Associate General Counsel - Product and Privacy Counsel

“The intense intellectual and emotional life, and the heightening of sensations which came with the advance of civilization, made it clear…that only a part of the pain, pleasure, and profit of life lay in physical things. Thoughts, emotions, and sensations demanded legal recognition….” Brandeis & Warren, The Right to Privacy

Most law review articles are confined to the dustbins of history, but some end up changing the world. 

In 1890, Samuel D. Warren and Louis Brandeis, two leading legal scholars of their era, co-authored the article The Right to Privacy in the Harvard Law Review. They essentially invented the right to privacy in the United States, and it was developed in response to technological innovation. Around that time, portable cameras and mass-circulation newspapers (as well as increasingly aggressive “yellow journalists”) raised concerns that people would not be let alone to enjoy their solitude without intrusion. This seminal work was quickly adopted by courts and forms the underpinning of modern privacy law.

Subsequent waves of technological development–the telephone, the personal computer, the internet, social media, and now AI–have continued to spur development of the law of privacy and self-reflection as a society on what it means to be left alone.

At Mercury, we think banking* should do more than simply hold your money, and we’ve been innovating to develop a modern, beautiful experience that allows businesses and individuals to easily understand and control their finances. Because we deal with sensitive financial information-and because we are continuously innovating–it’s important that we design our products with privacy as an essential consideration.

To that end, we are hiring an Associate General Counsel for Product and Privacy who will be responsible for scaling and refining our privacy program to keep pace with our growing customer base and expanding product offerings. While this role will have a primary focus on privacy, the role will also be responsible for expanding our product counseling function with regard to our recently launched financial workflow products.

About the team

Our Legal team aims to be the most loved in-house legal team, by generating value for the business and skillfully helping Mercury navigate complex legal areas. We operate in accordance with Mercury’s values–which include being super helpful, thinking actively, focusing on outcomes, and acting with humility (admittedly not always easy for lawyers). When it comes to our legal advice, we always strive to ensure it flows from first principles and is both pragmatic and extremely high quality. 

Our lawyers are embedded in the product life cycle from initial ideation to final rollout and the iterations that follow, and will partner closely with product managers, designers, engineers, compliance experts, government relations colleagues, and bank-partner counterparts.

What you’ll do

• Help build our privacy program for scale: As Mercury enters into its next phase of growth, you will be responsible for taking our privacy program to the next level, ensuring its thoughtful, innovative, and built for scale.
• Transform regulations into opportunities: Provide thoughtful counsel on privacy and other regulatory areas, helping teams advance the business while maintaining compliance and user-centric design.
• Collaborate across teams: Work closely with information security, engineering, compliance, risk, product, and customer support, to craft user-focused solutions.
• Be a storyteller: Translate dense legal concepts into straightforward, energizing narratives for product and business stakeholders as well as external audiences.
• Stay curious and agile: Embrace each new regulation, market shift, or product pivot as a learning opportunity, channeling your inventive, collaborative way of thinking to help Mercury stay ahead.
• Foster collective success: Approach problems with a mindset that transparency, trust, and teamwork will lead to the best outcomes.

What you should have

• 10+ years of legal experience (private practice, in-house, or with a government agency), with deep expertise in privacy and product counseling.
• A genuine passion for privacy and data protection, along with a deep care for the founders and entrepreneurs that we serve.
• Experience in fintech, banking, lending, or payments is nice to have but not required.
• Exceptional communication skills—you’re flexible enough to engage with designers, engineers, executives, and external partners alike.
• A proactive sense of ownership. You are never afraid to say “I don’t know, but I’ll find out.”

* Mercury is a financial technology company, not a bank. Banking services provided by Choice Financial Group, Column N.A., and Evolve Bank & Trust, Members FDIC.

The total rewards package at Mercury includes base salary, equity (stock options), and benefits.

Our salary and equity ranges are highly competitive within the SaaS and fintech industry and are updated regularly using the most reliable compensation survey data for our industry. New hire offers are made based on a candidate’s experience, expertise, geographic location, and internal pay equity relative to peers.

Our target new hire base salary ranges for this role are the following:

• US employees in New York City, Los Angeles, Seattle, or the San Francisco Bay Area: $257,400 - 321,700
• US employees outside of New York City, Los Angeles, Seattle, or the San Francisco Bay Area: $231,700 - 289,500

Mercury values diversity & belonging and is proud to be an Equal Employment Opportunity employer. All individuals seeking employment at Mercury are considered without regard to race, color, religion, national origin, age, sex, marital status, ancestry, physical or mental disability, veteran status, gender identity, sexual orientation, or any other legally protected characteristic. We are committed to providing reasonable accommodations throughout the recruitment process for applicants with disabilities or special needs. If you need assistance, or an accommodation, please let your recruiter know once you are contacted about a role.

We use Covey as part of our hiring and / or promotional process for jobs in NYC and certain features may qualify it as an AEDT. As part of the evaluation process we provide Covey with job requirements and candidate submitted applications. We began using Covey Scout for Inbound on January 22, 2024. Please see the independent bias audit report covering our use of Covey here.

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