Senior Legal Counsel, Privacy - Upstart

The Team: Upstart is looking for an attorney to join the Product & Regulatory Legal team.

As Senior Legal Counsel, Privacy, you will serve as subject matter expert on privacy, data governance, and cybersecurity legal issues across Upstart’s operations. Ideal job seekers should be team players, excellent communicators, and incredibly organized, and also have experience in providing legal guidance to businesses in the financial services industry. If you thrive in a fast-paced legal environment and are a great teammate, please apply! As a subject matter expert within Upstart, you will collaborate with teams across the entire company and within the Product & Regulatory Legal team on the laws and regulations impacting Upstart’s consumer lending platform, bank partnership business lines, and future products. 

Position location: This role is available in the following locations: Remote

Time zone requirements: The team operates on the East/West coast time zones.

Travel requirements: As a digital first company, the majority of your work can be accomplished remotely. The majority of our employees can live and work anywhere in the U.S. but are encouraged to travel for in-person collaboration in our company offices in San Mateo, CA, Austin, TX, and Columbus, OH.  These in-person on-sites generally occur once per quarter for 2-4 consecutive days at a time, however the cadence varies by team and role.

How you’ll make an impact:

• Serve as the lead lawyer advising the business on applicable laws and regulations such as the GLBA, CCPA, and other state and federal privacy laws, as well as emerging “Responsible AI” and privacy laws. 
• Engage directly with Upstart’s product, operations, privacy, security, finance, legal and compliance teams regarding Upstart’s obligations under privacy and data security laws; perform legal research and provide memos as necessary.
• Research, analyze and provide recommendations regarding data use and data sharing abilities within applicable laws. 
• Provide legal recommendations to senior leadership, business partners and the Compliance/Risk function on key issues and strategy driving this important part of our business. 
• Assist in the drafting and finalization of privacy and security related policies and procedures including those relating to data retention and destruction. 
• Escalate high risk or important issues to senior leadership within the Product & Regulatory Legal team and senior management as appropriate. 
• Use a first-principals approach to identify inefficiencies, reduce legal risk, and improve customer experiences.

What we're looking for:

• J.D. degree with superior academic credentials and a state bar membership.
• Minimum of 5 years of experience in a top-tier law firm, in-house, and/or governmental agencies.
• Experience working for or with a fintech company, as well as handling privacy and/or data governance matters in consumer lending.
• In-depth knowledge of federal and state privacy and data security laws, including the GLBA, Regulation P, the FTC Financial Safeguard Rule and state laws across the country, as well as a foundational understanding of lending and consumer protection laws and regulations.
• Strong communication skills with a demonstrated ability to effectively and proactively provide quick, concise, and practical legal advice.
• A self-starter mentality with the ability to work well under pressure, excel working under limited direction, and an attitude that no job is too challenging or too small.
• Ability to provide solutions to a variety of issues of varied scope and complexity and to prioritize and balance multiple tasks in a fast-paced environment.