Regulatory Product Counsel

Lead; California (MO); On-site; USD 150,000 - 200,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Competitive compensation

Medical, dental, vision, life

401k matching

Flexible vacation policy

Challenging fintech team

Inclusive culture

Disability accommodations

Fair Chance Ordinances

Geographic market-based pay

Job summary

Lead Bank is seeking a Regulatory Product Counsel to support its BaaS and payments businesses. You will translate banking and payments regulation into practical, product-focused advice for onboarding, launches, expansion, and ongoing oversight.

You will work with Product, Compliance, FinCrimes, Risk, Operations, and Finance to identify legal issues early and help scale the bank's partner oversight and product review processes.

Qualifications

• J.D. and active membership in good standing in at least one state bar.
• Approximately 6+ years of relevant legal experience in banking, fintech, payments, consumer financial services, or a comparable regulatory practice.
• Ability to interpret and apply banking and payments laws to novel products and models.
• Experience advising on consumer-facing product terms, disclosures, and policies.
• Strong judgment, analysis, and cross-functional communication.

Responsibilities

• Provide legal and regulatory guidance for BaaS and payments initiatives.
• Advise on consumer lending, payments laws, privacy, and information security.
• Guide product design and partner oversight within risk tolerance.
• Track regulatory developments and translate into internal guidance.
• Build scalable review processes, playbooks, and documentation.
• Collaborate with product, compliance, risk, operations, and finance.

Skills

Banking regulation

Fintech payments

Regulatory guidance

Cross-functional collaboration

AI tools usage

Crypto familiarity

Education

J.D. and bar admission

Job description

Lead is a banking infrastructure platform trusted by the most innovative companies to power complex financial products. We enable fintechs to offer compliant, programmable services like payments, lending, and digital assets at scale. Banking has moved beyond traditional institutions and is now embedded directly into everyday experiences, meaning companies need modern infrastructure that is safe, secure, and operationally sound.

Today, Lead is one of the only API-first, developer-focused partner banks with the financial, regulatory, and legal expertise required to help fintechs succeed. We operate offices in San Francisco, Sunnyvale, and New York City, and an FDIC-insured bank in Kansas City.

Legal Team at Lead

Lead’s Legal team offers professionals the opportunity to work across nearly every part of the business, from contracts to overseeing regulatory change in a developing environment. Team members are both highly autonomous and deeply collaborative. And because Legal partners with every department, they are enabled to build broad context, create meaningful impact, and help shape big company decisions. It’s a strong fit for anyone craving diverse assignments, significant ownership of their work, and a strong team culture.

Role Description

Lead Bank is seeking a Regulatory Product Counsel to support the Bank’s Banking-as-a-Service (BaaS) and payments businesses. This attorney will provide practical, product-minded legal guidance to internal stakeholders across partner onboarding, product launch, product expansion, and ongoing partner oversight. The role is intended for a lawyer who can translate banking and payments regulation into actionable advice that helps teams move quickly within Lead’s risk tolerance.

This attorney will work closely with Product, Program Management, Compliance, FinCrimes, Risk, Operations, Finance, and other legal team members to identify legal issues early, guide product design and operational decisions, and help the Bank scale its partner oversight and product review processes. This role is a key member of our risk team, reporting to Deputy General Counsel.

In This Role You Will

• Provide legal and regulatory guidance for the Bank’s BaaS initiatives, including federal and state consumer lending and payments laws and regulations (TILA, ECOA, EFTA, FCRA, etc.), as well as privacy and information security.
• Provide legal and regulatory guidance to clients and internal teams for the Bank’s Payments initiatives, including federal and state consumer payments laws and regulations (EFTA, NACHA, GLBA, UDAAP, crypto, money transmission licensing, card network rules, etc.)
• Advise cross-functional teams on the application of consumer financial laws and related regulatory requirements in fintech environments, including consumer and commercial lending, deposit, payments, and hybrid products.
• Assess how product changes affect legal risk, operational controls, partner obligations, and required stakeholder approvals.
• Track legal and regulatory developments that may affect Lead’s BaaS and payments programs and help translate those developments into practical internal guidance.
• Help build scalable review processes, playbooks, and documentation that improve consistency and efficiency across the legal function.
• Perform other duties as assigned.

Qualifications

• J.D. and active membership in good standing in at least one state bar.
• Approximately 6+ years of relevant legal experience in banking, fintech, payments, consumer financial services, or a comparable regulatory practice.
• Ability to understand, interpret, and apply banking and payments laws to novel products, partner models, and technology-enabled services.
• Experience reviewing or advising on consumer-facing product terms, disclosures, policies, or workflows.
• Strong legal judgment, analytical rigor, and comfort balancing legal, regulatory, operational, and business considerations.
• Strong communication skills and the ability to work cross-functionally with legal and non-legal stakeholders.
• Practical, collaborative approach and willingness to build processes in a fast-moving environment.
• Comfort leveraging AI tools to increase productivity and accuracy
• Intellectual curiosity, ownership mentality, and comfort operating in an environment where structures continue to evolve.
• Payment systems: Familiarity with operational and disclosure mechanics around how money movement products work including ACH, wires, card rails, FedNow, RTP preferred.
• Stablecoins/Crypto: Familiarity with stablecoin- or crypto-enabled payment programs preferred.
• Prepaid products: Familiarity with prepaid account and prepaid debit-card programs, including customer agreements, disclosures, error-resolution rights, and funds access preferred.

What We Offer

• Competitive compensation based on experience, geographic location, and role
• Medical, dental, vision, life, 401k matching, and other wellness benefits
• Flexible vacation policy
• A challenging and fulfilling opportunity to join an extremely experienced team in fintech
• A fun team environment where your career will be supported
• Lead Bank is proud to have an inclusive culture committed to ensuring equal employment opportunity in all employment decisions regardless of race, color, gender, national origin, religion, age, disability, sexual orientation, gender identity, military status, veteran status or any other legally protected status.
• Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions.
• Pursuant to the San Francisco Fair Chance Ordinance, we will consider for employment qualified applicants with arrest and conviction records.
• Pursuant to the Los Angeles County Fair Chance Ordinance, we will consider for employment qualified applicants with arrest and conviction records.
• Our compensation reflects the cost of labor across several US geographic markets. Pay is based on a number of factors and may vary depending on geographical market location, job-related knowledge, skills, and experience. These ranges may be modified in the future.

Zone 1: $176,000 - $200,000 (SF/Bay Area, NYC, Seattle)

Zone 2: $166,000 - $195,000 (Los Angeles, Chicago, Austin, Denver, Boston, Washington DC, San Diego, Philadelphia, Portland, Sacramento, Miami)

Zone 3: $150,000 - $180,000 (Other US Metros)