Senior Counsel Product

📋 Description

• • Join Kraken, a leading force in the cryptocurrency industry, as a Senior Counsel within our dynamic Product Legal team. This is a unique opportunity to embed yourself within our innovative Product, Design, and Engineering departments, playing a pivotal role in launching groundbreaking products and experiences that accelerate the global adoption of crypto and support our critical global licensing initiatives.
• • As a member of a highly experienced and diverse group of product lawyers, you will leverage your expertise from traditional finance, fintech, and the crypto space. Our team thrives in a fast-paced environment, driven by curiosity and a commitment to providing commercially accountable legal advice. You will partner directly with product teams, charting clear, defensible, and innovative paths to market for novel crypto products.
• • This fully remote role, based in the US, UK, or EU, offers the chance to significantly impact our licensing efforts across the UK, EU, and other key jurisdictions. You will also be instrumental in developing cutting-edge products, including tokenized equities, margin trading, institutional custody solutions, prime brokerage services, financing products, and Over-The-Counter (OTC) trading.
• • You will operate as a versatile legal generalist, with a strategic dual focus: Licensing and Product Development. In licensing, you will lead the strategy, scoping, and execution of registration efforts in priority jurisdictions, ensuring compliance and facilitating market entry. On the product side, you will provide comprehensive legal counsel to cross-functional teams throughout the entire product lifecycle – from initial ideation and design through to launch and ongoing iteration.
• • We are seeking a proactive and hands-on lawyer with a robust background in licensing, a keen understanding of product development, deep regulatory fluency, and strong negotiation skills. Ideally, your experience will be honed within the regulated financial sector, complemented by a genuine passion for and forward-thinking approach to cryptocurrency.
• • Curiosity, adaptability, and a decisive bias for action are essential qualities for success at the intersection of crypto and global financial markets. This role demands an ability to navigate complex legal landscapes and translate them into practical, business-enabling solutions.
• • Key responsibilities include leading licensing registration workstreams: meticulously scoping requirements, charting regulatory pathways, coordinating effectively with outside counsel, compiling comprehensive application materials, and managing crucial interactions with regulatory bodies.
• • You will own the end-to-end product legal counseling process, working closely with product, engineering, compliance, and leadership teams. This involves delivering precise, actionable guidance and presenting well-reasoned, risk-based options to facilitate informed decision-making.
• • A critical aspect of this role is translating intricate regulatory frameworks – such as MiCA, AML/CFT, financial promotions, e-money directives, MiFID, EMIR, derivatives regulations, and market structure rules – into pragmatic operational controls and clear go-to-market guardrails.
• • You will be responsible for drafting and negotiating product-critical agreements, including platform Terms & Conditions, bespoke client agreements, and strategic partnership deals, ensuring all positions are clear and aligned with business objectives.
• • Furthermore, you will provide essential support for incident response and supervisory inquiries, crafting well-reasoned written submissions and compiling robust evidence packages.
• • Fostering a culture of clarity is paramount. You will champion plain English communication, emphasize measurable risk-reward tradeoffs, and deliver decision-ready recommendations that empower stakeholders to move forward with confidence.
• • This role is an exceptional opportunity to shape the legal and regulatory strategy for innovative crypto products at a globally recognized company, contributing directly to Kraken's mission of accelerating crypto adoption and fostering financial freedom worldwide. You will be at the forefront of legal innovation in a rapidly evolving industry, working with a passionate and talented team dedicated to building the future of finance.