Assistant General Counsel - Regulatory Strategy

Circle (NYSE: CRCL) is one of the world’s leading internet financial platform companies, building the foundation of a more open, global economy through digital assets, payment applications, and programmable blockchain infrastructure. Circle’s platform includes the world’s largest regulated stablecoin network anchored by USDC, Circle Payments Network for global money movement, and Arc, an enterprise-grade blockchain designed to become the Economic OS for the internet. Enterprises, financial institutions, and developers use Circle to power trusted, internet-scale financial innovation. Learn more at circle.com.

What you’ll be part of:

Circle is committed to visibility and stability in everything we do. As we grow as an organization, we're expanding into some of the world's strongest jurisdictions. Speed and efficiency are motivators for our success and our employees live by our company values: High Integrity, Future Forward, Multistakeholder, Mindful, and Driven by Excellence. We have built a flexible work environment where new ideas are encouraged and everyone is a stakeholder.

What you’ll be responsible for: 

As Assistant General Counsel, Regulatory Strategy, EMEA, you will lead Circle’s regulatory strategy for our French-licensed entity and, more broadly, the EU, UK, Middle East, and Africa.  You will serve as a senior advisor on financial regulation, crypto-asset frameworks, and supervisory engagement across these diverse jurisdictions. You will partner closely with global Legal, Compliance, Product, and Policy teams to support Circle’s regulated activities across payments, stablecoins, custody, and tokenized financial products.  

This role sits at the intersection of law, regulation, and policy and has significant exposure to senior leadership and international regulators. This is a high impact role that is critical to the success of Circle’s growing operations in France and EMEA more broadly.   

What you'll work on: 

• Leading regulatory legal strategy for Circle’s operations in France, UK, and the EMEA region, including MiCA, PSD2/PSR, AML/CFT, prudential, and key virtual asset regulatory regimes.

• Advising on licensing, authorization, and ongoing supervisory matters with federal regulators in France (ACPR) and multiple other jurisdictions (e.g., AMF, ESMA, EBA, FCA, BoE, HMT, ADGM, FSRA, DFSA, etc.).

• Supporting product development and go-to-market strategies for stablecoins, custody, tokenization, and payments within the EMEA regulatory perimeter.

• Managing regulatory change analysis and translating evolving French and EMEA requirements into actionable legal guidance for internal teams.

• Partnering with our Global Policy and Compliance teams to shape Circle’s regulatory positioning and engagement strategy across EMEA.

• Coordinating with external counsel and industry bodies on complex regulatory matters and supervisory interactions.

• Advising on cross-border regulatory issues impacting Circle’s global platform, including equivalence, passporting, and third-country regimes.

• Contributing to regulatory risk assessments, board materials, and senior leadership briefings.

What you’ll bring to Circle:

Core Requirements:

• 13+ years of experience in financial regulatory law, with a strong focus on French, EU, and UK financial regulation.

• Deep expertise in crypto-asset regulation, payments, and financial market infrastructure (e.g., MiCA, PSD2, AML/CFT, custody, tokenization).

• Prior experience engaging directly with French and EMEA regulators and supervisory authorities.

• Background in a top-tier law firm, regulatory authority, or in-house legal team at a regulated financial institution or fintech.

• Strong ability to translate complex regulatory frameworks into clear, pragmatic business guidance.

• Excellent written and verbal communication skills in English; fluency in French required.

• Demonstrated ability to operate independently and lead complex regulatory initiatives in a fast-moving environment.

• Familiarity with generative AI models (ChatGPT, Gemini, etc.) and prompt development.

• The ability to lead people towards achieving the team’s and company’s core objectives.  

Preferred Requirements:

• Dually qualified in both the EU and UK.

• Experience advising on MiCA implementation, crypto-asset, or payments licensing in France, the EU, UK, Middle East, and Africa.

• Exposure to capital markets, derivatives, or market infrastructure regulation.

• Experience supporting senior management or boards on regulatory strategy.

• Prior in-house experience at a fintech, crypto company, or regulated financial institution.

• Experience/familiarity with Slack, Apple MacOS, and GSuite.

Circle is on a mission to create an inclusive financial future, with transparency at our core. We consider a wide variety of elements when crafting our compensation ranges and total compensation packages.

Starting pay is determined by various factors, including but not limited to: relevant experience, skill set, qualifications, and other business and organizational needs. Please note that compensation ranges may differ for candidates in other locations.

We are an equal opportunity employer. We do not discriminate on the basis of race, religion, color, national origin, gender, sexual orientation, age, marital status, veteran status, or disability status, or any other protected status required by the laws in the locations where we hire. Additionally, Circle participates in the E-Verify Program in certain locations, as required by law.

Should you require accommodations or assistance in our interview process because of a disability, please reach out to accommodations@circle.com for support. We respect your privacy and will connect with you separately from our interview process to accommodate your needs.

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