Senior Counsel – Product, Asia-Pacific

• Provide product legal support for APAC launches and enablement across the Payward product suite
• Support products including xStocks, OTC options, institutional custody and execution, and cross-regional products rolling out across APAC
• Act as gatekeeper for new APAC outside counsel engagements by scoping work, estimating costs and approving external matters
• Translate complex regulatory frameworks into pragmatic, actionable business guidance
• Use AI-assisted tools for licensing analysis, regulatory submissions and matter tracking
• Own the APAC regulatory workload under the APAC regulatory lead
• Handle licence variations, client and broker agreement documentation, licensing structure questions and routine regulator correspondence
• Own geography-specific licensing in Kazakhstan, Pakistan and the Philippines
• Instruct and supervise local counsel across the region and support other APAC markets
• Support Payward Group licensing initiatives in Singapore and Hong Kong, including preparing application materials and coordinating with outside counsel
• Partner with Compliance, Product and senior leadership to support licensed entities and regulators

• Qualified lawyer admitted in Singapore, Hong Kong, England and Wales, or an equivalent common law jurisdiction
• 10 or more years' post-qualification experience in financial services regulatory law
• Experience gained at a regulated financial services institution, law firm supporting such clients, and/or relevant regulator
• Ability to independently own regulatory relationships and business-as-usual regulatory workstreams, including notifications, information requests and supervisory correspondence
• Strong experience with the financial regulatory landscape in a major Asian financial centre
• Ability to instruct, supervise and manage the cost of local counsel across multiple jurisdictions, including markets where not admitted
• Working knowledge of AML/CTF obligations and regulatory expectations
• Outstanding analytical, drafting and organisational skills
• Crisp, plain-English writing
• Ability to distill complex legal and regulatory issues into clear, actionable guidance for non-lawyer stakeholders
• Pragmatic, commercially accountable approach to legal and regulatory risk
• Ability to work autonomously in a fast-moving, remote, multi-time-zone environment
• Experience advising on virtual asset regulation in APAC jurisdictions is nice to have
• Familiarity with derivatives, equities and tokenised financial instruments is nice to have
• Experience with change-of-control notifications or regulatory aspects of corporate transactions is nice to have
• Experience with payments, e-money or card regulation is nice to have
• Working proficiency in a second APAC language is nice to have
• Interest in crypto and digital assets is nice to have

• Remote work arrangement based in Hong Kong or Singapore
• Opportunity to work with a global, diverse team
• Kraken product dogfooding after joining
• Job-related skills or work-style assessments applied consistently across candidates
• Equal opportunity employment
• Consideration of qualified applicants with criminal histories consistent with the San Francisco Fair Chance Ordinance