Director, Legal - Product & Regulatory

About KOHO

We’re on a mission to make financial services better for every Canadian. That means no hidden fees, no predatory interest rates - just financial products designed to help our users spend smart, save more, and build real wealth. We’re a performance organization with a strong heart: we care deeply about outcomes, and everything ties back to our mission - to financially empower a generation of Canadians.

At KOHO, we prioritize work-life integration through asynchronous collaboration, flexible hours, and a remote-first setup built around autonomy and high trust. We’re entering our next chapter - leaner, smarter, more AI-integrated, and building for impact over bureaucracy.

About The Role

As Director, Legal – Product and Regulatory, you will lead legal support for KOHO’s product development and regulatory strategy across both KOHO Tech and KOHO Bank (letters patent pending).

You will work closely with Product, Technology, Marketing, Risk, and Compliance teams to provide practical legal advice that enables innovation while protecting customers and maintaining strong regulatory standards. This role is ideal for a lawyer who enjoys rolling up their sleeves, solving complex regulatory questions, and taking ownership of outcomes in a fast-moving, flat organization.

What You’ll Do

• Partner across KOHO Tech and KOHO Bank (letters patent pending) to provide practical regulatory advice that enables growth while protecting customers.
• Support the design and launch of new financial products and features, identifying regulatory risks early and helping teams build compliant solutions.
• Play a key role in helping KOHO establish and operationalize a regulated bank, including supporting engagement with regulators such as OSFI, FCAC, and the Bank of Canada.
• Support Marketing and Growth teams by ensuring campaigns are effective and compliant with financial services and consumer protection requirements.
• Provide guidance to customer-facing teams on complaint handling, communications, and fairness considerations.
• Help build scalable legal and regulatory processes to support KOHO’s long-term growth as a regulated financial institution.
• Support the development of knowledge management for Legal.
• Mentor other members of the Legal team and represent Legal in cross-functional and leadership forums.

What You’ll Bring

• 10+ years of post-call experience as a lawyer practicing in Canada (in-house and/or at a law firm), with substantial in-house experience.
• Direct experience advising on the launch of retail banking products, as well as related financial services regulation, banking law, and consumer protection frameworks.
• Demonstrated ability to operate with significant autonomy and deliver practical, business-oriented legal advice to senior stakeholders.
• A track record of leading complex legal or regulatory initiatives with minimal oversight.

Ways of Working

• High-agency and entrepreneurial: You take ownership, figure things out, and move problems forward without waiting for perfect instructions or established processes.
• Commercial and pragmatic: You understand that Legal’s job is to help the business achieve its goals while making smart, risk-calibrated decisions.
• Curious and solutions-oriented: You enjoy understanding how products and technology actually work, asking the right questions, and finding creative paths through ambiguity.
• A builder: You look for ways to turn recurring problems into better processes, playbooks, tools, and systems.
• Low-ego, high self-awareness: You’re confident in your judgment but genuinely open to being challenged and learning from others.
• Comfortable with ambiguity and speed: You can make progress with incomplete information, prioritize effectively, and operate calmly when priorities shift.
• Collaborative and influential: You build strong relationships across Product, Compliance, and Risk to guide cross-functional teams.
• Technically curious: You’re excited by technology and AI and look for ways to use them to make legal work and business processes more effective.

Nice to Have

• Experience working at both a large bank and a tech startup or fintech (ideally through a bank charter or launch process).
• Experience engaging directly with regulators.
• Lobbying or government relations experience.
• Familiarity with the RPAA and the Financial Consumer Protection Framework (FCPF).
• AML advisory experience at a bank.
• Experience implementing privacy laws.
• Experience mentoring or managing junior legal counsel.
• Fluency in French.