Senior Product Counsel, Mortgages

Zillow

2d•$156,200 - $262,600•Remote

About The Position

We are looking for a talented attorney to serve as dedicated product counsel for Zillow Home Loans (ZHL) mortgage products. This role sits at the intersection of regulated consumer lending and product development, and is well suited for a lawyer energized by translating complex mortgage regulation into clear, practical guidance that helps product teams build and ship. You will be the day-to-day legal partner to the product and engineering teams building mortgage and integrated home-buying experiences, from affordability and pre-approval tools to AI-powered and agentic features and internal systems for ZHL's own loan officers. You will own the full legal lifecycle across the product portfolio, advise directly on complex and first-of-kind product questions, and work closely with specialized Legal and Compliance teams to support product development and launch. You will also coordinate with legal leadership on matters that present enterprise-level or cross-business-line risk. The right candidate has solid grounding in the mortgage regulatory framework, is comfortable getting hands-on with AI-enabled product features, has strong drafting, negotiation and communication skills, and the desire to grow subject matter expertise in a domain where product scope evolves and regulatory expectations shift. You are pragmatic, responsive, detail-oriented, and comfortable operating autonomously within a defined scope.

Requirements

7+ years of relevant experience with a national or regional law firm or in-house legal department, with meaningful consumer finance, mortgage, or product counseling experience; in-house experience at a mortgage lender, fintech, or prop tech company strongly preferred
A JD with active state bar admission in at least one jurisdiction
Substantive command of the mortgage and consumer lending regulatory framework, with the depth to advise directly on the statutes above as they apply to live product decisions
Experience advising on product development, and the judgment to give practical guidance where the regulatory answer is not fully settled
Experience drafting and negotiating commercial agreements such as vendor, technology, or services agreements
Excellent written and verbal communication skills, with the ability to convey the implications of legal issues and risk clearly to non-lawyers
Strong organizational skills and the ability to independently manage competing, time-sensitive projects
Sound judgment about when to decide, when to consult a subject matter expert, and when to elevate a matter for broader alignment
A team-first attitude and a demonstrated ability to build trusted relationships and collaborate across departments and levels

Nice To Haves

General familiarity with adjacent regulatory frameworks such as GLBA and TCPA, and with emerging state and federal AI/algorithmic regulation, is a plus

Responsibilities

Serve as the primary day-to-day legal point of contact for an assigned set of ZHL mortgage products, providing full lifecycle counsel from concept and design through launch and iteration
Advise product and engineering teams on the state and federal mortgage regulatory framework, including RESPA, TILA , ECOA, UDAAP, and state mortgage licensing
Partner directly with AI/ML engineering teams on compliance guardrails for AI-enabled and agentic product features, including hands-on testing of model outputs and development of evaluation criteria for legal and regulatory compliance
Provide practical, risk-calibrated guidance on product design and disclosures, including how and where mortgage content, pre-approval, and loan application experiences are surfaced across ZHL's platforms
Embed with business partners on issues of first impression, pilot programs, and other key initiatives, delivering legal risk analysis and recommendations directly to senior management
Draft, review, and negotiate the commercial and data-rights agreements that support your products, such as vendor, technology, and services agreements
Proactively partner with cross-functional teams and shared services (compliance, privacy, fair lending, marketing, and communications) to identify and resolve legal matters as they arise
Educate product, engineering, and business partners on mortgage and lending legal requirements so teams can make informed decisions while maintaining velocity