As Assistant General Counsel - Corporate, Commercial & Structured Finance, you will serve as a senior strategic leader and primary legal architect behind our capital markets and financing engine. Forward Financing provides fast, flexible working capital to small businesses nationwide through revenue-based financing (RBF) and commercial lending products.
This role requires a deep, hands-on background in structured finance, debt capital markets, and complex commercial transactions. You will lead the legal execution of our borrowing facilities, forward flow agreements, securitizations, and secondary market transactions while overseeing core corporate legal operations and managing a growing team of commercial attorneys.
In this role you will:- Structured Finance & Capital Markets (Primary Focus)
- Facility Negotiation & Execution: Structure, draft, negotiate, and execute complex debt facilities, warehouse lines of credit, forward flow arrangements, and asset-backed securitizations (ABS).
- Capital Partner Management: Serve as the primary legal liaison to institutional lenders, credit funds, bank partners, and rating agencies.
- Transaction Lifecycle & Compliance: Oversee closing activities, ongoing facility administration, borrowing base compliance, reporting obligations, and covenant monitoring.
- Product Legal Structuring: Partner with Executive Leadership, Finance, and Treasury to design and structure innovative financing products, revenue-based purchase agreements, and commercial loan structures.
- Commercial & Corporate Law
- Commercial Contracting: Draft, review, and negotiate strategic enterprise contracts, vendor agreements, broker/ISO agreements, software licenses, and third-party partnerships.
- Corporate Governance: Support corporate secretary functions, subsidiary management, board resolutions, and equity/debt financing documentation.
- Regulatory & Operations Alignment: Work closely with Compliance to ensure financial products and commercial operations align with federal and state commercial financing regulations, disclosures, and licensing laws.
- Leadership & Team Growth
- People Management: Initially manage a team of 1-2 corporate/commercial attorneys, providing direct guidance, mentorship, and career development.
- Department Scaling: Build scalable legal processes, playbook guidelines, and contract management tools to support a rapidly expanding legal organization as the team grows in scope and size.
- Outside Counsel Management: Manage external legal counsel and specialized finance counsel to ensure high-quality execution within budget.
Why you should apply:- Mission driven company: Forward is a trusted source of fast, flexible funding for small businesses that have often been underserved by traditional financing options. When you join the team, you will help ensure all small businesses have access to the financial support they need to succeed.
- Flexibility is a top priority: Our employees are empowered to choose where they want to work (whether that's from home, in the office, or a combination of both) with flexible hours.
Role Requirements:- Juris Doctor (J.D.): From an accredited U.S. law school; active bar membership in good standing in at least one state.
- Experience: 10+ years of relevant legal practice, with significant experience in top-tier law firm finance practice groups and/or in-house legal departments at a fintech, specialty finance provider, or commercial lender.
- Structured Finance Expertise: Strong track record of running structured finance transactions, warehouse credit facilities, asset-backed lending (ABL), securitizations, or forward flows from inception to closing.
- Commercial Lending & Alternative Financing Knowledge: Solid understanding of commercial lending frameworks, revenue-based financing (RBF), merchant cash advance (MCA) purchase-and-sale structures, or asset-based asset classes.
- Leadership Capability: Proven ability to manage, mentor, and elevate junior to mid-level attorneys.
- Business Acumen: Ability to balance legal risk with commercial reality, providing actionable, business-oriented legal advice under tight deadlines.
- Experience integrating technology into legal workflows and contract management tools.
- Nice-to-Haves:
- Prior experience in high-growth fintech or non-bank financial institution environments.
- Familiarity with commercial financing disclosure laws (e.g., California, New York, Utah, Florida, etc.) and state licensing requirements.
Compensation:Annual Targeted Salary: $245,000-$310,000
Annual Target Bonus: 25%
At Forward Financing, we're committed to fair and transparent compensation. We believe in providing a compensation package that recognizes your skills, experience, and the unique value you bring to our team. We take a market-based approach to pay, regularly reviewing benchmark data to ensure our compensation remains competitive, equitable, and aligned with our performance-driven culture.
Final offers are determined by a variety of factors, including the candidate's qualifications, relevant experience, specific skills, and internal equity. This approach ensures that our compensation is competitive and equitable. Your recruiter will provide specific details on the expected base and variable earnings as it pertains to this specific role.
Total Rewards:Additionally, we offer a comprehensive total rewards package, including but not limited to: medical, dental, vision, commuter benefits, a flexible time-off policy, paid parental leave, 401k match for US employees, wellness reimbursement, volunteering days, annual professional development budget, and charitable donation match.
Forward is proud to be a remote-first company, keeping workplace flexibility a top priority for our employees. As a business, we are focused on impact; we are more concerned with your contributions to the success of the company than where you get your work done. To help facilitate in-person collaboration, employees are welcome to work from one of our premiere office locations.
When we aren't collaborating to drive business and support our customers, we're finding virtual and in-person ways to get to know our colleagues, celebrate team wins, and have fun together!
