Senior Legal Counsel, Pennylane
Financial Services & Regulatory
More information about location
Financial operating system for European SMEs
Job no longer available
Financial operating system for European SMEs
501-1000 employees
Job no longer available
More information about location
501-1000 employees
Company mission
To build the leading financial tool for European SMEs.
Role
Who you are
- You have 8+ years of relevant experience, including in-house legal experience at a regulated entity (payments, EMI/PI, bank, lending/consumer credit, factoring, etc.), fintech, or BaaS
- You have substantial experience in regulated financial services legal work, and you are comfortable owning cross-functional programmes
- Senior legal expert in a French ACPR‑regulated entity (établissement de paiement, établissement de crédit, société de financement or similar)
- Hands on contract experience and knowledge about our regulatory environment (arrêté du 3 novembre 2014, PSD2, DORA, EBA Guidelines, etc)
- You can credibly lead on :
- ACPR/European regulatory frameworks for payments and/or lending/financing
- Outsourcing and third-party risk legal frameworks in regulated environments
- Governance and regulated-entity corporate law basics
- You can work fast without losing rigour
- Strong pedagogy: able to explain complex regulatory legal topics to product managers, engineers and founders in simple, actionable terms
- Pragmatic, impact‑driven approach, capable of operating under strong regulatory constraints without blocking innovation
- Very strong written and oral communication skills in both French and English
- We know that some people are less likely to apply than others, if they don’t feel like they meet the full list of criteria. If you’re hesitating, we encourage you to apply : who knows, it might be the start of a meaningful and long-lasting collaboration
What the job involves
- We are looking for a Senior Financial Services Legal counsel to drive the legal function of our Financial Services activity
- From the day you join until we are fully licensed, you will structure and execute the legal path to authorization : interpret requirements, translate them into an internal plan, and ensure deliverables are complete, consistent, and aligned across teams
- You will help define the target operating model (intra-group and outsourced) and ensure it is legally defensible and well documented for the application
- After licensing you will shift from “building the file” to running and scaling the legal function of the regulated entity: ensuring ongoing compliance with ACPR expectations, enabling product growth safely, and keeping the operating model (including outsourcing) continuously audit‑ready
- You will own the legal oversight of day‑to‑day legal and corporate matters (policies, governance, reporting support, inspections), lead the legal work for launching new regulated products and entering new partnerships, and manage the legal aspects of onboarding and migrating customers to the licensed subsidiary (terms, communications, complaints/conduct risk)
- This is a greenfield project with high autonomy and responsibility, and the opportunity to shape the legal culture of a fast‑growing fintech with a robust preexisting customer base
- You will be part of the core Legal Department. Your reporting line will be Stanislas, our General Counsel
- You will partner closely with our Financial Services Chief Compliance and Risk Officer, Chief Operational Officer and the contract team
- You design, document and run the legal aspects of corporate governance: delegation of powers, board/committee charters, conflicts management, inter-company arrangements on payment services outsourcing, governance narrative for the ACPR reports, and ongoing legal compliance cadence once authorized
- You own the legal design of the FS product perimeter (payments services, account services, credit/financing products as applicable)
- You work with the contractual team (Roland) on the associated contractual framework: customer terms, disclosures, pricing documentation, complaint handling language, and operational/legal flows (including KYC/AML handoffs, incident handling and customer communications)
- You own legal matters relating to critical outsourcing and third-party reliance (including existing BaaS arrangements): contract negotiation, regulatory outsourcing clauses, audit/access rights, sub-outsourcing controls, exit plans, SLAs, data protection allocation, operational resilience expectations, and documentation suitable for ACPR scrutiny
- In close collaboration with the operation team (Maxime), you lead the legal plan for migrating customers from Swan (sequencing, consent/novation approaches, customer communications from a legal standpoint, continuity of mandates, handling of incidents/complaints, and safeguards to minimise conduct risk)
- In close coordination with our DPO (Léa) and security stakeholders, you ensure that our Financial Services operating model address data processing roles, cross-border flows (if any), retention, incident response, recordkeeping, and contractual protections with key providers
- Until we are fully licenced, you help prepare ACPR interactions (Q&A packs, position papers, meeting preparation)
- Once authorized :
- You own the relationship with ACPR from a legal perspective, supporting the CCRO with legal opinions, advisory etc
- You train internal stakeholders on the legal/regulatory constraints that shape product and operations, and build a “legal-by-design” approach for Financial Services
- You will be expected to operate as an owner, not a “support function,” and to produce pragmatic, regulator-ready outcomes
Application process
- Screening Interview with Nathalie - Sr Business Recruiter for 30 mins
- Manager Interview with Stanislas - General Counsel & Roland - Lead Legal Counsel for 1 hour
- Case Study with Stanislas & Maxime - General Manager Financial Services for 1h30
- Last Round Interview with Felix - COO & Léa - DPO
Our take
In multiple mature markets, companies have been using QuickBooks, Xero and other SaaS solutions for accounting, but it is a fragmented industry with each country using its own software solution. In France, there is no definitive SaaS solution for accounting.
Pennylane wants to overhaul current tools and modernise the tech stack of accounting firms, by connecting directly with third-party services that hold valuable information. Accounting firms can use Pennylane collaboratively by accessing the platform to centralise receipts, create invoices and automate tasks. Instead of sending information back and forth with spreadsheets and photo attachments, both clients and accounting firms can interact directly on the platform.
Pennylane has a significant market opportunity ahead, with an ambitious goal to become the preferred management platform for European companies. The company already claims an impressive number of customers and strong backing which will allow it to further develop its platform and expand to other markets in Europe.
Freddie
Company Specialist at Welcome to the Jungle
Insights
25% employee growth in 12 months
Company
Funding (last 2 of 8 rounds)
Jan 2026
$203.6m
SERIES E
Apr 2025
$87.3m
LATE VC
Total funding: $469.6m
Company benefits
- Work remotely from anywhere in Europe, as long as your contract allows you to
- Company shares to enjoy a piece of the success story you're building with us
- A budget to turn your home into a more comfortable workspace, as well as a monthly allowance to work from a coworking space whenever you feel like it
- Access to 8000 fitness spaces in Europe and more than 300 activities related to wellness through our partner Gymlib
- Access to Busuu to perfect your english or your french
- The latest Apple equipment
- Be part of a vibrant social community: we do lots of sports together (running, climbing...), we love to hang out and have a drink together (Thursday afterwork drinks on our rooftop is a usual thing)
- Twice-a-year company seminars
- Wonderful office in the center of Paris
- 10 additional days off (to the 25 standard ones) for those based in France
- Lunch credits (Swile card) to buy your favorite food every day, for those based in France
- Great healthcare cover (Alan Blue) to take care of yourself and your family, for those based in France
Company HQ
Chaussée-d'Antin, Paris, France
Leadership
Arthur Waller
(Co-founder & CEO)Founded PriceMatch in 2012, and progressed from Product Owner to Senior Product Owner at Booking.com between 2015-2018. Co-founded Pennylane in 2020.
Felix Blossier
(Co-founder & COO)Founding Partner of PriceMatch in 2012 and experience as Director General of the French Treasury from 2018-2020. Co-founded Pennylane in 2020.
Tancrède Besnard
(Co-founder & CPO)Co-founded PriceMatch in 2012. Experience as Product Manager for Booking.com between 2016-2018, and current advisor for Predictus. Co-founded Pennylane in 2020.
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