Chief Compliance and Legal Officer

Goodwin Recruiting; New York (NY); On-site; USD 250,000 - 420,000; Full time

Job summary

Goodwin Recruiting seeks a Chief Compliance and Legal Officer to lead the company’s compliance and legal functions. The role requires strong judgment, leadership, and a disciplined operating approach to translate regulatory understanding into practical guidance and efficient processes.

Responsibilities include leading the compliance program, managing outside counsel and legal spend, and partnering with executives to strengthen policies and controls in a heavily regulated financial services

Qualifications

• Must hold Juris Doctor and be an active bar member.
• Significant leadership experience in regulated financial services.
• Excellent written and verbal communication, with ability to explain legal issues to non-lawyers.
• Proven ability to build or restructure compliance processes and teams.

Responsibilities

• Lead the compliance program and department.
• Provide practical legal and regulatory guidance to the business.
• Own outside counsel strategy and legal spend.
• Manage regulatory, licensing, and examination activity.
• Strengthen policies, monitoring, training, and controls.
• Partner with executive leadership to align risk and growth.

Skills

Leadership

Communication

Change management

Regulatory knowledge

Education

Juris Doctor and active bar license

Job description

Chief Compliance and Legal Officer

The Chief Compliance and Legal Officer leads the company’s compliance and legal function and is responsible

for keeping the organization aligned with regulatory requirements while supporting practical business

execution. This role is expected to bring sound judgment, strong leadership, and a disciplined operating

approach. The right person will understand the company’s products, growth objectives, customer profile, risk

profile, and regulatory environment, then translate that understanding into clear guidance, efficient processes,

and a purposeful compliance department

Chief Compliance and Legal Officer Responsibilities:

• Lead the compliance program and department


• Provide practical legal and regulatory guidance


• Own outside counsel strategy and legal spend


• Manage regulatory, licensing, and examination activity


• Strengthen policies, monitoring, training, and controls


• Partner with executive leadership

Chief of Compliance and Legal Officer Requirements:

• Juris Doctor and active bar license.


• Significant legal and compliance leadership experience in consumer finance, lending, specialty finance, fintech, or another heavily regulated financial services environment.


• Demonstrated success leading legal and compliance functions, not just advising from the side.


• Strong working knowledge of consumer financial laws and regulations, including TILA, ECOA, UDAAP, FCRA, FDCPA, TCPA, servicing, collections, and state licensing.


• Proven business judgment, including the ability to distinguish material risk, manageable risk, and low-probability concerns that don't warrant overreaction.


• Experience building, upgrading, or restructuring compliance processes, controls, or teams.


• Experience managing outside counsel and legal budgets effectively.


• Strong written and verbal communication skills, with the ability to explain legal and regulatory issues clearly to non-lawyers.


• Strong leadership, prioritization, and change management skills.