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Senior Counsel, Strategic Partnerships

Column· Legal
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San Francisco, CA, Remote, USA$210k - $300kFull-timePosted 3mo ago

About the role

Senior lawyer to own end-to-end strategic partnerships, from initial conversations through signing, product development, launch, and ongoing expansion, with a focus on banking partnerships, regulatory compliance, and product innovation at Column.

Responsibilities

  • Structure Bank-Fintech Partnerships: Lead the legal work to structure and launch partnerships across both payments and credit. Advise on line of credit products, bank accounts, consumer and commercial loan origination, multi-currency wallets, domestic and international card issuance, EWA and BNPL products, complex global money movement products, and more. Draft and review key customer-facing terms and marketing materials, structure onboarding flows and applications, determine BSA/AML requirements, conduct regulatory analyses, and own every legal detail of rolling out a new Column-backed product. Work closely with engineering to design a flow-of-funds model and reflect that product structure in legal documentation.
  • Own complex agreements end-to-end: Structure, draft, and negotiate complex customer and third-party partnership agreements covering a broad range of banking products and services.
  • Drive Product Strategy & Innovation: Be the strategic legal voice enabling product innovation. Partner closely with business teams and fintech partners from ideation through launch, anticipating challenges and architecting creative solutions that balance business needs with regulatory requirements.
  • Own Regulatory Architecture: Build and evolve regulatory frameworks for existing and new products. Leverage expertise in NACHA, money transmission, BSA/AML, TILA, Reg Z, Reg E, ECOA, UDAAP, FCRA, state usury and licensing laws, evolving EWA space, federal preemption, and true lender risk.
  • Lead Subject Matter Expertise: Be a go-to authority on legal and regulatory requirements impacting the bank’s products. Share insights on regulatory developments and their practical implications.
  • Leverage Technology & AI: Embrace and drive the adoption of technology — including AI and automation tools — to increase the efficiency, speed, and scalability of legal workflows.
  • Scale Operations: Design and implement legal processes that scale with hypergrowth. Improve partner onboarding efficiency while maintaining robust compliance. Build repeatable frameworks and disclosure packages to accelerate partnerships.

Qualifications

  • Currently licensed in a U.S. state, J.D. or equivalent
  • 7–15+ years as a practicing lawyer; priority for fintech/financial institution experience (both law firm and in-house)
  • Deep expertise counseling product teams on banking infrastructure and embedded finance solutions, with consumer and/or commercial banking depth
  • Ability to independently draft and negotiate complex commercial agreements, with strong contract law and transactions understanding
  • Comprehensive knowledge of regulatory framework governing banking partnerships and fintech services
  • Deep knowledge of regulatory and compliance requirements impacting payments, cards, and lending products at Column
  • Experience structuring bank-fintech lending partnerships
  • Familiarity with loan sale, participation, and servicing agreements
  • Familiarity with cross-border money movement, global payment rails, multi-currency wallets
  • Proven ability to manage high-volume, cross-functional workload while maintaining quality and speed
  • Desire to work at fintech/bank innovation center and make fast, sound risk decisions

Skills

Required:Contract drafting and negotiationRegulatory analysis and framework developmentProduct structuring for embedded finance

Benefits

  • Comprehensive health, dental, and vision plans with 100% coverage options for you and dependents
  • Family planning and fertility benefits via Carrot with reimbursement up to $20,000
  • FSA and HSA options
  • 401k plan with self-directed brokerage options
  • Flexible time-off policy
  • 100% paid parental leave (16 weeks for birth mothers, 12 weeks primary caregiver, 8 weeks secondary caregiver)
  • Catered lunches and dinners for SF employees
  • Commuter benefits
  • Regular team building events and annual offsite
Last updated Jul 15, 2026. Interested? Apply on the company site.

About Column

The developer infrastructure bank

The only nationally chartered bank built to enable developers and builders to create new financial products

Payment ProcessingLendingBanking InfrastructureAPIsFinancial Products
Company profileWebsite

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