Legal Counsel

Legal Counsel LocationLondonEmployment TypeFull timeDepartmentLegalAbout UsWe’re building the world’s leading cross-border fintech for emerging markets - empowering families, fueling local economies, and changing how millions access financial services.Since our launch in 2019, we have transformed how money moves across borders with our operations spanning 6 out of 7 continents and covering both the busiest and most underserved (remittance) corridors. We tapped into a massive shift - from banks to phones - bringing digital finance to places where traditional systems never reached. The next stage of growth will fuel a network of services and products especially designed to make money more accessible to diaspora communities including local cards, and additional savings and payments features.We’re growing fast, backed by world-class investors, and scaling a product that blends real world impact with cutting edge fintech innovation.Here’s a little more:Founded by Harvard grads and 3-time founders who previously built Segovia (acquired) and GiveDirectly (>$300M revenue, fastest-growing NGO in the world)Backed by top investors including Spark Capital, Canaan, Reid Hoffman, Breyer Capital, Unbound, Wamda, and moreBuilt by global top performers from Bain, Google, McKinsey, Uber, Checkout, Bolt, and beyond - we move fast, stay humble, and care deeply about our missionTruly global team - 250+ people, 50+ nationalities, 50+ languagesGuided by our values - ownership, impact, humility, and heart - in deed, not just wordThe RoleWe're looking for a sharp, commercially-minded lawyer ready to take real ownership across our legal function, not just execute on it. This is a hands-on role: you’ll run a heavy contract flow across payout partners, banking partners, vendors, and customer/partnership agreements. You will contribute to and help build the playbook and tooling that make the function fast and consistent. This is a high-autonomy, high-impact role with meaningful scope to grow into broader leadership.Location: London (preferred) / Paris / BrusselsWhat you'll doLead drafting, review, and negotiation of Taptap’s commercial agreements end-to-end, applying a risk-balanced approach that supports growth at startup speed.Build and run the contract playbook. Develop, maintain, and continuously improve Taptap’s commercial contract playbook: standard positions, fallbacks, escalation triggers, and approved language across the deal types we see most.Deploy AI and legal tech in production. Build, evaluate, and operate AI-assisted contract workflows and measure their quality against human review.Advise the business on the deals that matter. Sit at the intersection of legal and business strategy on Taptap’s most consequential commercial decisions: major partnerships, market expansion, new products.Manage external counsel effectively. Use outside counsel selectively, hold them to quality and turnaround, and keep spend proportional to risk.Partner cross-functionally. Build workflows with product, finance, operations, compliance, and leadership so legal is a proactive enabler on the commercial side of the business.Cover broader legal matters as needed. Step into other legal work where business priorities require it, keeping commercial objectives aligned with compliance and risk.What we're looking forLegally qualified (any jurisdiction) with 4-7 years of experience, including proven track record in-house, at a high-growth startup or fintech, or comparable private practice FinTech/payments experienceDemonstrated track record in a high-volume commercial contracting functionComfort with metrics. You think about cycle time, deviation rate, and escalation rate and you use the numbers to drive process change.Excellent at managing external counsel globally, balancing quality with cost.Exceptional communicator who can distill complex legal and commercial issues into clear, actionable guidance for non-lawyers.Strong problem-solver with the instinct to diagnose root...