Lead Legal Counsel, Upstart
HELOC
$208-287.9k
+ Bonus, ESPP & Equity
AI lending marketplace
Be an early applicant
AI lending marketplace
1001+ employees
Be an early applicant
$208-287.9k
+ Bonus, ESPP & Equity
1001+ employees
Company mission
To enable effortless credit based on true risk.
Role
Who you are
- Juris Doctor (JD) degree from an accredited law school and active membership in at least one U.S. state bar
- 7+ years of legal experience advising financial services, fintech, or mortgage lending organizations, including substantial experience serving as the primary legal advisor for complex product organizations with a focus on real-estate secured products
- Deep expertise in consumer financial services laws and mortgage regulations, including TILA, RESPA, ECOA, FCRA, HMDA, UDAAP, and applicable state lending and federal banking laws
- Experience advising cross-functional product development teams and supporting the launch or expansion of regulated financial products
Desirable
- Experience supporting HELOC, mortgage, or other secured lending products throughout the full product lifecycle
- Experience supporting regulatory examinations, enforcement matters, or interactions with federal and state regulators
- Ability to balance legal risk with business objectives and develop practical, scalable solutions for product teams
- Experience building legal processes and governance frameworks within rapidly growing technology or fintech organizations
- Familiarity with AI-enabled financial products, digital lending platforms, or emerging regulatory developments affecting financial technology
What the job involves
- Upstart’s Product & Regulatory Legal team partners closely with Product, Engineering, Compliance, Risk, and Operations to enable responsible innovation across our lending products
- As Upstart expands its product offerings, the team plays a critical role in helping bring new products and capabilities to market while ensuring compliance with complex federal and state regulatory requirements
- As an Assistant General Counsel with the Product & Regulatory Legal team, you will play a key role in providing legal support for HELOC, and the potential development of new real estate secured products
- You will be part of a larger team that also supports Upstart’s unsecured and auto-secured lending products
- As the Lead Legal Counsel, HELOC at Upstart, reporting into the Product & Regulatory Legal team, you will serve as the primary legal partner for our Home Equity Line of Credit (HELOC) product
- You will work cross-functionally to provide strategic legal guidance throughout the product lifecycle, helping the business launch and scale innovative home lending solutions while effectively managing legal and regulatory risk
- Provide strategic legal counsel to Product, Engineering, Risk, Compliance, and Operations teams to support Upstart's HELOC product and transition from a state-licensed lender to a national bank
- Advise on federal and state consumer lending laws, with a particular focus on secured lending products, mortgage regulations, and regulatory developments that impact home lending products and services
- Provide legal counsel and advice on future products, which may include purchase-money mortgages
- Partner with cross-functional stakeholders to design compliant product features, customer experiences, operational processes, and servicing capabilities
- Lead legal support for new product initiatives, regulatory change management, and market expansion efforts related to home lending
- Collaborate across the Product & Regulatory Legal team and with other legal teams, including lawyers supporting Privacy, Fair Lending, Capital Markets and Commercial contracts, as needed
- Collaborate with internal and external stakeholders, including regulators, bank partners, and outside counsel, on legal matters affecting the HELOC business
- Identify and communicate key legal risks to business partners; ability to distill complex legal matters and risks for senior leadership in a clear and actionable manner, synthesizing complex concepts into concise recommendations
Our take
Based in San Mateo, California, Upstart is piositioning itself as a leading AI lending marketplace, connecting millions of consumers with more than 100 banks and credit unions. In a market where credit access can be limited by traditional scoring methods, Upstart aims to make lending fairer and more accessible by using technology to better understand each borrowers true potential.
Upstart builds AI and cloud-based tools that help lenders approve more borrowers at lower rates. Its models analyze thousands of variables (not just credit scores) to predict creditworthiness more accurately. And through its platform, consumers can access personal, auto, and home-equity loans, as well as smaller "relief" loans, all through a seamless digital experience.
So far, its success is reflected in its high loan automation rate (over 90% of loans are fully processed without human intervention) and the billions in loan originations it has facilitated. The company continues to refine its AI models and expand its offerings, and in 2026 earned provisional approval to establish "Upstart Bank" as a bank in the US.
Freddie
Company Specialist at Welcome to the Jungle
Insights
-16% employee growth in 12 months
Company
Funding (last 2 of 6 rounds)
Apr 2019
$50m
SERIES D
Mar 2017
$32.5m
SERIES D
Total funding: $135.7m
Company benefits
- Comprehensive health plans
- 401k Plan
- Annual wellness reimbursement
- Disability insurance
- Generous vacation policy
- Flexible time off
- Parental leave
- Family forming benefits through Carrot
- Technology equipment budget
- Personal development budget
- Various clubs and extracurricular activities
- Catered lunches
- Fully stocked micro-kitchen
Company HQ
South San Mateo, San Mateo, CA
Leadership
David Girouard
(Founder & Executive Chair)They started their career at Accenture and Booz Allen & Hamilton before working in Product Management at Apple and Virage. They left their role of 8 years as President of Enterprise at Google to found Upstart in March 2012.
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