Work In Tech

Senior Legal Counsel (12-16 month contract)

At Interac, we design and deliver products and solutions that give Canadians control over their money so they can get more out of life. But that’s not all. Whether we’re leading real-time money movement, driving innovative commerce solutions like open payments for transit systems, or making advancements in new areas like verification and open banking, we are playing a key role in shaping the future of the digital economy in Canada.

Want to make a lasting impact amongst a community of creative thinkers, problem solvers, technical virtuosos, and high-performance application developers? We want to hear from you.

As Senior Legal Counsel, you will be responsible for providing forward-thinking legal guidance and strategic risk analyses, promoting innovation while protecting Interac’s reputation as one of the most trusted financial brands in Canada.

We are looking for a lawyer with keen business judgment and a genuine interest in the payment network and financial services to provide sophisticated advice on a broad range of technology contracting, outsourcing and third-party risk management activities. Interac lawyers handle complex issues, often in real time, to provide practical and actionable advice to an organization that continues to explore uncharted territory in financial services technology.

In this role, you will work collaboratively with a close-knit team of sharp, solution-oriented in-house lawyers on projects that challenge you to balance legal imperatives with the core business values, risk tolerance, and enterprise strategy of a renowned financial services organization.

You’ll be responsible for:

• Working in a fast-paced business and technology environment, partnering with business units, and playing a key role in driving the company's products and services forward.

• Providing strategic and actionable legal advice on key portfolios in the business and emerging technologies to complete time-sensitive projects while mitigating potential legal risks.

• Exercising business judgment to deliver practical and pragmatic solutions in an environment when the “right” legal answer is often unclear.

• Drafting, reviewing, and negotiating a diverse range of commercial contracts, including technology vendor agreements, service provider agreements, proof of concept agreements, letters of intent, software and evaluation license agreements (on premise and cloud), customer software development agreements, incentive agreements, sponsorship agreements, and consulting services agreements.

• Advising on operationalizing contracts in a complex, multi-vendor environment, and proactively identifying and resolving associated legal issues.

• Working as a collaborative member of the Legal team, a mentor to junior lawyers, and a resource for internal knowledge management and precedent development.

You bring:

• A Law Degree and membership in good standing with the Law Society of Ontario.

• A minimum of 8 years practical, post-call legal experience in both a corporate legal department and a law firm.

• Eligibility to work for Interac Corp. in Canada in a full-time capacity.

• Prior experience working for technology vendors, in financial services or the payment industry (preferred).

• Working knowledge of privacy, cybersecurity, Code of Conduct, CASL and other regulatory requirements applying to the financial services industry and payment network operators (preferred).

• Experience with financial services technologies, including mobile payments, digital banking, digital identification, verification and authentication and other electronic payments technologies, in addition to traditional payment systems and payment card network operators (preferred).

• Proven experience advising on a wide range of matters spanning from privacy, competition, intellectual property, technology, and licensing.

• A team player, ready and willing to take on a variety of responsibilities and roles that support the team, department, and organization.

• A critical thinker with cogent analysis of legal and business issues.

• Proficiency in identifying, assessing, and managing legal and reputational risk.

• The skills to be an independent, creative problem solver.

• Skills in time management and project prioritization.

• A keen interest in the products, services, and interdependencies at Interac and in the payments ecosystem.

Interac requires employees to complete a background check that is completed by one of our service providers. We use this service to complete the following checks:

• 5-year employment verification;
• Canadian criminal record check;
• Education verification;
• Canadian ID cross-check;
• Public safety verification; and
• Credit inquiry