The Role
The Legal and Compliance Manager provides legal advice to ensure compliance and protect the company's interests, managing contracts, risk assessments, and leading legal projects.
Summary Generated by Built In
About PayJoy
PayJoy is a mission-first credit provider dedicated to helping under-served customers in emerging markets to achieve financial stability and success. Our patented technology for secured credit provides an on-ramp for new customers to enter the credit system. Through PayJoy’s point-of-sale financing and credit cards, customers gain access to a modern quality of life. PayJoy’s credit also allows our customers to seize opportunities as micro-entrepreneurs, and provide safety acts as insurance for tough times. Through our cutting-edge machine learning, data science, and anti-fraud AI, we have served over 17 million customers as of 2025 while achieving solid profitability for sustainable growth.
This role
The corporate counsel is responsible for providing legal advice to the company, ensuring its legality and the protection of its interests in a wide range of legal matters, such as contract negotiation, regulatory compliance, mergers and acquisitions, and litigation.
Responsibilities
- Develop and implement the company's legal strategy to support expansion in a country(ies), participating in the company’s international expansion and ensuring alignment with the global legal and compliance program.
- Provide legal services and guidance to the organization, including in matters related to product advisory, Intellectual Property protection, managing and negotiating a wide range of business contracts, labour law, company law and corporate governance, privacy, KYC/AML/Sanctions, amongst others.
- Oversee compliance with regulatory requirements, including data protection, local legislation and corporate governance. Develop and implement legal and compliance frameworks harmonized with the company’s global compliance infrastructure.
- Provide strategic advice, legal risk assessments and mitigation strategies to the business leadership and the management team. In collaboration with the executive management, manage various complex legal projects.
- Liaise with and manage relationships with external law firms across multiple jurisdictions.
- Lead dispute resolution, litigation management, and regulatory investigations when necessary.
- Support corporate structuring and any M&A activities as the company scales.
- Develop and review legal and compliance policies and procedures.
- As the business expands, hire, lead and train an effective internal L&C team.
- Contribute to the global legal department’s knowledge-sharing, policy development, and strategic initiatives, acting as a regional leader aligned with a global mandate.
Qualifications
- Bachelor of Laws degree and Master ’s degree in commerce, Business Administration, Management, Law or related field.
- Admitted Legal Practitioner, minimum of 10 years of experience, with strong preference for in-house legal experience building a legal team and partnering with the business through hypergrowth or business transformation periods.
- Minimum of 5 years of relevant senior management experience, leading a function, interacting with and providing advisory to executive management.
- Strong financial services industry experience.
- Exposure to working with or within fast-growing startups and international business environments. Prior experience in a startup / tech environment is preferred.
- Excellent leadership and management skills, with the ability to communicate effectively with both legal and non-legal stakeholders.
- Proven ability to operate in a cross-border, matrixed reporting environment.
- Proven ability to analyse and solve complex legal issues.
- Strong negotiation skills.
- Strong writing skills and high attention to detail.
- Excellent verbal and written communication skills.
- Ability to work independently and meet timelines.
Benefits
- 100% Company-funded health insurance for employees and immediate family members
- Life insurance
- Dental plan
- Phone finance, Headphone, home office equipment and wellness perks.
- Individual retirement plan 3%
- 20 days of vacations
- $2,000 USD annual Co-working Travel perk
- $2,000 USD annual Professional Development perk
PayJoy is proud to be an Equal Employment Opportunity employer and we welcome and encourage people of all backgrounds. We do not discriminate based upon race, religion, color, national origin, gender (including pregnancy, childbirth, or related medical conditions), sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, age, status as a protected veteran, status as an individual with a disability, or other applicable legally protected characteristics.
PayJoy Principles
Finance for the next billion * Ownership * Break Through Walls * Live Communication * Transparency & Directness * Focus on Scale * Work-Life Balance * Embrace Diversity * Speed * Active Listening
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The Company
What We Do
PayJoy's mission is to deliver access to credit to the next billion people in emerging markets worldwide. Our unique mobile security technology gives customers the ability to afford their first smartphone on credit, using the phone itself as collateral, and then provides further access to credit to help weather life's unexpected financial surprises and climb the ladder of economic well-being.
Founded in 2015, today PayJoy has reached millions of customers in a dozen countries around the globe, including Mexico, Brazil, Colombia, India, Kenya, and South Africa, and is on a strong growth path with support from major industry partners to bring credit to the next billion emerging consumers.
