Senior Legal Counsel

Tensec•Miami, FL

10d•Hybrid

About The Position

Tensec is expanding rapidly across the US, Brazil, and Mexico, and the legal infrastructure that enables this growth needs to be built correctly — by someone who understands financial services regulation, commercial contracting, and multi-jurisdictional compliance all at once. As Senior Legal Counsel, you will be Tensec’s primary internal legal voice across all US matters: corporate governance, regulatory compliance, vendor and partner contracting, and the legal framework that supports our expanding trade finance and cross-border payments operations. This is not a policy-writing or external-counsel-management role. You are the legal infrastructure. You will advise the CCO and COO directly, own Tensec’s regulatory development roadmap across BSA/AML, FinCEN, and OFAC, manage all material legal agreements, and build the legal scaffolding that lets Tensec enter new markets on its own terms.

Requirements

7+ years of legal experience, with meaningful time spent in financial services, fintech, payments, or a regulated industry — in-house experience strongly preferred
Grounded in legal and compliance fundamentals: background in law or compliance with close working knowledge of AML/CFT obligations, BSA/AML, FinCEN, OFAC, and KYB/KYC standards, and the regulatory expectations of institutions like BCB, BACEN, CNBV
Experienced enough with large institutions to know what you are walking away from, and why the equity trajectory of a company like this is worth more than the certainty you are leaving behind
Comfortable at multi-jurisdictional scale: trade finance structures, cross-border regulatory complexity, and AI-governed compliance systems are not unfamiliar territory
A natural institutional builder: you think about what the legal function looks like at ten times complexity before designing it for today
Fluent in English; Spanish or Portuguese a meaningful plus given our Brazil and Mexico operations and the volume of cross-border contracts flowing through this role
Based in New York, NY or Miami, FL; ability to travel
Active bar membership is a plus in New York, Florida, or another US jurisdiction
Experience advising on MTL compliance, MSB registration, or US state-level money transmitter licensing
Exposure to AI regulatory frameworks, data protection obligations (LGPD, GDPR, CCPA), or AI accountability standards in financial services
Genuine fluency in how cross-border financial services, regulatory frameworks, and compliance programs actually work, not just what the policy document says
High agency, when a legal question is unclear or a contract is blocking a deal, you drive to resolution without waiting for external counsel to tell you what to do
A commercial orientation: you understand that legal is a growth enabler at Tensec, not a gatekeeper, and you structure your work accordingly

Nice To Haves

Spanish or Portuguese a meaningful plus given our Brazil and Mexico operations and the volume of cross-border contracts flowing through this role
Active bar membership is a plus in New York, Florida, or another US jurisdiction

Responsibilities

Serve as Tensec’s primary internal legal voice across all US matters — corporate (other than board matters), contractual, marketing, regulatory, and risk — advising the COO and CCO directly at the operating level
Manage MTL obligations across all US jurisdictions and monitor the regulatory landscape as Tensec expands into new corridors and states
Direct and coordinate Tensec’s existing external legal network; manage outside counsel relationships strategically and cost-efficiently
Lead legal review on all client agreements, vendor contracts, and external partnerships; provide legal input on banking and financing relationships as they flow through you, with relationship ownership at COO level
Build the legal infrastructure including templates, playbooks, and review processes that scale and that the GC/CLO will inherit as the organization grows
Inform the CCO organization on US and cross-jurisdictional legal requirements that affect how the compliance program must be structured; you are the legal input, not the compliance owner
Advise strategically on compliance program design across markets, translating regulatory developments across BSA/AML, FinCEN, OFAC, and sanctions into actionable guidance for the compliance team
Own compliance program ownership and external compliance advisory relationships at COO level; your role is to ensure the compliance team has the legal substance it needs to execute well
Monitor and advise on AI governance requirements applicable to Tensec’s US and international operations, including emerging AI transparency and accountability obligations at the federal and state level
Ensure US market entry and product launches account for relevant AI, data, and consumer protection requirements in coordination with the operations and product teams
Serve as the internal legal resource for People & HR matters across all three jurisdictions; support the COO on employment, contractor, and benefits questions
Build and maintain a legal knowledge base — contract templates, regulatory memos, jurisdiction summaries — so that legal guidance is embedded in operations rather than siloed