Deputy General Counsel - Litigation

In 1770, John Adams agreed to defend British soldiers charged in the Boston Massacre.

It was an unpopular decision, and not one likely to help his career. The facts were contested, emotions were high, and the outcome was uncertain. Adams later wrote that the case taught him something simple and durable: facts matter, pressure is inevitable, and judgment is what carries you through when neither side has a perfect story.

That is still true of litigation today.

At Mercury, we’re building a modern banking* experience trusted by more than 200,000 ambitious companies. We move quickly, we build new products, and we operate in a highly regulated environment. That combination makes disputes, investigations, and enforcement matters a fact of life — and handling them well is essential to continuing to innovate and scale.

To support that work, we’re hiring a Deputy General Counsel, Litigation to own Mercury’s litigation and enforcement function end to end.

What this role is about

This role exists to help Mercury keep building.

Litigation at Mercury is not about posturing or perfection. It’s about making clear-eyed decisions under pressure, managing risk thoughtfully, and ensuring that disputes don’t distract from or unnecessarily constrain the company’s ability to move forward.

You’ll be responsible for how Mercury approaches adversarial matters across the company, from early assessment through resolution, and for building the systems that allow us to handle those matters consistently as we scale.

What you’ll do

• Own Mercury’s litigation and disputes portfolio, including civil litigation, arbitration, investigations, regulatory enforcement, and other adversarial matters.
• Set litigation strategy, grounded in facts, risk tolerance, and business context.
• Build and scale Mercury’s litigation function, including playbooks, escalation frameworks, and outside counsel strategy, with an eye toward achieving differentiated outcomes.
• Oversee subpoena and government request response, balancing speed, rigor, and practicality.
• Advise senior leadership and the Board during high-stakes situations, helping the company navigate tradeoffs and move forward decisively.
• Identify patterns across matters, and partner with teams to reduce future risk through better systems, product design, or processes.
• Be a calm, trusted presence when issues are ambiguous and timelines are short.

Who you are

You’re a litigator with exceptional advocacy and communication skills and a strong business sense. In addition, you’ll have:

• 12+ years of legal experience, with significant litigation or enforcement experience.
• An exceptional communicator and advocate, able to explain complex issues clearly and persuasively.
• A strategic, practical thinker who can weigh risk without slowing the business unnecessarily.
• Comfortable owning decisions and giving direct advice when there’s no obvious right answer.
• Creativity is required, and a willingness to push beyond “the way things are normally done” to achieve outsized outcomes for Mercury.

What we’d love to see:

• A mix of in-house experience at a technology company (particularly in regulated industries) along with a strong law firm litigation background, with hands-on exposure to contested matters.
• Fintech, financial services, and/or government experience are a plus.
• Experience with government investigations/enforcement (federal + state) with pragmatic response posture.
• Strong legal-tech instincts (including AI) - can evaluate tools, deploy them responsibly, and drive adoption to make the team meaningfully faster.

About the Legal team

Our Legal team exists to help Mercury build faster and better — responsibly.

We focus on thinking from first principles, creating valuable business outcomes, producing high-quality work, and doing it in a super-collaborative, growth-oriented team setting. We partner closely with teams across the company and believe that good legal judgment, applied thoughtfully, enables innovation rather than standing in its way.

Why this role matters

As Mercury continues to grow, disputes and enforcement matters will increase in complexity and impact. This role ensures that Mercury can meet those moments without losing focus — protecting the company so it can keep building products that customers trust.

If you’re excited by responsibility, judgment, and helping a fast-growing company navigate real-world complexity, we’d love to talk.

* Mercury is a financial technology company, not a bank. Banking services provided by Choice Financial Group and Column N.A.

The total rewards package at Mercury includes base salary, equity (stock options/RSUs), and benefits.

Our salary and equity ranges are highly competitive within the SaaS and fintech industry and are updated regularly using the most reliable compensation survey data for our industry. New hire offers are made based on a candidate’s experience, expertise, geographic location, and internal pay equity relative to peers.

Our target new hire base salary ranges for this role are the following:

• US employees in New York City, Los Angeles, Seattle, or the San Francisco Bay Area: $302,400 - $378,000
• US employees outside of New York City, Los Angeles, Seattle, or the San Francisco Bay Area: $272,200 - $340,200

Mercury values diversity & belonging and is proud to be an Equal Employment Opportunity employer. All individuals seeking employment at Mercury are considered without regard to race, color, religion, national origin, age, sex, marital status, ancestry, physical or mental disability, veteran status, gender identity, sexual orientation, or any other legally protected characteristic. We are committed to providing reasonable accommodations throughout the recruitment process for applicants with disabilities or special needs. If you need assistance, or an accommodation, please let your recruiter know once you are contacted about a role.

We use Covey as part of our hiring and / or promotional process for jobs in NYC and certain features may qualify it as an AEDT. As part of the evaluation process we provide Covey with job requirements and candidate submitted applications. We began using Covey Scout for Inbound on January 22, 2024.

[Please see the independent bias audit report covering our use of Covey for more information.] 

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