Senior Commercial Counsel

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
• Sabbatical Program - reach your 5-year anniversary to take up to 8 weeks of fully paid leave to rest, recharge, and pursue personal interest - with full salary and benefits
• 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.

We Look Forward to Hearing from You

Column is committed to working with the best and brightest people from the broadest talent pool possible. We value bringing together a team with different perspectives, educational backgrounds, and life experiences, and believe a diversity of ideas is what allows us to develop the best solutions. All qualified individuals are encouraged to apply.

We participate in the E-Verify program in certain locations as required by law.