
Commercial Legal Counsel
Key Skills
Job Description
About Us
OpenFX is on a mission to move money as freely as data, unrestricted by time zones, banking hours, or legacy systems. We are building the infrastructure that will power the next generation of cross-border payment systems for institutions. The team's execution has been exceptional, and we're scaling at a remarkable pace. Our stellar early team brings experience at companies such as J.P. Morgan, Goldman Sachs, FalconX, PayPal, Affirm, Polygon, Kraken, Nium, Visa, Mastercard and others. We're backed by Accel, Lightspeed, M13, Northzone, Pantera, and other top-tier investors.
About the Role
As Commercial Legal Counsel, you will run the commercial deal desk end-to-end and be the lead lawyer supporting OpenFX’s Go to Market team. You will create new global contractual frameworks to support our expanding set of products and markets, create templates for our partnership arrangements with local financial institutions, build and manage a Contract Management System, and expand our processes leveraging AI to enable the Legal team to rapidly and efficiently review and negotiate agreements and onboard new clients.
What You'll Do
- Own the full commercial contracting lifecycle for our global customer relationships.
- Build and maintain the commercial legal playbook - templates, fallback positions, approval thresholds, and escalation paths so standard deals close without bespoke lawyering.
- Create systems and processes enabling the team to leverage AI for first-pass contract review, issues lists, and clause comparison, and build reusable AI workflows that compress cycle times across the whole legal function.
- Advise the team on deal structure, pricing and fee terms, service levels, liability and indemnity positions, and settlement and funds-flow mechanics.
- Partner with regulatory Legal, Compliance, and Product on how regulatory requirements land in contract terms and customer-facing documentation.
- Serve as the lead Counsel advising the global Go to Market team.
What You Should Bring
- 10+ years of legal experience, with substantial time in commercial legal roles and in fintech, payments, or financial services - in-house at a high-growth company, at a top-tier firm, or both.
- General knowledge of the regulatory frameworks related to cross-border payments and digital assets - money transmission, e-money, MiCA, and stablecoin issuance and payments.
- Outstanding analytical and written and verbal communication skills.
- Comfort with ambiguity and ability to devise creative solutions to solve problems.
- A bias for action and ability to excel in a fast-paced environment.
- Strong cross-functional collaboration skills.
- Humility and commitment to being a team player.
- Excitement about building a company and working on complex issues at the cutting edge of payments, crypto and and technology.
- J.D. or equivalent, with active bar admission in good standing in at least one U.S. jurisdiction.
Even Better
- Experience as an early hire standing up a commercial legal function from scratch.
What We Offer
- Equity in an early-stage, rapidly growing company
- Competitive salary and benefits package
- Ability to work at the cutting edge of transformational change in global payments
- Collaborative work culture
- Significant opportunity for professional growth
We are committed to building a diverse and inclusive workplace. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, disability, or veteran status.
Core Responsibilities
The Commercial Legal Counsel will lead the commercial deal desk and support the Go to Market team by managing the full contracting lifecycle. They will also build and optimize legal processes, including the implementation of AI-driven contract review systems.
Requirements
Candidates must have 10+ years of legal experience in fintech, payments, or financial services with a strong understanding of regulatory frameworks. A J.D. or equivalent degree with active bar admission in a U.S. jurisdiction is required.
Benefits
- Equity
- Competitive salary
- Professional growth opportunities
About OpenFX
Industry: Financial Services
Company size: 51-200 employees
OpenFX is redefining the future of global money movement. We enable money to flow across borders as effortlessly as data, unbound by time zones, legacy systems, or banking hours. Our FX infrastructure transforms how finance teams operate, delivering cross-border transfers with industry-leading spreads, real-time settlement and 24/7 availability. We are a team of serial entrepreneurs from Affirm, Charles Schwab, Goldman Sachs, JP Morgan, Kraken, Mastercard, Microsoft, Meta, Paypal, Revolut and Visa.