Global Legal Associate: Fintech and Compliance

RemoFirst is transforming the way businesses hire and manage global teams. Our mission is to enable Freedom of Work by providing an all-in-one global HR platform that simplifies hiring, compliance, payroll, and benefits management. We partner with some of the world’s most innovative companies, including Fortune 500 businesses and leading startups.

We are a small but strong team of 200+ people (and growing) hyper-focused on delivering a world-class platform and unparalleled service with our industry-leading partnerships.

 As Global Legal Associate, Fintech & Compliance, you'll be the legal partner to our Product, Engineering and Finance teams on everything that moves money: payroll funding, contractor payouts, cross-border payments, deposits and FX. You'll get involved early, turn regulation into clear product requirements and help us launch quickly without creating regulatory risk. You'll also help run the fintech compliance programme that keeps those products sound once they're live.

What you'll do

Product:

• Work with Product and Engineering from discovery through launch on payments, payroll and payout features.
• Assess how money flows should be structured, for example whether a flow triggers licensing requirements (money transmission, e-money or payment services) and how to meet or design around them.
• Turn regulatory requirements into clear, practical product requirements.
• Draft and maintain product terms, payment terms, disclosures and in-product legal text.
• Draft, review and help negotiate agreements with partner banks, payment providers and FX partners.
• Carry out legal reviews for launches in new markets and for new payment features.
• Help make balanced risk calls and propose compliant alternatives rather than simply blocking work.

Fintech compliance:

• Support the development and day-to-day running of the compliance framework for our payment activities, including AML/CTF, KYC/KYB and sanctions screening.
• Help assess licensing and registration needs across markets and our obligations under partner bank and financial institutions arrangements.
• Help draft and maintain policies, controls, transaction monitoring and regulatory reporting.
• Support engagement with regulators, auditors, financial institutions and banks' compliance teams.
• Keep track of regulatory change in payments, data protection and AI, and assess the impact on our products.
• Train internal teams on compliance obligations and build a culture where risk is raised early.

Requirements

• A law degree and qualification to practise in at least one jurisdiction.
• 3-5 years of legal experience in payments or fintech, either in-house or at a law firm with a strong payments practice.
• Hands-on experience advising product teams, including at least one product or market launch you supported from design to go-live.
• Solid knowledge of payments regulation (e.g. PSD2/EMD in the EU and UK, US money transmission rules) and AML/CTF requirements.
• Experience working with banks or payment providers and negotiating the related agreements.
• The ability to explain complex rules in plain language and give clear, practical advice.
• Good judgement on risk, and comfort making decisions with incomplete information in a fast-moving environment.
• Fluent English, written and spoken.

Nice to have

• Experience in payroll, EOR, HR tech or global workforce platforms.
• Experience with license applications or regulator engagement.
• Knowledge of data protection (GDPR) and AI regulation as they apply to financial and HR products.
• Experience building a compliance function from an early stage.

Benefits

• Startup environment: RemoFirst is an early-stage startup. You have a voice that can influence, and grow rapidly. An opportunity to build a tech unicorn. 
• Growth opportunity: This is a chance to join an AI-forward company driving innovation through artificial intelligence. As Senior Product Operations Manager you're ensuring that the product owners, designers and engineers, have everything they need to succeed.
• Direct impact: Your work will be at the center of how we grow revenue, support customers, and differentiate in the market.
• Autonomy and Accountability: We value autonomy and accountability — there’s no bureaucracy or lengthy approval process. We prioritize speed and results to keep moving forward effectively.
• Work for a Market Leader: Scale a project that counts market-leading companies like Microsoft, Mastercard, and more as happy customers. 
• Leadership visibility: Reporting into the Senior Global Product Operations Manager which means your projects will be strategic and business-critical.
• Compensation and perks are great: Competitive compensation. 100% remote work. 
• Culture: You will get to work with some of the best colleagues coming from top tech companies. We lead with respect, kindness, and the right to fail. We value hard yet smart work. Diversity and inclusion are part of our DNA.  As we grow and evolve, we welcome your input to help us define our culture further.