Head of Compliance - San Francisco - Settl X

Description

Settl X builds agentic, explainable compliance for stablecoin rails: continuous KYB/KYT, FinPromOps, and audit-ready decision trails for exchanges, PSPs/PGs, and RWA platforms.

We're building the operating layer that turns regulatory obligations into shippable workflows.

The role

You'll sit at the intersection of law + compliance ops + product + GTM.

This is a customer-facing role: you'll help design defensible compliance programs and help convert pilots into paid deployments by telling a clear, credible risk/ROI story.

You're commercial. You can run compliance-led discovery, scope pilots, and support procurement—ideally because you've won clients yourself (e.g., running a small firm/boutique practice or advisory).

What you'll do

US-first compliance strategy (core)

• Own US compliance strategy for stablecoin rails and regulated financial activity: translate requirements into control maps and implementation plans across AML/BSA expectations, sanctions, customer due diligence, transaction monitoring, and auditability.
• Guide customers on US regulatory posture for go-to-market: how to reduce regulatory and bank-partner risk with defensible controls, evidence, and governance.
• Operationalize core workflows: KYB/UBO, adverse media, sanctions/PEP, continuous monitoring, escalation paths, incident response, recordkeeping, and governance cadence.

Proof, audit, and defensibility (core)

• Build the "audit-ready proof layer": define evidence standards, decision logs, reviewer SOPs, model/workflow QA, and exportable trails that stand up to enterprise audits, bank/partner diligence, and regulator scrutiny.
• Create repeatable customer procurement assets: risk narratives, compliance POV memos, control mapping sheets, and security/procurement kits (DPA/SCCs where needed, vendor diligence responses).

GTM + closing motion (core)

• Co-own GTM with founders: join discovery calls, qualify urgency, shape pilot scope, and help convert pilot → paid with a defensible compliance narrative.
• Sell the "why now": explain US enforcement and partner-risk triggers in plain English to founders, GC/CCO/MLRO/CRO, security, and procurement.
• Handle objections: reliance vs outsourcing, data retention, privacy, subprocessor risk, auditability, model explainability, and bank/partner diligence.

SEA/MENA expansion (supporting ~30%)

• Support a second-track compliance posture for MAS (Singapore) and VARA (UAE): adapt controls, evidence standards, and governance to meet local expectations without rebuilding everything.
• Partner-led leverage: help co-sell alongside KYT / Travel Rule / identity / custody partners when it accelerates trust and time-to-close.

Commercial edge (required)

We want someone who's not only correct, but convincing:

• You've personally closed work (retainers / enterprise projects / advisory mandates).
• You understand pipeline mechanics (ICP, discovery, qualification, pilot scoping, procurement).
• You can translate "compliance" into business outcomes (review time ↓, false positives ↓, approval SLAs ↑, audit effort ↓, regulator/bank comfort ↑).

Must-haves

• 5+ years in US fintech/web3/payments legal or compliance (GC/compliance lead/MLRO-adjacent experience is a plus).
• Strong working knowledge of US financial crime compliance for regulated financial activity (AML controls, sanctions, CDD/KYB expectations, transaction monitoring, recordkeeping, audit trails) and comfort advising fast-moving product teams.
• Working knowledge of SEA/MENA frameworks, specifically MAS and/or VARA (or the ability to ramp quickly).
• Experience operationalizing compliance (not just writing memos): controls, SOPs, evidence logs, governance.
• Comfort with APIs/webhooks/event logs (you don't need to code, but you can reason about product/data flows and auditability).
• Clear, structured writing: policies, playbooks, memos, customer-facing risk narratives.

Modern legal tooling mindset

You actively use (or have built workflows around) modern legal/compliance tools and methods:

• AI-assisted drafting/review, clause libraries, playbook-driven negotiation
• workflow automation (intake → review → approval → recordkeeping)
• knowledge management / precedent systems
• evidence-driven compliance (structured logs, decision provenance, audit exports)
• you're excited about "legal ops as product" and pushing the frontier of how legal teams work

Great-to-haves

• Ran a small law firm / boutique compliance practice with measurable client acquisition (inbound/outbound), proposals, pricing, and renewals.
• Experience selling into regulated buyers with multi-stakeholder decisions (legal/compliance/risk/security/procurement).
• Familiarity with Travel Rule, VASP compliance patterns, sanctions programs, or marketing/claims substantiation processes.
• Exposure to SOC2/ISO27001-adjacent legal/security work (vendor diligence, DPIAs, security addenda).

What's in it for you

• Equity-first upside with a true path to CCO / Co-Founder track based on outcomes.
• Front-row seat to US market structure + stablecoin rails (banking interfaces, PSPs, exchanges, RWAs).
• Build the compliance DNA from day zero—your systems become the category-standard playbook.
• Work directly with founders; high trust, fast iteration, real ownership.

Equity-first track

• Initial grant: 0.25–1.0% (4-year vest, no cliff)
• Top-ups: 0.2–0.5% per paid conversion supported (cap agreed)
• Conversion trigger → CCO/Co-Founder track: 2 paid conversions where your compliance posture + customer-facing work materially supports close/retention

Not a fit if

You want a purely internal legal role with no sales motion, or you're uncomfortable being customer-facing and helping move pilots through procurement.

How to apply

Email 3–5 lines on:

• one relevant deal / client win you helped close (your role, objections, timeline), and
• your 30/60/90 plan (US-first compliance priorities + what assets/workflows you'd build first + how you'd help generate/convert pipeline).

Mail: ,