Senior Commercial Counsel

Column

• $210K — $300K *
Finance & Insurance
8 - 10 years of experience
Job Overview by Ladders

Qualifications

  • 8+ years of legal experience, preferably with law firm background in technology transactions or fintech
  • Expertise in driving complex commercial negotiations
  • Strong skills in drafting and negotiating commercial contracts
  • Project management abilities across multiple initiatives and stakeholders
  • Familiarity with traditional banking products and structured finance is a plus

Responsibilities

  • Own and lead end-to-end agreement processes for various banking products and services
  • Develop and manage scalable legal playbooks and contract templates
  • Negotiate with high-growth fintechs and enterprise clients, balancing priorities and regulations
  • Collaborate with Sales and Business teams on contracting strategies based on bank goals and risk tolerances
  • Support the legal team with research, regulatory advice, and other legal deliverables
  • Enhance legal operations and processes to support company growth

Benefits

  • Comprehensive health, dental, and vision coverage for employees and dependents
  • Up to $20,000 reimbursement for family planning and fertility expenses
  • Monthly rent subsidy up to $2,000 for local employees
  • Flexible time-off policy for work-life balance
  • 100% paid parental leave for all caregivers
  • Annual reimbursements for backup childcare up to $4,500
  • Catered meals and regular team-building events
Full Job Description
The opportunity

Column is growing its in-house commercial legal team to own the legal infrastructure behind our most important commercial and strategic relationships. This isn't your typical in-house commercial counsel role reviewing SaaS contracts - you'll architect novel partnership structures that enable modern banking experiences, navigating complex regulatory requirements along the way. You'll work closely with Column's Sales & Partnerships, Risk, and Compliance teams to define how we structure our deals, serve our customers, and scale our platform safely.

This is a hybrid in-person role based in our Presidio office - one of the most beautiful locations in SF - 3-4+ days per week. We offer up to $2,000/month in post-tax rent subsidy for employees who live within 2 miles of our office and welcome candidates who would relocate.

What you'll do
  • Own complex agreements end-to-end: Structure, draft, and negotiate complex customer, and vendor, and third-party agreements covering a broad range of banking products and services, including agreements related to payments and money movement service and banking partnerships inclusive of deposit account, card, and lending programs.
  • Build and manage legal playbooks and templates that scale: Develop and maintain templates and inventories of contracts, terms of services, notices, and disclosures for the Bank's products, services, and distribution channels that enable speed without sacrificing quality.
  • Negotiate: Lead negotiations with high-growth fintechs and enterprise customers, balancing commercial priorities with regulatory requirements.
  • Develop strong cross-functional partnerships: Work closely with the Sales and Business teams to understand the Bank's goals, strategy, and risk tolerance for each deal in order to develop an efficient and risk-based contracting strategy.
  • Expand into additional areas of law: As the fourth member of our growing Legal team, you'll support each other with novel research, product and regulatory advice, exam management, subpoena responses, litigation deliverables, and corporate governance materials.
  • Help us level up how Legal operates: Serve as a thought partner to the business and legal to support Column's ongoing growth through improvements to bank agreements, policies, and legal processes.


What you'll need to be successful
  • 8+ years as a practicing lawyer; priority given to candidates with law firm experience in a technology transactions or fintech practice and/or in-house experience at a fintech or financial institution
  • Experience driving complex commercial negotiations
  • Ability to independently draft and negotiate commercial agreements, with a strong understanding of both contract law and commercial transactions
  • Comfort with project management, deadlines, and juggling execution across multiple initiatives for multiple stakeholders
  • Nice to haves:
    • Understanding of traditional commercial banking products and services including ACH and wire transactions, accounts, lending, cards, cash management, sweeps, and check issuance/deposit, among others
    • Experience in structured finance or with lending products
    • Understanding of money transmission


What you'll get from us
  • Comprehensive health, dental, and vision plans, including options that are 100% covered by Column for you and 100% covered for your dependents!
  • Comprehensive family planning and fertility benefits via partnership with Carrot, including reimbursement of up to $20,000 in qualified expenses
  • Up to $2,000 (post-tax) monthly rent subsidy for employees living within 2 miles of Column's office
  • FSA and HSA account options to enable use of pre-tax money for medical and dependent care expenses
  • 401k plan, including self-directed brokerage options
  • Flexible time-off policy - take the time off that you want and need to relax and recharge
  • 100% paid parental leave, including 16 weeks for birth mothers, 12 weeks for primary caregivers, and 8 weeks for secondary caregivers
  • Up to $4,500 in annual reimbursements for backup childcare
  • Catered lunches and dinners for SF employees
  • 🚆 Commuter benefits, including paid transportation to-and-from the office
  • Regular team building events, including annual offsite
Pay transparency

Compensation packages at Column include base salary, equity, and benefits. New hire offers are made based on a candidate's experience, expertise, geographic location, and internal pay equity relative to peers.

The annual base salary range for this position is $210,000 - $300,000 + equity.

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