Lead Counsel, Payments and Regulatory

Rippling; San Francisco (CA); Hybrid; USD 210,000 - 295,000; Full time

Job summary

Rippling in San Francisco is seeking a Lead Counsel, Payments and Regulatory to expand our financial product stack. You will partner with product, engineering, and operations to shape payments strategy, navigate global regulations, and build scalable compliance infrastructure.

You should bring 6+ years in regulated payments/fintech law, JD/LLM or equivalent, and a proven ability to advise senior stakeholders in a fast-paced environment.

Qualifications

• 6+ years of payments/fintech legal experience.
• Strong regulatory analysis capabilities.
• Excellent written and verbal communication.

Responsibilities

• Advise on US and global payments and fintech offerings.
• Counsel product teams through design, launch, and scale.
• Navigate regulatory frameworks for compliant development.
• Design and scale legal infrastructure for payments.
• Embed legal/compliance into product initiatives.
• Provide pragmatic, scalable legal solutions.

Skills

Payments regulatory knowledge

Analytical skills

Regulatory counseling

Communication skills

Stakeholder management

Education

JD/LLB/LLM or equivalent

Job description

About Rippling

Rippling gives businesses one place to run HR, IT, and Finance. It brings together all of the workforce systems that are normally scattered across a company, like payroll, expenses, benefits, and computers. For the first time ever, you can manage and automate every part of the employee lifecycle in a single system.

About Rippling

Rippling gives businesses one place to run HR, IT, and Finance. It brings together all of the workforce systems that are normally scattered across a company, like payroll, expenses, benefits, and computers. For the first time ever, you can manage and automate every part of the employee lifecycle in a single system. Take onboarding, for example. With Rippling, you can hire a new employee anywhere in the world and set up their payroll, corporate card, computer, benefits, and even third-party apps like Slack and Microsoft 365—all within 90 seconds. Based in San Francisco, CA, Rippling has raised $1.4B+ from the worlds top investors - Including Kleiner Perkins, Founders Fund, Sequoia, Greenoaks, and Bedrock, and was named one of America's best startup employers by Forbes. We prioritize candidate safety. Please be aware that all official communication will only be sent from @Rippling.com addresses.

About The Role

We are looking for a sharp, forward thinking Lead Counsel, Payments and Regulatory to expand our portfolio of financial products. This is an exciting opportunity to build the legal and payments infrastructure to support our cutting-edge financial product stack. You will work closely with our business and product teams to develop and execute on a wide range of payments-related initiatives, creating a first-in-kind platform that spans numerous industries. You will also help drive the compliance culture at Rippling across our product and operations. The ideal candidate loves working in a fast-paced environment, enjoys the regulatory challenge of innovative payments and banking systems, takes ownership over initiatives, has excellent analytical and communication skills, and fundamentally believes that lawyering need not be boring.

What You Will Do

• Serve as a trusted legal advisor to the business, including product, engineering, operations, and marketing teams, on our US and global payments and fintech offerings
• Provide product counseling across the product lifecycle, from ideation and design through launch and scale, covering regulatory analysis, risk assessment, terms and disclosures, marketing, and regulator interactions
• Navigate complex and evolving global regulatory frameworks to enable compliant product development
• Help design and scale the legal infrastructure for payments in the US and around the globe
• Embed legal and compliance into product and business initiatives while enabling speed, innovation, and customer impact
• Craft and implement pragmatic, efficient, and scalable legal and compliance solutions

What You Will Have

• 6+ years experience in a payments or fintech legal role (money transmission, lending, banking-as-a-service, or general fintech) at a law firm or in-house legal department
• Strong understanding of the payments ecosystem and regulatory environment
• Strong interest in payments and regulatory counseling and experience advising on legal issues in highly regulated industries
• Experience building trusted relationships and an ability to collaborate with senior stakeholders
• Strong analytical and problem-solving skills
• Excellent communicator with the ability to break down complex requirements into easy-to-understand and practical advice
• Ability to work with multiple deadlines under pressure
• Entrepreneurial mindset, self-starting, and comfortable working in a highly dynamic and complex global organizational environment
• JD, LLB, LLM, or equivalent degree

Additional Information

Rippling is an equal opportunity employer. We are committed to building a diverse and inclusive workforce and do not discriminate based on race, religion, color, national origin, ancestry, physical disability, mental disability, medical condition, genetic information, marital status, sex, gender, gender identity, gender expression, age, sexual orientation, veteran or military status, or any other legally protected characteristics, Rippling is committed to providing reasonable accommodations for candidates with disabilities who need assistance during the hiring process. To request a reasonable accommodation, please email [e-mail]

Rippling highly values having employees working in-office to foster a collaborative work environment and company culture. Rippling considers working in the office, at least three days a week under current policy, to be an essential function of the employee's role.

This role will receive a competitive salary + benefits + equity. The salary for US-based employees will be aligned with one of the ranges below based on location; see which tier applies to your location here. A variety of factors are considered when determining someone's compensation- including a candidate's professional background, experience, and location. Final offer amounts may vary from the amounts listed below.

The pay range for this role is

210,000 - 295,000 USD per year(US Tier 1)