General Counsel - US

General Counsel - Contract or Full Time

About us:

We believe the next generation of financial services will be powered by stablecoins.

Founded in 2021, our mission at BVNK is to accelerate global money movement.

We’re building stablecoin-native infrastructure so businesses can move value instantly across borders and networks. With global licenses and T1 bank partnerships, we facilitate billions in transactions for enterprise clients like Worldpay, Deel, LianLian Global, and Rapyd.

Our technology is transforming how businesses operate globally by eliminating payment delays, reducing costs, and unlocking trapped capital. 

We’re a diverse team spread across EMEA, North America, and APAC, with a shared belief that stablecoins are the new infrastructure layer for financial services, and that BVNK is at the forefront of this shift.

In 2025, we secured strategic investment from Visa, following our $50 million Series B with Haun Ventures, Coinbase Ventures, Scribble Ventures, DRW Venture Capital, Avenir, and Tiger Global. With the backing of these leading investors, we’re accelerating our growth – and we're looking for smart, ambitious people to help us build the future of financial services.

We're incredibly honored to have made Newsweek's list of The Top 100 Global Most Loved Workplaces three years running (most recently in 2025) and to have been recognised by LinkedIn as one of the Top 20 Startups in the UK in 2024.

About this role in the team:

This is a mission-critical, high impact role providing maternity coverage for our current Group General Counsel with potential for extension or permanent placement for an exceptional individual. As our General Counsel, you will be the primary legal leader for the business, acting as a key strategic partner to the Board and Executive Committee. Your focus will be on managing all legal and regulatory risks across our global operations while enabling the company to scale. You will personally drive our most complex and high-stakes activities, from fundraising and M&A to managing crisis response and litigation. A core part of this role will be to provide expert, product-focused legal advice on our expansion, including supporting lead counsels with operationalisation activities for new licenses, launching new products like cards and rewards, and negotiating strategic partnerships. We are looking for a proven FinTech GC with deep crypto experience who can build a world-class legal function and translate complex regulatory concepts into actionable, commercial advice.

Line Manager: US CEO

Location: New York

Key Areas of Responsibilities:

Regulatory & Licensing:

• License Management & Operationalization: Manage and support senior product and regulatory counsels with existing licensing applications and key deliverables in operationalising such licenses, including our US MTLs, EU MiCA applications and Singapore MPI application.
• Product Compliance: Partner with Product and Engineering teams to ensure new global products, including stablecoin-native infrastructure, hosted wallets, cards, and rewards programs are designed and launched in a compliant manner.
• Regulatory Horizon Scanning: Proactively monitor, interpret, and advise the Board and Executive Committee on key regulatory developments impacting stablecoins and cross-border payments (e.g., MiCA, PSD2, EMD, AML/KYC regulations).

Corporate & Commercial:

• Fundraising & M&A: Lead all legal aspects of corporate finance activities, including future fundraising rounds and M&A activity.
• Strategic Deals: Draft, review, and negotiate complex customer and strategic partnership arrangements and vendor contracts.

Litigation & Crisis Management

• Dispute & Litigation Oversight: Manage high-value, complex litigation, developing the strategy to protect the company's interests and managing all external counsel.
• PR & Communications: Act as the primary legal partner to our Communications team and external PR advisors, reviewing press releases and public statements to manage legal and reputational risk.
• Crisis Response: Serve as the key legal lead during any crisis, investigation, or significant reputational event, advising the Board and executive team on all legal, regulatory, and public-facing responses.

Risk Management & Strategy:

• Risk Mitigation: Identify, assess, and develop strategies to mitigate legal and regulatory risks across all business functions.
• Legal Education: Deliver legal education and training to internal stakeholders, ensuring complex legal concepts are translated into actionable, business-oriented guidance.

In addition to the above, you will work closely with the the Head of Legal to oversee:

• Corporate Governance: Corporate governance matters.
• Data Protection & IP: Data protection matters and compliance, and the maintenance and protection of the company's intellectual property.
• Legal Operations: Legal processes, templates, contract management systems and the adoption of AI.
• Global BAU matters: Global business as usual legal matters, including intra-group arrangements, customer and embedded partnership negotiations.

What we need from you:

• Qualification: Qualified lawyer in the UK or US with a current practising certificate.
• Experience: Proven experience as a General Counsel within a regulated FinTech, Payments, E-Money, or Cryptocurrency institution.
• Regulatory Expertise: Deep, demonstrable knowledge of financial services regulation, particularly in the context of stablecoins & payments (MiCA, NY Bit licence, MTL’s etc.).
• Commercial Acumen: Strong commercial and financial awareness with the ability to balance legal precision with commercial objectives and provide pragmatic, solutions-focused advice to senior stakeholders.
• Leadership: Experience advising executive leadership and/or the Board on corporate governance and strategic risk.
• Soft Skills: High attention to detail, strong organisational skills, and confidence in managing multiple, concurrent workstreams in a fast-paced, high-growth environment.

What you can expect from us:

• Fair and competitive salary at every stage of your growth
• Meaningful ownership in the business through our employee option scheme
• Flexible working hours, with hybrid working at its heart
• A culture built on passionate, growth-minded people
• A flexible approach to holiday
• Opportunities to travel to our offices around the world
• An open and creative environment where you can help us define the future of BVNK, its culture, and its opportunity sets

At BVNK, we are focused on building a diverse and inclusive team. While you may not meet all of our requirements, we’d encourage you to apply if you meet the majority of our expectations. You may be a great fit for this role or another role in our team.