Mercury: Counsel, Product & Regulatory - Payments & AML
Headquarters: San Francisco, CA, New York, NY, Portland, OR, or Remote within Canada or United States
In 1905, chief engineer John Stevens inherited one of the most ambitious infrastructure projects in history: the Panama Canal. The challenge wasn’t digging a ditch between two oceans; it was figuring out how to move ships safely through a system of locks, gates, reservoirs, and changing conditions without bringing global commerce to a halt. The solution wasn’t to stop movement—it was to create a framework that allowed movement at scale.
Modern financial infrastructure presents a similar challenge. Payment systems, banking products, compliance obligations, and regulatory frameworks all exist for a reason. The goal isn’t to eliminate complexity; it’s to build systems that allow innovation, growth, and customer value within it.
Who we are
Since 2019, Mercury has been on a mission to reinvent banking for the modern age. We blend elegant design and cutting-edge technology to offer checking and savings accounts, debit cards, payment services, credit products, cash management tools, and sophisticated analytics. Everything we build reflects our belief that financial products should be thoughtfully crafted, fast, transparent, and genuinely enjoyable to use.
As we continue expanding and iterating on our product offerings and as we work to build a nationally chartered bank, we’re looking for a Counsel, Product & Regulatory (Payments & AML) to help us navigate increasingly complex questions at the intersection of product, regulation, and financial infrastructure.
About the team
Our Product & Regulatory Legal team operates like the rest of Mercury: with urgency, curiosity, and a bias toward action. We embed with product teams from early ideation through launch, working alongside engineers, designers, compliance partners, operations teams, and risk stakeholders to get products right. We move fast, we take ownership, and we don’t wait to be asked.
We are not a team that sits on the sidelines reviewing finished proposals. We work alongside our partners to identify risks, unlock opportunities, and find practical paths forward. We care deeply about good judgment, strong relationships, and building frameworks that scale.
What you’ll do
- Advise on payments products and infrastructure: Support a broad portfolio of payments-related initiatives. Advise on matters involving payment rails, product launches, operational incidents, partner relationships, and customer-facing experiences.
- Partner across the company: Build trusted relationships across Product, Compliance, Risk, Engineering, Operations, and Partnerships. Bring a legal perspective into conversations early as a low-ego, high-ownership thought partner.
- Help launch new capabilities: Support new payment capabilities (like Zelle) from early exploration through launch, helping teams identify risks, evaluate options, and make sound decisions in ambiguous environments.
- Support financial crimes initiatives: Work closely with AML Advisory, Sanctions, Compliance, and Risk teams. Interpret requirements, evaluate new initiatives, and develop practical guidance that enables teams to move efficiently while maintaining an appropriate risk posture.
- Build scalable guidance: Create frameworks and guidance that improve consistency, reduce friction, and allow the organization to make better decisions over time.
- Use AI intentionally: Bring a working knowledge of AI tools in legal workflows and a genuine interest in finding new ways to drive efficiency.
- Stay curious and adaptable: Embrace the evolving regulatory and product landscape, including new payment rails and shifting regulatory expectations.
What you should have
- 4+ years of legal experience.
- Active license to practice law in at least one U.S. jurisdiction.
- Experience supporting fintechs, banks, payment companies, sponsor-bank programs, payment networks, BaaS providers, or regulators with substantial payments- or AML-related exposure.
- Strong working knowledge of payments-related regulatory frameworks, and an interest in emerging areas like stablecoins.
- Familiarity with BSA/AML and sanctions requirements.
- Exceptional communication skills.
- Strong judgment and comfort operating in ambiguous environments.
- A proactive sense of ownership.
- Genuine curiosity about financial products, financial infrastructure, and the evolving regulatory landscape.
- Strong working knowledge of AI use cases within legal roles and/or financial services.
What will make you successful here
Mercury is a place where lawyers are expected to have a point of view. The people who thrive on this team treat ambiguity as an invitation rather than a reason to pause. They read a regulation and think about what it permits, not just what it prohibits. You will spend a meaningful amount of time on work that may not look like traditional legal practice: helping scope cross-functional projects, pressure-testing product designs, navigating operational questions, and building processes.
Why this role
This is an opportunity to join Mercury during a uniquely consequential period of growth. You’ll help support existing products while contributing to the development of new capabilities as Mercury builds a nationally chartered bank. You’ll work alongside experienced legal, compliance, product, and banking professionals and have meaningful ownership early in your career.
Compensation
The total rewards package at Mercury includes base salary, equity (stock options), and benefits. Our target new hire base salary ranges are:
- US employees in New York City, Los Angeles, Seattle, or the San Francisco Bay Area: $186,400 - $209,700
- US employees outside of the aforementioned cities: $167,800 - $188,700
- Canadian employees (any location): $176,100 - $198,200 CAD
While we’ve received conditional approval to become a bank, Mercury today is a fintech company, not an FDIC-insured bank. Banking services provided through Choice Financial Group and Column N.A., Members FDIC. Investment advisory products and services offered by Mercury Advisory, LLC ("MA"), an SEC-registered investment adviser. MA is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Mercury Technologies, Inc.
Mercury values diversity & belonging and is proud to be an Equal Employment Opportunity employer.
To apply: Click here to apply via We Work Remotely