Lead Counsel, Payments & Regulatory (APAC)

Job description

About the role We are looking for an experienced payments and regulatory lawyer to lead our global payments platform across APAC, with a particular focus on Australia, Singapore, New Zealand. This is an exciting opportunity to help build the legal and regulatory infrastructure behind Rippling’s cutting-edge financial cloud product stack and to support product launches in some of our most important growth markets. You will work closely with Product, Engineering, Compliance, Risk, Finance, Operations, Commercial, and business teams on a wide range of payments-related initiatives, creating a first-in-kind platform that spans numerous industries. You will also help drive the compliance culture at Rippling by supporting thoughtful regulatory engagement and embedding practical, risk-calibrated legal advice into product development, launch processes, and ongoing operations. The ideal candidate has deep payments regulatory expertise, loves working in a fast-paced environment, enjoys the regulatory challenge of innovative payments and banking systems, takes ownership over initiatives, has excellent analytical and communication skills, and fundamentally believes that lawyering need not be boring What you will do Lead legal and regulatory support for Rippling’s payments and financial-services products across APAC, with a focus on Australia, New Zealand, and Singapore. Counsel product and business teams on new payments product launches, payment flows, licensing strategy, regulatory obligations, customer disclosures, marketing, and operational controls. Advise on licensing and authorization applications, regulator interactions, supervisory inquiries, regulatory filings, and ongoing obligations under payments and financial-services licenses. Monitor and interpret payments, AML/CFT, stored value, e-money, cross-border transfer, FX, and related regulatory developments across APAC, and translate them into practical guidance for stakeholders. Build scalable legal review processes, launch-readiness frameworks, and compliance-by-design practices for new and evolving payments products. Manage external counsel across APAC jurisdictions and synthesize local-law advice into practical recommendations for product and business teams. Support launches beyond APAC as needed, partnering with global legal colleagues, compliance teams, and local counsel. What you will need 6+ years experience in a payments legal role (money transmission, e-money/stored value, banking-as-a-service, remittance or general fintech) Strong understanding of the payments ecosystem and regulatory environment in APAC jurisdictions, such as Singapore and/or Australia), including payment and AML/CFT regulations Experience advising on licensing or authorization applications, regulator engagement, regulatory filings, license conditions, and ongoing compliance obligations Experience counseling product and engineering teams on regulated product launches and converting legal requirements into practical implementation guidance Experience building trusted relationships and an ability to collaborate with senior stakeholders Strong analytical and problem-solving skills Excellent communicator with the ability to break down complex requirements into easy-to-understand and practical advice Ability to work with multiple deadlines under pressure Entrepreneurial mindset, self-starting, and comfortable working in a highly dynamic and complex global organisational environment Sense of Humor Additional Information Rippling is an equal opportunity employer. We are committed to building a diverse and inclusive workforce and do not discriminate based on race, religion, color, national origin, ancestry, physical disability, mental disability, medical condition, genetic information, marital status, sex, gender, gender identity, gender expression, age, sexual orientation, veteran or military status, or any other legally protected characteristics, Rippling is committed to providing reasonable accommodations for candidates with disabilities who need assistance during the hiring process. To request a reasonable accommodation, please email Rippling highly values having employees working in-office to foster a collaborative work environment and company culture. For office-based employees (employees who live within a defined radius of a Rippling office), Rippling considers working in the office, at least three days a week under current policy, to be an essential function of the employee's role. About Rippling Rippling gives businesses one place to run HR, IT, and Finance. It brings together all of the workforce systems that are normally scattered across a company, like payroll, expenses, benefits, and computers. For the first time ever, you can manage and automate every part of the employee lifecycle in a single system. Take onboarding, for example. With Rippling, you can hire a new employee anywhere in the world and set up their payroll, corporate card, computer, benefits, and even third-party apps like Slack and Microsoft 365—all within 90 seconds. Based in San Francisco, CA, Rippling has raised $1.4B+ from the world’s top investors—including Kleiner Perkins, Founders Fund, Sequoia, Greenoaks, and Bedrock—and was named one of America's best startup employers by Forbes. We prioritize candidate safety. Please be aware that all official communication will only be sent from @ addresses.