Obligatory
- Qualified lawyer with at least six years of post-qualification experience, the majority of which has been spent in the payments, electronic money, or digital asset sectors — not in conventional banking or general corporate practice.
- Hands-on regulatory licensing experience in the payments and/or digital asset space: you have personally driven at least one EMI, PI, VASP, or equivalent licence application through to full authorisation, including business plan preparation, fitness-and-propriety assessments, and AML/CFT policy framework drafting.
- Deep working knowledge of at least one EMI/PI regulatory framework — FCA Payment Services Regulations 2017, PSD2, or equivalent — and at least one VASP/digital asset regulatory framework — MiCA, VARA VASPs and VASMs Regulations, FATF Recommendation 15 and 16 standards, or equivalent.
- Solid corporate law foundation: comfortable drafting board resolutions and UWCs, managing director and UBO change filings, advising on director duties and shareholder rights, and maintaining statutory registers across common law jurisdictions.
- Practical experience reviewing and negotiating payment infrastructure agreements — correspondent banking agreements, PSP terms, exchange connectivity agreements, and custody arrangements — particularly for clients or entities operating in high-risk industries.
- Demonstrable familiarity with AML/CFT frameworks as applied to payment institutions and crypto asset service providers, including FATF Recommendation 16 (Travel Rule), virtual asset typologies, and the legal aspects of sanctions screening and PEP management.
- Experience advising on EMI safeguarding obligations: safeguarding methods, account structure, eligible safeguarding institutions, and the legal documentation required to maintain a compliant safeguarding arrangement.
- Excellent written English — able to produce precise, well-structured legal memoranda, regulatory submissions, board papers, and commercial agreements to a standard suitable for submission to a Tier 1 financial regulator.
Preferably
Prior in-house experience at a crypto payment processor, EMI, or payments fintech, where the candidate held primary responsibility for regulatory licensing and corporate governance across the regulated entity.
Exposure to FATF grey-list jurisdictions and the compliance and banking access challenges that accompany operating in or with counterparties from those markets.
Experience with safeguarding audits, wind-down planning, and resolution frameworks for regulated EMIs and payment institutions.
Familiarity with crypto and digital asset tax classification questions as they intersect with the regulatory and corporate governance work of a VASP or EMI — including the characterisation of tokens (utility, security, payment), DeFi yield, and staking rewards for entity-level regulatory reporting and licence condition disclosure purposes.
Experience advising on the legal and regulatory framework for stablecoin issuance, redemption, and reserve management under emerging regulatory frameworks.