience supporting product strategy, development and launch, ideally in a fast-paced or technology-enabled environment
• Sound judgment and ability to balance legal and regulatory risk with business objectivesComfort operating in evolving or ambiguous regulatory environments
• Operates as a senior individual contributor with strong cross-functional influence
• Executive presence and ability to communicate practical legal guidance clearly to senior business, product and other legal stakeholders

Preferred Experience

• Experience at integrated retirement/wealth service providers, asset managers, RIAs, broker-dealers, fintech platforms, or other scaled financial services firms
• Strong knowledge of wealth management legal frameworks, with familiarity or experience in retirement/ERISA frameworks strongly preferred
• Familiarity with digital platforms, data-driven personalization, or fintech partnerships
• Experience advising on distribution across retirement, direct-to-consumer, and advisor-led channels
• Experience with product governance committees, disclosure/conflicts governance, and regulatory examinations
• Familiarity with emerging retail products such as cryptocurrencies, stablecoins and prediction markets

How We Work at Empower

At Empower, how we work matters as much as what we build. We value collaboration, transparency, and shared ownership, and our legal team is viewed as a critical enabler of innovation— not a barrier.

We are looking for someone who:

• Operates with a “one team” mindset, building strong, trust-based relationships across functions
• Communicates clearly and pragmatically, translating complex legal concepts into actionable guidance
• Takes accountability, exercises sound judgment, and leads with integrity
• Embraces Empower’s values and contributes to a culture where diverse perspectives and ideas drive better outcomes
• Proactively aligns with legal, compliance, and risk partners to ensure consistent, enterprise-wide positions, avoiding siloed or fragmented advice

Why Empower

Empower is uniquely positioned at the convergence of retirement and wealth. This creates an opportunity to build differentiated products and to do so in a way that meaningfully improves financial outcomes for millions of people. This role offers the opportunity to help define how retirement and wealth solutions converge, an area of increasing focus across the industry, but one where Empower is uniquely positioned to lead.

If you’re looking for a role where you can influence strategy, build innovative solutions, and be part of a collaborative, mission-driven culture, we’d like to meet you.

Applicants must be authorized to work for any employer in the U.S. We are unable to sponsor or take over sponsorship of an employment visa at this time, including CPT/OPT.

What we offer you

We offer an array of diverse and inclusive benefits regardless of where you are in your career. We believe that providing our employees with the means to lead healthy balanced lives results in the best possible work performance.

• Medical, dental, vision and life insurance
• Retirement savings – 401(k) plan with generous company matching contributions (up to 6%), financial advisory services, potential company discretionary contribution, and a broad investment lineup