Senior Counsel for Technology Policy (Special Assistant, NS)

New York State Department of Financial Services; New York (NY); On-site; USD 181,000 - 224,000; Full time

Job summary

The New York State Department of Financial Services seeks a Senior Counsel for Technology Policy in the Executive Division to provide strategic legal counsel on technology regulation and policy, including AI risks and responsible innovation.

Under the Special Advisor to the Superintendent for Technology Policy, the incumbent will draft legislation and regulatory materials, perform legal research, and collaborate with regulators and industry groups; travel up to 10% may be required.

Qualifications

• Law degree from an accredited law school and bar admission.
• Strong written and policy research skills.
• Experience with technology and innovation policy in regulatory settings.

Responsibilities

• Advise on technology regulation and policy options.
• Oversee emergent technology regulation, including AI, across regulatory domains.
• Draft legislation, regulations, guidance, and other regulatory materials.
• Collaborate with stakeholders across government, industry, and academia.

Skills

Legal research

Policy analysis

Written communication

Regulatory experience

Education

Law degree from an accredited law school

Job description

Duties Description

The New York State Department of Financial Services seeks to build an equitable, transparent, and resilient financial system that benefits individuals and supports business. Through engagement, data-driven regulation and policy, and operational excellence, the Department and its employees are responsible for empowering consumers and protecting them from financial harm; ensuring the health of the entities we regulate; driving economic growth in New York through responsible innovation; and preserving the stability of the global financial system.

Description

The New York State Department of Financial Services seeks to build an equitable, transparent, and resilient financial system that benefits individuals and supports business. Through engagement, data-driven regulation and policy, and operational excellence, the Department and its employees are responsible for empowering consumers and protecting them from financial harm; ensuring the health of the entities we regulate; driving economic growth in New York through responsible innovation; and preserving the stability of the global financial system.

Responsibilities

The Department of Financial Services is seeking candidates for the position of Senior Counsel for Technology Policy in the Executive Division. Under the direction of the Special Advisor to the Superintendent for Technology Policy, the incumbent of this position will provide strategic counsel, subject matter expertise, and help implement identified priorities. Responsibilities will include but not be limited to the following:

• Serves as a subject matter expert on technology regulation, providing strategic counsel on options for policy and regulatory approaches;
• Supports the state’s development of its capacity to oversee emergent technology, including Artificial Intelligence, and the associated risks across a broad range of economic activity;
• Helps advance the state’s goals of encouraging technology innovation while protecting consumers through multiple policy approaches, which could include regulation, legislation, or guidance;
• Conducts legal research and analysis, and prepares opinions and memoranda of law;
• Prepares policy reports and memoranda on legislative and regulatory approaches; helps draft legislation, regulations, guidance, and other regulatory materials;
• Collaborates with a broad range of stakeholders, including think tanks; academics; consumer and industry groups; and state, federal, and foreign regulators to assess options for regulatory development;
• Collaborates with staff on ongoing policy and regulation and the exploration of new regulatory tools and approaches;
• Supports implementation of the Responsible AI Safety & Education (RAISE), under Article 44-B of the General Business Law;
• Supports development of New York State's Office of Digital Innovation, Governance, Integrity & Trust (DIGIT); and
• Other duties as assigned.
• Travel may be required up to 10%.

Minimum Qualifications

• Law degree from an accredited law school; admission to, and member in good standing of, a state bar, and eight years of relevant professional legal experience in federal or state government, a law firm, or in-house at a financial institution, or a combination of those; five years of experience must have been at the managerial level.
• Professional legal experience, including relevant work in technology and innovation, at a federal or state regulatory agency;
• Superior written and legal and policy research skills;
• Substantial policy and regulatory experience in several of the following areas: data privacy, collection and aggregation, portability, and governance; advertising and the attention economy; machine learning and algorithmic decision making and pricing; use of dark patterns; behavioral economics; automated decision-making; agentic AI regulation; and AI and other technologies’ surveillance and monitoring of private behavior and the treatment of protected populations;
• Familiarity with policy and regulatory issues within DFS’s jurisdiction, including banking, non-bank financial services, virtual currency, and insurance;
• Ability to navigate state and federal policy making and conceptualize strategies for new regulatory authorities and structures;
• A record of sustained, rigorous analysis of complex problems in technology, financial, or other areas of regulation and of expressing the results of such analysis in clear, persuasive written work product;
• Ability to navigate broad areas of fast-evolving policy across many regulatory domains and identify areas for pragmatic regulatory responses; and
• Ability to support existing agency work and processes while driving forward collaboratively with new policy approaches and initiatives.

Appointment Method

This is an appointment to a position in the exempt jurisdictional class. As such, the incumbent of this position would serve at the pleasure of the appointing authority.

Additional Comments

Please note that a change in negotiating unit may affect your salary, insurance and other benefits.

Salary: $180,562 - $223,625 (salary commensurate with experience)

Positions located within the New York City metropolitan area, as well as Suffolk, Nassau, Rockland, and Westchester Counties, are also eligible to receive an additional $4,150 annual downstate adjustment.

Appointment Status: This is an appointment to a position in the exempt jurisdictional class.

Appointment to this position is pending Governor Appointment’s Office and Division of Budget approval.