Building the Future of Open Finance

Payward - the parent company behind Kraken, NinjaTrader, Breakout, xStocks, Payward Services and CF Benchmarks - has spent the last 15 years building one of the most modern and globally accessible financial infrastructure platforms in the industry, built to advance an open, global financial system.

Before you apply, we encourage you to explore our culture page to understand what drives us and how we work.

The team

Founded in 2011, Kraken is one of the world's longest-standing crypto platforms, trusted by over 10 million individuals and institutions across the globe. It offers spot trading, margin, futures, staking, and OTC services, with products built for both individual investors and institutional clients.

Join our growing Product Legal team, embedded with Kraken’s Product, Design, and Engineering teams to ship novel products and experiences that accelerate the global adoption of crypto and advance key global licensing initiatives. We’re a tight, experienced group of product lawyers from a diverse range of tradfi, fintech, and crypto backgrounds who move fast, stay curious, and take pride in the commercial accountability of our advice - partnering directly with product teams to chart clear, defensible paths to launch.

The Senior Counsel role is based in the UK, or EU, partnering on licensing efforts in the UK, EU and various other jurisdictions and cutting edge products including tokenized equities, margin, institutional custody, prime brokerage, financing, OTC.

You will operate as a practical legal generalist with a dual focus:

1. Product — partnering with cross‑functional teams on consumer, institutional, and market products (e.g., tokenized instruments, margin, institutional custody, prime brokerage, financing, OTC) from ideation through launch and lifecycle; and

2. Licensing — driving strategy, scoping, and execution of licensing/registration efforts across priority jurisdictions.

We’re looking for a hands-on lawyer with strong licensing experience, product development instincts, regulatory fluency, and negotiation skills (ideally honed in the regulated financial sector) combined with a crypto-forward mindset. Curiosity, flexibility, and a bias for action at the intersection of crypto and traditional global markets are essential.

This is a fully remote role

The opportunity

• Own cross‑functional product counseling across the build cycle (discovery → design → launch → iteration), delivering crisp, actionable guidance and risk‑based options to product, engineering, compliance, and leadership.

• Translate complex regulatory frameworks (with a focus on MiFID, EMIR, derivatives, and market structure) into pragmatic controls and go‑to‑market guardrails.

• Draft and negotiate client terms and conditions with clear, business‑aligned positions.

• Lead licensing/registration workstreams: scope requirements, map pathways, coordinate outside counsel, compile application materials, and manage regulator interactions.

• Support incident and supervisory responses with well‑reasoned written submissions and evidence packages.

• Foster a culture of clarity, favoring plain‑English communication, measurable risk tradeoffs, and decision‑ready recommendations.

What You'll Do

• Qualified lawyer (Solicitor/Barrister of England & Wales, Irish Solicitor/Barrister, or equivalent admitted in an EU Member State).

• 10+ years’ PQE in financial services law within a regulated financial services institution (e.g., an exchange, central clearing counterparty, broker-dealer/asset manager, trading firm, bank, brokerage, or crypto services provider) or in a law firm/private practice supporting such clients (ideally with some in-house or direct product counseling experience).

• Experience with advising on regulated MiFID investment services and familiarity with relevant crypto-asset regimes, including MiCA, AMLD5, UK financial promotions, and/or e-money regulations.

• Demonstrated experience leading licensing or registration efforts, including planning, applications, regulator engagement, and operationalization.

• Outstanding analytical, drafting, and organisational skills with crisp, plain-English writing.

• Ability to efficiently and confidently distill complex legal and regulatory issues into clear, actionable guidance for non-lawyers and product stakeholders.

• Pragmatic, commercially accountable approach to legal and regulatory risk that prioritises providing stakeholders with a useful range of options and delivers clear recommendations to decision-makers.

• Demonstrates an authentic passion for crypto and familiarity with the features of both Kraken and its competitors’ apps and products.

Nice to haves

• Expertise in MiCA framework applicable to CASPs including brokerage, custody and the operation of trading platforms.

• Expertise in EMIR including the clearing obligation, regulatory margin for non-centrally cleared derivatives and transaction reporting, desirable.

• Familiarity with using AI tools such as Enterprise GPTs to increase efficient provision of legal services, create custom GPTs allowing stakeholders to self-serve on commoditised legal and regulatory queries.

Unless a specific application deadline is stated in the job posting, applications are accepted on an ongoing basis.

Please note, applicants are permitted to redact or remove information on their resume that identifies age, date of birth, or dates of attendance at or graduation from an educational institution.

We consider qualified applicants with criminal histories for employment on our team, assessing candidates in a manner consistent with the requirements of the San Francisco Fair Chance Ordinance.

Payward is powered by people from around the world and we celebrate the diverse talents, backgrounds, contributions, and unique perspectives that everyone brings to the table. We hire based on merit, seeking out people with the right abilities, knowledge, and skills for the job. We encourage you to apply for roles where you don't fully meet the listed requirements, especially if you're passionate or knowledgeable about crypto.

We may ask candidates to complete job-related skills or work-style assessments as part of our hiring process. These assessments evaluate competencies relevant to the role and are applied consistently across candidates for similar positions. Results are considered alongside experience and interviews, and are not the sole basis for any employment decision.

As an equal opportunity employer, we don't tolerate discrimination or harassment of any kind, whether based on race, ethnicity, age, gender identity, citizenship, religion, sexual orientation, disability, pregnancy, veteran status, or any other protected characteristic as outlined by federal, state, or local laws.

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