Product and Privacy Counsel

Kikoff; San Francisco (CA); On-site; USD 225,000 - 275,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Medical, dental, vision

RSU's

Equity

Job summary

Kikoff, a leading fintech, seeks a lawyer to partner with product, engineering, and business teams across credit-building, EWA, and new products. You will own matters early, navigate regulatory ambiguity, and shape product decisions with a strong compliance lens.

Join a high-ownership, fast-paced environment focused on consumer financial services. This role is based in California with a competitive salary and equity awareness, opportunities to impact millions of customers.

Qualifications

• J.D. from an accredited law school.
• Be an active member of the California state bar or registered in-house counsel in California.
• 5-8 years of legal experience including litigation, product counseling, or regulatory practice.
• Comfort operating in fast-moving, ambiguous environments with practical guidance.
• Good judgment and business-focused risk assessment.
• Eagerness to learn new substantive areas of law and AI usage in legal.
• Excellent written and verbal communication; ability to simplify complex concepts for non-legal audiences.
• Interest in expanding access to financial services and Kikoff's mission.

Responsibilities

• Act as day-to-day legal advisor to product and engineering teams through development lifecycle.
• Advise on design, structuring, and regulatory implications of consumer financial products.
• Research and apply federal and state consumer financial regulations.
• Advise on data privacy and consumer data protection requirements.
• Provide guidance on marketing and communications.
• Track regulatory developments and translate into practical guidance.
• Support state licensing applications, renewals, and filings.
• Draft, review, and negotiate consumer-facing terms and commercial agreements.
• Collaborate cross-functionally to embed legal guardrails without slowing innovation.
• Leverage AI to enhance legal function efficiency.

Skills

Legal experience (5-8 years)

Strong written and verbal comms

Ability to simplify complex legal

AI for legal functions

Adaptability in fast-moving ambientes

Interest in consumer financials

Education

J.D. from accredited law school

Job description

Kikoff: The Fintech Powering Financial Security at Scale

Kikoff is a profitable, pre-IPO fintech company on a mission to empower everyone to achieve financial security. With record revenue growth in 2025 and a unicorn valuation, we've built a suite of products that help millions of people build credit, access liquidity, and save money.

We're scaling fast. Join us if you want to build something meaningful and help millions of people move forward financially.

Why Kikoff

This is a consumer fintech startup, and you will be working with serial entrepreneurs who have built strong consumer brands and innovative products. We value extreme ownership, clear communication, a strong sense of craftsmanship, and the desire to create lasting work and work relationships. Yes, you can build an exciting business AND have real-life real-customer impact.

The Role

We are looking for a talented, curious lawyer to serve as a legal partner to our product, engineering, and business teams. You will work across Kikoff's growing product ecosystem — including credit-building products, earned wage access (EWA), and new product lines in development — to help us move fast while staying on the right side of a complex and evolving regulatory landscape.

This role is a fit for someone who is early enough in their career to still be building depth, but far enough along to own problems end to end. You will have real ownership over your matters from day one and a direct line of sight into how legal decisions shape the product. You should be comfortable operating in areas of legal ambiguity, eager to learn both bank-partnered and direct-to-consumer product structures, and excited by the intersection of consumer financial services and technology.

What You'll Do

• Act as a day-to-day legal advisor to product and engineering teams throughout the product development lifecycle, from concept through launch and iteration, escalating novel or bet-the-company questions as appropriate.
• Advise on the design, structuring, and regulatory implications of consumer financial products, including credit-building tradelines, earned wage access, lending, and new product concepts.
• Research and apply federal and state consumer financial regulations.
• Advise on data privacy and consumer data protection requirements.
• Provide guidance on marketing and communications.
• Track regulatory developments and translate them into practical, actionable product guidance.
• Support state licensing applications, renewals, and compliance filings.
• Draft, review, and negotiate consumer-facing terms and disclosures, a variety of different marketing materials, and commercial agreements.
• Collaborate cross-functionally with compliance, risk, marketing, and operations to embed legal guardrails without slowing the pace of innovation.
• Use AI to make the Legal function more effective and efficient.

What We're Looking For

• J.D. from an accredited law school.
• Be an active member of the California state bar or registered in-house counsel in California.
• 5-8 years of legal experience, including meaningful time in litigation, product counseling, or regulatory practice. A mix of law firm and in-house experience is a plus, but we are open to candidates coming directly from a firm.
• Comfort operating in fast-moving, ambiguous environments, and a track record of turning legal research into clear, practical guidance rather than a memo full of caveats.
• Good judgment, intellectual honesty about what you do and do not know, and a bias toward enabling the business rather than only identifying risk.
• Eagerness and curiosity in learning new substantive areas of the law.
• Strong written and verbal communication skills, with the ability to simplify complex legal concepts for non-legal audiences.
• Experience and interest in the use of AI to support legal functions.
• Enthusiasm for Kikoff's mission and the opportunity to expand access to financial services for underserved consumers.

Nice to Have

• Knowledge of federal consumer finance statutes (TILA, ECOA, FCRA, EFTA) and a willingness to build depth quickly in state lending and money transmission frameworks.
• Familiarity with consumer data privacy laws (CCPA/CPRA, GLBA), or the appetite to get up to speed on advising product teams on data collection, use, and sharing practices.
• Exposure to at least one of: credit-building or credit reporting products, earned wage access, consumer lending through bank partnership models, or payments.
• Exposure to multi-state licensing or regulatory examination processes.

Why This Role

This is a high-ownership seat on a small legal team at a company shipping real consumer financial products. You will not be a cog reviewing a queue of contracts. You will sit with product managers and engineers while decisions are being made, own your own regulatory questions, and grow into a subject-matter owner across one or more of our product lines.

US salary range: $225,000 - $275,000 base + equity

Medical, dental, vision — Kikoff covers the full cost for employees, 50% for dependents

RSU's

A note on applying

We know great candidates sometimes hold back if they don't meet every qualification listed. If you're excited about this role and believe you can do the work, we encourage you to apply. We're looking for capability and trajectory, not a perfect checklist match.

Equal Employment Opportunity Statement

Kikoff Inc. is an equal opportunity employer. We are committed to complying with all federal, state, and local laws providing equal employment opportunities and considers qualified applicants without regard to race, color, religion, creed, gender, national origin, age, disability, veteran status, marital status, pregnancy, sex, gender expression or identity, sexual orientation, citizenship, or any other legally protected class.

Please reference the following for more information.