Senior Product Counsel
Brooklyn, NY or Palo Alto, CA • Full-time, in office five days a week • Reports to the General Counsel
The role
As Senior Product Counsel, you will be the primary legal partner to Whop's product, engineering, payments and risk teams. You will advise on how our payments, payouts and marketplace products are designed, launched and operated, with a focus on payments regulation, consumer protection and platform liability. You will work alongside product teams from the earliest stages of development, identify the legal and regulatory requirements that shape a product, and help find practical paths to launch. You will engage outside counsel selectively for specialist and jurisdiction-specific questions.
Responsibilities
• Payments products. Advise on pay-ins, payouts, embedded checkout, stored balances, multi-currency flows and API products, including money transmission and licensing analysis, payment facilitator and marketplace models, and the allocation of regulatory responsibility with sponsor banks and processors.
• Payment partner and network requirements. Interpret and operationalize card network rules and the requirements of our bank and processor partners, and support related audits, reviews and onboarding.
• Financial crimes compliance. Partner with risk and compliance teams on BSA/AML, KYC/KYB, sanctions and fraud programs as they apply to product design and merchant onboarding.
• Marketplace and platform issues. Advise on seller verification and transparency obligations (including the INFORM Consumers Act and the EU Digital Services Act), content and prohibited-products policies, intermediary liability, DMCA processes and Section 230.
• Consumer protection. Advise on subscriptions, automatic renewal and negative option rules, refunds and disputes, pricing and fee disclosures, UDAP/UDAAP, and FTC guidance on endorsements and affiliate marketing.
• Terms and policies. Own Whop's user-facing terms, seller and buyer agreements, acceptable use and prohibited-business policies, and in-product disclosures.
• Privacy, data and AI. Advise on privacy-by-design, data use, and AI-enabled features, working with the commercial team on DPAs and customer-facing commitments.
• International launches. Assess the regulatory requirements for launches in Canada, Brazil, Mexico, Germany, France and Colombia, and coordinate with local counsel.
• Regulatory engagement. Support licensing applications, regulator inquiries and examinations, and track legislative and regulatory developments that affect our products.
• Scalable guidance. Build product review processes, launch checklists and guidance that let product teams move quickly without sacrificing compliance.
Qualifications
• 5-10 years of legal experience, with substantial experience advising on payments, fintech or financial services products
• JD and admission to the New York or California bar, or eligibility to register as in-house counsel
• Working knowledge of U.S. payments regulation, including money transmission, BSA/AML, sanctions, card network rules and the bank partnership model
• Experience advising online marketplaces or platforms on consumer protection and intermediary liability issues
• Ability to translate complex regulatory requirements into clear, practical guidance for product and engineering teams
• Sound judgment about regulatory risk, including when a requirement is firm and when there is room for a reasonable, well-documented position
• Experience using AI tools to improve the efficiency and quality of legal work
We expect strong candidates to come from one of the following backgrounds:
• A fintech, payments or financial regulatory associate at a leading law firm who has advised payment companies, marketplaces or banks on product and licensing questions
• An in-house product or regulatory counsel at a payments company, fintech, online marketplace or creator platform
• A lawyer with law firm, in-house or government experience at a financial regulator who also brings product or operating experience
Preferred qualifications
• Experience with state money transmitter licensing or regulatory examinations
• Experience with international payments regulation, including EU payment services and e-money rules or Latin American payments regimes
• Creator economy, digital goods or subscription business experience
• Familiarity with trust and safety operations and content moderation
Is this role a fit?
This role is best suited to lawyers who enjoy working closely with product teams and being involved early in how products are built. It calls for deep regulatory knowledge applied pragmatically: the goal is to help Whop launch products that are compliant and competitive, not to stop at identifying risk. Success here means giving clear answers, making well-reasoned decisions with incomplete information, and building guidance that scales.
How we work
Whop is an in-office company of about 100 people, many of whom are former founders. We give team members meaningful ownership, resources and autonomy. We value:
• Rigor. Work that is accurate, well-grounded and holds up to scrutiny.
• Root-cause thinking. Improving systems so that each product review is easier than the last.
• Candor and alignment. Open debate before a decision, then full commitment to executing it.
We welcome candidates from non-traditional backgrounds and encourage you to apply even if your experience doesn't match every listed qualification.
Compensation and benefits
The base salary range for this role is [SALARY RANGE TO BE ADDED], depending on experience and location. Total compensation also includes equity, along with:
• Health, vision and dental coverage
• Unlimited PTO
• Equinox membership
• Lunch and dinner, Monday through Friday
• Rent stipend for living within half a mile of the office
• Citi Bike membership (Brooklyn)
• Rideshare home after 10 p.m.
• Latest MacBook Pro
