Contracts Counsel - Digital Assets

At Early Warning, we’ve powered and protected the U.S. financial system for over thirty years with cutting-edge solutions like Zelle®, Paze℠, and so much more. As a trusted name in payments, we partner with thousands of institutions to increase access to financial services and protect transactions for hundreds of millions of consumers and small businesses.

Positions located in Scottsdale, San Francisco, Chicago, or New York follow a hybrid work model to allow for a more collaborative working environment.

Candidates responding to this posting must independently possess the eligibility to work in the United States, for any employer, at the date of hire. This position is ineligible for employment Visa sponsorship.

Overall Purpose

This position is responsible for reviewing, drafting, and negotiating a variety of commercial contracts across a variety of business units and subject areas and assisting with contract management at the company.  

This role supports commercial contracting activities related to cross-border payments and digital asset–enabled solutions, ensuring agreements appropriately address regulatory, operational, and risk considerations in a rapidly evolving financial technology environment.

Essential Functions

• Drafts, reviews, and negotiates a wide range and complexity of commercial contracts with customers, suppliers, technology and business partners, including complex master service agreements, statements of work, vendor agreements, professional services agreements, intellectual property license agreements, and non-disclosure agreements for domestic and international use cases.

• May support M&A activities.

• Collaborates with other internal partners, including privacy, security, compliance, risk management, and other members of the Legal department, to provide integrated support to the contracts team and its clients.

• Draft, review, and negotiate agreements supporting cross-border payment capabilities and digital asset–enabled services, including blockchain infrastructure, custody, settlement, and technology integration arrangements.

• Advise business and technology teams on contractual considerations related to digital asset transactions, stablecoin-enabled settlement models, and international payment flows, in collaboration with Compliance and Risk.

• Monitor and assess evolving legal and regulatory frameworks impacting digital assets, blockchain technologies, and global money movement, incorporating requirements into contract structures and templates.

• Advises business teams on a full range of issues related to commercial contracting in the interpretation and application of U.S. and international legal and regulatory frameworks.

• Prepares, maintains, and updates contract templates and prepares unique or custom agreements as required.

• Recommends and helps implement contract policies and procedures.

• Partners closely with contract administration team to provide timely and efficient management of the contracts process.

• Assists with development and implementation of contract guidelines/playbooks and client training.

• Delivers timely, actionable, forward looking, legal guidance that facilitates business objectives in a legal compliant manner.

• Develops and maintains knowledge of the regulations and industry guidelines impacting the company’s products and commercial contracts.

• May supervise lower-level attorneys and/or contract management personnel.

• Manages and supervises outside counsel as needed.

• Exercises independent judgment.

• Supports the company’s commitment to contracts operational excellence and risk management while protecting the integrity and confidentiality of systems and data.

Minimum Qualifications

• Juris Doctor from accredited law school; admission to Arizona or other State bar

• Minimum of eight (8) years of transactional legal experience preferably with a majority of that time in an in-house corporate setting

• Experience supporting commercial transactions in regulated financial services, payments, or technology environments; familiarity with digital asset or cross-border payment frameworks is a plus.

• Strong presentation and negotiation skills, solid business instinct and judgment and excellent written and verbal communication skills

• Proven ability to define legal issues and legal risks

• Strong interpersonal and collaborative skills to build partnerships and alliances internally and with external partners at all levels of the organization

• Highly effective working in a team environment

• Organized with ability to prioritize multiple tasks and flexibility to adapt to changing priorities to achieve objectives in a fast-paced environment

• Prior experience with contract management processes and CLM tools (e.g. Agiloft, Salesforce, Coupa)

• Unyielding commitment to highest professional ethics

• Ability to maintain professional licensing and memberships in appropriate professional organizations

• Background and drug screen

Preferred Qualifications

• Knowledge of laws, regulations and industry standards applicable to the financial services industry

• Experience drafting and negotiating agreements involving blockchain infrastructure, digital asset service providers, custody arrangements, or payment network integrations.

• Familiarity with regulatory considerations impacting digital assets, cross-border payments, and related compliance frameworks.

Physical Requirements

Working conditions consist of a normal office environment.  Work is primarily sedentary and requires extensive use of a computer and involves sitting for periods of approximately four hours.  Work may require occasional standing, walking, kneeling, and reaching.  Must be able to lift 10 pounds occasionally and/or negligible amount of force frequently.  Requires visual acuity and dexterity to view, prepare, and manipulate documents and office equipment including personal computers.  Requires the ability to communicate with internal and/or external customers.

Employee must be able to perform essential functions and physical requirements of position with or without reasonable accommodation.

The above job description is not intended to be an all-inclusive list of duties and standards of the position.  Incumbents will follow instructions and perform other related duties as assigned by their supervisor.

The base pay scale for this position in:
Phoenix, AZ/ Chicago, IL / Washington, DC in USD per year is: $154,000 - $193,000.

New York, NY/ San Francisco, CA in USD per year is: $186,000 - $232,000.
Additionally, candidates are eligible for a discretionary incentive plan and benefits.

This pay scale is subject to change and is not necessarily reflective of actual compensation that may be earned, nor a promise of any specific pay for any specific candidate, which is always dependent on legitimate factors considered at the time of job offer. Early Warning Services takes into consideration a variety of factors when determining a competitive salary offer, including, but not limited to, the job scope, market rates and geographic location of a position, candidate’s education, experience, training, and specialized skills or certification(s) in relation to the job requirements and compared with internal equity (peers). The business actively supports and reviews wage equity to ensure that pay decisions are not based on gender, race, national origin, or any other protected classes.

Some of the Ways We Prioritize Your Health and Happiness 

• Healthcare Coverage – Competitive medical (PPO/HDHP), dental, and vision plans as well as company contributions to your Health Savings Account (HSA) or pre-tax savings through flexible spending accounts (FSA) for commuting, health & dependent care expenses.
• 401(k) Retirement Plan – Featuring a 100% Company Safe Harbor Match on your first 6% deferral immediately upon eligibility.
• Paid Time Off – Unlimited Time Off for Exempt (salaried) employees, as well as generous PTO for Non-Exempt (hourly) employees, plus 11 paid company holidays and a paid volunteer day.
• 12 weeks of Paid Parental Leave
• Maven Family Planning – provides support through your Parenting journey including egg freezing, fertility, adoption, surrogacy, pregnancy, postpartum, early pediatrics, and returning to work.

And SO much more! We continue to enhance our program, so be sure to check our Benefits page here for the latest. Our team can share more during the interview process!

Pursuant to the San Francisco Fair Chance Ordinance, we will consider for employment qualified applicants with arrest and conviction records.

Early Warning Services, LLC (“Early Warning”) considers for employment, hires, retains and promotes qualified candidates on the basis of ability, potential, and valid qualifications without regard to race, religious creed, religion, color, sex, sexual orientation, genetic information, gender, gender identity, gender expression, age, national origin, ancestry, citizenship, protected veteran or disability status or any factor prohibited by law, and as such affirms in policy and practice to support and promote equal employment opportunity and affirmative action, in accordance with all applicable federal, state, and municipal laws. The company also prohibits discrimination on other bases such as medical condition, marital status or any other factor that is irrelevant to the performance of our employees.