Lead Counsel, Payments Partnerships Legal

Meta; San Francisco (CA); On-site; USD 170,000 - 237,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Bonus

Equity

Benefits

Job summary

Meta seeks an experienced transactional attorney to serve as Lead Counsel for Payments Partnerships, supporting payments and financial integrity initiatives across its family of apps. You will structure, draft, and negotiate strategic payments agreements and advise on regulatory and privacy matters across global programs.

You will collaborate with partnerships, product, tax, finance, compliance, and privacy teams to manage multiple deals, often under tight deadlines, with travel as needed.

Qualifications

• Active and in good standing bar license in at least one U.S. state or equivalent
• 5+ years of legal experience as a practicing attorney, including at a law firm or in-house
• Experience advising on payments law, financial services regulation, or money transmission requirements
• Experience drafting and negotiating commercial agreements with financial institutions, payment networks, or technology partners
• Experience managing numerous deals with tight deadlines and minimal supervision

Responsibilities

• Provide legal and strategic business advice to Payments and Financial Integrity Partnerships to develop long-term relationships and commercial aspects of products
• Serve as legal subject matter specialist on payments, financial services, and financial integrity transactions
• Draft, negotiate, and close complex payments and financial services agreements
• Identify legal risks in payments and financial integrity and implement mitigations in line with business objectives
• Advise on privacy, data protection, and information-sharing considerations in financial risk and fraud data exchanges with external partners
• Collaborate with cross-functional teams across Meta (partnerships, product, tax, finance, compliance, privacy, legal, outside counsel)
• Manage numerous deals and meet tight deadlines, willing to travel when required

Skills

Legal experience

Negotiation

Communication

Cross-functional

Deal management

Education

JD or equivalent

Job description

Meta seeks a experienced transactional attorney to serve as Lead Counsel to support its growing efforts in the payments (financial services and financial integrity) across Meta’s family of apps (Facebook, Instagram, Messenger, Threads, WhatsApp, Muse, and Reality Labs). You will work with partnerships and business development teams to structure, draft, and negotiate a wide variety of contracts, including strategic payments processing agreements, agentic payments partnerships, payment network integrations and other strategic payments agreements. You will also advise clients on the various legal risks, business strategies and other issues related to commercial transactions and general operations. In this role, you will join a legal team supporting the delivery of new payment and financial services experiences globally. This is a full-time position.

Lead Counsel, Payments Partnerships Legal Responsibilities:

• Provide legal and strategic business advice to Payments and Financial Integrity Partnerships to help develop a comprehensive, long-term approach to our relationships with key partners and the commercial aspects of our products and programs
• Serve as legal subject matter specialist on payments and financial services and financial integrity transactions
• Draft, negotiate, and close complex payments and financial services and financial integrity agreements
• Identify legal risks in payments transactions and financial integrity and work with business and other internal stakeholders to identify and implement solutions and mitigations in line with business objectives
• Advise on the privacy, data protection and information-sharing considerations arising from financial risk and fraud data exchanges with external partners, industry consortia and financial institutions
• Collaborate with internal business partners and cross-functional teams across Meta, including partnerships, product, tax, finance, compliance, financial crime, integrity, and privacy, as well as other members of the legal team and outside counsel
• Willingness and ability to manage numerous deals, meet tight deadlines, and work extended hours when necessary to complete projects
• Open to travel as and when required

Minimum Qualifications:

• Juris Doctor (JD) or equivalent law degree from an accredited institution
• Active and in good standing bar license in at least one U.S. state or equivalent foreign bar license. Where the jurisdiction of licensure differs from the location in which the role is based, the ability to promptly obtain permission to practice law for Meta in that location
• 5+ years of legal experience as a practicing attorney, including at a law firm or in-house
• Experience advising on payments law, financial services regulation, or money transmission requirements, including applicable federal and state regulatory frameworks
• Experience drafting and negotiating commercial agreements with financial institutions, payment networks, or technology partners
• Experience advising clients on and managing numerous deals on tight deadlines with minimal supervision
• Experience communicating complex legal and regulatory concepts clearly to technical and non-technical stakeholders through written and verbal communication
• Experience building relationships and collaborating with cross-functional business and legal teams

Preferred Qualifications:

• Familiarity with international payments regulations, cross-border money transmission requirements, or financial services licensing across multiple jurisdictions
• Experience with or knowledge of agentic commerce and emerging payments technology
• Experience drafting and negotiating agreements with fraud, risk, identity or financial crime detection vendors, including data processing and service-level terms
• Experience supporting compliance, AML/CFT, sanctions or financial crime programmes through third-party partnerships and vendor arrangements
• In-house legal experience at a consumer technology company, fintech, or payments platform with direct responsibility for payments or financial services products
• Demonstrated ability to integrate AI tools to optimize legal workflows and drive measurable efficiency or quality improvements
• Demonstrated ongoing AI skill development (e.g., prompt/context engineering, agent orchestration) and staying current with emerging AI technologies
• Demonstrated ability to integrate AI tools to optimize/redesign workflows and drive measurable impact (e.g., efficiency gains, quality improvements)
• Experience adhering to and implementing responsible, ethical AI practices (e.g., risk assessment, bias mitigation, quality and accuracy reviews)

About Meta:

Meta builds technologies that help people connect, find communities, and grow businesses. When Facebook launched in 2004, it changed the way people connect. Apps like Messenger, Instagram and WhatsApp further empowered billions around the world. Now, Meta is moving beyond 2D screens toward immersive experiences like augmented and virtual reality to help build the next evolution in social technology. People who choose to build their careers by building with us at Meta help shape a future that will take us beyond what digital connection makes possible today—beyond the constraints of screens, the limits of distance, and even the rules of physics.

Meta is proud to be an Equal Employment Opportunity and Affinnative employer. We do not discriminate based upon race, religion, color, national origin, sex (including pregnancy, childbirth, or related medical conditions), sexual orientation, gender, gender identity, gender expression, transgender status, sexual stereotypes, age, status as a protected veteran, status as an individual with a disability, or other applicable legally protected characteristics. We also consider qualified applicants with criminal histories, consistent with applicable federal, state and local law. Meta participates in the E-Verify program in certain locations, as required by law. Please note that Meta may leverage artificial intelligence and machine learning technologies in connection with applications for employment.

Meta is committed to providing reasonable accommodations for candidates with disabilities in our recruiting process. If you need any assistance or accommodations due to a disability, please let us know at [e-mail].

$170,000/year to $237,000/year + bonus + equity + benefits

Individual compensation is determined by skills, qualifications, experience, and location. Compensation details listed in this posting reflect the base hourly rate, monthly rate, or annual salary only, and do not include bonus, equity or sales incentives, if applicable. In addition to base compensation, Meta offers benefits. Learn more about benefits at Meta.