Associate General Counsel

NinjaHoldings•Chicago, IL

27d•Hybrid

About The Position

NinjaHoldings is hiring an Associate General Counsel to serve as a senior leader in its Legal Department and a trusted advisor to senior management and business leaders. The role has broad responsibility for legal advice across consumer financial products and services, regulatory matters, litigation, strategic initiatives, commercial relationships, and enterprise legal risk. The Associate General Counsel will work with Legal leadership to establish legal strategy and priorities, lead significant legal initiatives, and support the ongoing development of the Legal function. The position combines strategic counseling with hands-on execution and requires independent ownership of significant legal matters. The successful candidate will provide practical, business-oriented guidance on consumer financial products, including online installment loans, lines of credit, payment products, and emerging products. They will advise on applicable federal, state, and local laws; bank-fintech partnerships; regulatory developments; digital-product issues; and litigation and disputes. The role also involves collaborating with business and control functions, leading cross-functional legal and regulatory initiatives, managing outside counsel, and advising on regulatory examinations and interactions with authorities. This is a hybrid position based at NinjaHoldings' downtown Chicago headquarters, with in-office work two days per week. NinjaHoldings is headquartered in Chicago and has a distributed global workforce.

Requirements

J.D. from an ABA-accredited law school.
Active membership in good standing in at least one U.S. state bar.
At least 10 years of relevant legal experience, including at least five years of in-house legal experience with an online consumer lender, fintech, bank, or other company offering consumer credit products.
Significant experience advising on consumer lending products and federal and state laws governing consumer financial services, including advising product and business teams on regulated financial products.
Experience with regulatory examinations, investigations, enforcement matters, or interactions with federal or state regulators.
Ability to independently manage complex, high-impact matters, exercise sound judgment amid legal or business ambiguity, and provide practical, business-oriented advice.
Ability to identify emerging legal and regulatory risks and lead cross-functional initiatives from issue identification through implementation.
Ability to communicate complex legal concepts clearly to executives, business leaders, technical teams, and other non-lawyers, and build trusted organizational relationships.
Ability to thrive in a fast-paced, evolving environment, prioritize competing demands, and work effectively through change and ambiguity.
Collaborative, low-ego approach, along with the confidence, judgment, and leadership skills to independently own significant matters.

Nice To Haves

Direct experience in online consumer lending is strongly preferred.
Experience with consumer financial services litigation, arbitration, or enforcement matters is strongly preferred.
Experience with bank-fintech partnerships or bank-sponsored lending programs is strongly preferred.

Responsibilities

Serve as a senior legal advisor to executive leadership and business teams on complex legal, regulatory, product, litigation, and strategic matters.
Provide practical legal advice on the development, launch, operation, and evolution of consumer financial products and services, including online installment loans, lines of credit, payment products, and emerging products.
Advise on laws and regulations applicable to consumer financial services, including TILA/Regulation Z, ECOA/Regulation B, FCRA, EFTA/Regulation E, FDCPA, TCPA, GLBA, UDAAP, state lending and licensing laws, and consumer protection requirements.
Advise on bank-fintech partnerships and other strategic relationships, including responsibility allocation, product structure, regulatory requirements, oversight, and developments affecting bank partnership models.
Partner with Product, Technology, Operations, Marketing, Compliance, Risk, Finance, and other teams throughout the product lifecycle to identify legal requirements and implement practical solutions.
Monitor legislative, regulatory, enforcement, and judicial developments, assess their impact, and lead or coordinate necessary changes.
Lead cross-functional legal and regulatory initiatives, translating legal requirements into operational and technology changes and driving implementation.
Oversee significant litigation and disputes, including consumer litigation, arbitrations, class and representative actions, regulatory enforcement matters, and other material disputes; develop case strategy, manage outside counsel, assess exposure, and recommend courses of action.
Advise on regulatory examinations, investigations, inquiries, audits, and interactions with federal and state regulators and governmental authorities.
Identify and assess legal and business risks and work with stakeholders to develop practical approaches to mitigate them while supporting business objectives.
Provide guidance on privacy, data use, electronic payments and communications, marketing, consumer disclosures, and other issues relating to digital financial products and services.
Collaborate with Compliance and other control functions on regulatory change management, risk assessments, vendor oversight, policies and procedures, audits, examinations, and remediation.
Provide leadership and guidance to Legal team members, support professional development, and help establish Legal Department processes and priorities.
Manage outside counsel and other external legal resources, including defining scope, directing strategy, evaluating advice, and managing legal spend.
Develop a deep understanding of the Company's business, products, technology, operations, and strategic objectives to provide proactive legal guidance.
Handle other significant legal matters and strategic initiatives as needs evolve.