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About the Role

RQD is seeking a General Counsel to serve as the company’s senior legal executive and a trusted advisor to the CEO, Board of Directors, and leadership team. This role requires deep, hands-on experience with SEC and FINRA regulation applicable to broker-dealers, particularly carrying, clearing, and custody businesses. The General Counsel will advise on regulatory strategy, examinations, commercial agreements, product development, corporate governance, financings, employment matters, disputes, and global regulation. This is a highly practical and hands-on role requiring the ability to analyze complex regulatory issues, make clear recommendations, and work closely with various teams.

Responsibilities

• Serve as RQD’s senior legal advisor on SEC and FINRA rules applicable to broker-dealers, clearing firms, carrying firms, and custody businesses.
• Advise on customer protection, net capital, margin, books and records, supervision, regulatory reporting, clearing arrangements, custody, and financial responsibility requirements.
• Support new products and business initiatives, including securities lending, fully paid lending, portfolio margin, overnight trading, digital assets, tokenized securities, and international client arrangements.
• Lead or oversee SEC and FINRA inquiries, investigations, and enforcement matters.
• Partner with Compliance and Risk on client activity, account restrictions, customer exits, low-priced securities, market manipulation concerns, omnibus accounts, and cross-border activity.
• Negotiate and draft clearing, custody, brokerage, securities-lending, technology, vendor, strategic partnership, and other complex commercial agreements.
• Advise on corporate governance, Board matters, financings, strategic investments, acquisitions, and other corporate transactions.
• Oversee employment matters, litigation, claims, investigations, subpoenas, privacy, cybersecurity, intellectual property, and outside counsel.
• Build scalable legal processes, templates, policies, and approval frameworks.
• Identify and communicate material legal and regulatory risks to senior management and the Board.

Requirements

• Juris Doctor degree from an accredited law school.
• Active membership in good standing in at least one U.S. state bar.
• Approximately 8 or more years of relevant legal experience.
• Significant experience advising SEC- and FINRA-regulated broker-dealers.
• Deep working knowledge of the regulatory framework applicable to carrying, clearing, custody, or self-clearing broker-dealers.
• Direct experience with SEC, FINRA, exchange, or other securities-regulatory examinations or investigations.
• Strong knowledge of broker-dealer financial responsibility, customer protection, supervision, margin, books and records, and clearing obligations.
• Experience advising senior executives and Boards of Directors.
• Experience negotiating sophisticated financial-services or technology agreements.
• Ability to provide practical, independent advice without excessive reliance on outside counsel.
• A true securities-regulatory expert who understands how clearing firms operate in practice.
• A practical, commercially minded lawyer who can distinguish material risk from theoretical risk.
• Strong judgment and the confidence to provide direct advice in high-stakes or ambiguous situations.
• Ability to explain complex legal and regulatory issues in plain English.
• A low-ego, intellectually honest leader who takes ownership and works well across functions.
• A builder who wants to create a legal function that can scale with the business.

Skills

• SEC and FINRA regulation
• Broker-dealer regulation
• Carrying, clearing, and custody businesses
• Regulatory strategy
• Examinations
• Commercial agreements
• Product development
• Corporate governance
• Financings
• Employment matters
• Disputes
• Global regulation
• Customer protection
• Net capital
• Margin
• Books and records
• Supervision
• Regulatory reporting
• Clearing arrangements
• Custody
• Financial responsibility
• Securities lending
• Fully paid lending
• Portfolio margin
• Overnight trading
• Digital assets
• Tokenized securities
• International client arrangements
• Inquiries, investigations, and enforcement matters
• Client activity
• Account restrictions
• Customer exits
• Low-priced securities
• Market manipulation concerns
• Omnibus accounts
• Cross-border activity
• Clearing agreements
• Custody agreements
• Brokerage agreements
• Securities-lending agreements
• Technology agreements
• Vendor agreements
• Strategic partnership agreements
• Corporate governance
• Board matters
• Strategic investments
• Acquisitions
• Corporate transactions
• Litigation
• Claims
• Investigations
• Subpoenas
• Privacy
• Cybersecurity
• Intellectual property
• Legal processes
• Templates
• Policies
• Approval frameworks
• Risk identification
• Risk communication
• SEC Rules 15c3-1
• SEC Rules 15c3-3
• SEC Rules 17a-3
• SEC Rules 17a-4
• Regulation T
• FINRA margin rules
• Clearing-agency requirements

Location

• New York, NY

Work Type

• Hybrid

Experience Level

• 8+ Years

Education Level

• Juris Doctor degree
• Active membership in good standing in at least one U.S. state bar

Salary/Compensations

• $250,000 – $300,000

Benefits

• UnitedHealthcare medical coverage (multiple plan tiers, including HDHP options) — company covers 90% of premium costs, effective your first day of employment.
• Dental and Vision included.
• Health Savings Account (HSA) and Flexible Spending Account (FSA) options
• Paid Time Off — 20 accrued vacation days/yr, 6 sick days/yr (with carryover), 2 personal days/yr, and 1 volunteering day/yr
• 401(k) with a strong employer match — 100% match on the first 4% of employee contributions, immediately vested
• Competitive compensation
• Equity participation

About the Company

• RQD is a modern clearing firm that offers clearing, custody, and execution solutions designed to meet the needs of today's dynamic market participants.
• Built entirely on cloud-native, real-time technology, RQD can quickly and seamlessly enhance its platform, adapt to regulatory changes, and offer a more efficient implementation that scales as clients grow.
• RQD supports U.S. equities, options, ETFs, and other securities, catering to broker-dealers and FinTechs, including RIAs, that service retail, institutional, and active traders, foreign financial institutions, and proprietary trading firms.
• RQD Clearing is proud to be backed by our current investors, ABN AMRO Bank and Nyca Partners, and we are currently in the process of finalizing our Series B round of funding.
• This is an opportunity to work for a fintech start-up and to be an integral part of growing a broker-dealer from the ground up.
• As a small, hardworking team, we pride ourselves on our entrepreneurial culture and cross-team collaboration.
• We're changing the clearing and custody space for the better, and we're always seeking driven, talented individuals who can help us on that journey.
• Working alongside our team of clearing professionals means you'll advance your career while helping some of the world's foremost financial institutions transact more efficiently.
• You'll join a firm that is deeply committed to its people, its clients, and the industry at large.

Equal Opportunity

• RQD is an equal opportunity employer.
• We are committed to building a team with diverse backgrounds, experiences, and perspectives.
• Employment decisions are made without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, age, disability, veteran status, or any other status protected by applicable law.