<aside> 📍 Wellington, New Zealand

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<aside> ⏰ Permanent, full time

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Hnry is growing quickly across New Zealand, Australia and the United Kingdom, and we’re looking for a pragmatic, commercially-minded Head of Legal & Compliance to own our legal and regulatory foundations as the business scales.

This is a senior, hands-on role that sits at the intersection of law, regulation, product and commercial decision-making. You’ll set Hnry’s legal and regulatory position across multiple jurisdictions, shape future-looking compliance roadmaps, and act as a trusted advisor to the Exec and leadership team.

We’re looking for a builder, not a blocker — someone who can keep us safe and compliant without slowing us down, and who understands how modern fintechs operate in regulated environments.

🚀 Responsibilities

Legal & regulatory ownership

• Own Hnry’s legal and regulatory compliance framework across NZ, AU and the UK, with a strong focus on payments, stored value, tax services and platform operations.
• Define and document Hnry’s legal and regulatory positions on how our products and services operate today — and how they can evolve over time.
• Maintain a living regulatory roadmap covering current obligations and upcoming regulatory change.
• Apply a risk-based, proportionate approach to compliance — ensuring we meet regulatory expectations without over-engineering controls or process.

Cross-jurisdictional regulatory compliance

• Lead regulatory compliance across:
  • New Zealand: IRD, DIA oversight (including AML/CFT where relevant), and future-facing FMA considerations.
  • Australia: SVF and ADI-related regimes, AUSTRAC, APRA expectations (where applicable), TPB and ATO obligations.
  • United Kingdom: FCA oversight via regulated partners (e.g. Edenred / PPS), including payments, e-money and GDPR considerations.
• Ensure regulatory obligations are clearly mapped, owned and embedded into business-as-usual processes.
• Coordinate regulatory reporting, notifications and engagement with regulators and regulated partners.

Future-looking regulation & horizon scanning

• Stay ahead of regulatory change across all markets, including CDR / open banking, AML/CTF reforms, payments regulation, data protection and operational resilience.
• Produce clear, practical impact assessments — what’s changing, why it matters, and what Hnry should do (or deliberately not do).
• Partner with Product and Leadership to ensure new features and market expansions are designed with regulatory outcomes in mind from day one.

Commercial contracts & legal advisory

• Lead commercial contract review and negotiation across NZ, AU and UK, including supplier agreements, partnerships, payment providers and strategic commercial arrangements.
• Ensure contracts appropriately reflect Hnry’s regulatory obligations, risk appetite and operating model.
• Act as a first point of legal review for the business, escalating to external counsel where specialist advice is required.
• Build simple, scalable contract standards and playbooks to keep the business moving quickly.

IP, brand & external counsel management

• Work closely with external trademark and IP lawyers to protect Hnry’s brand across all jurisdictions.
• Oversee trademark strategy, filings and enforcement as Hnry continues to expand internationally.
• Manage relationships with external legal counsel in NZ, AU and the UK, ensuring advice is consistent, commercial and aligned with Hnry’s strategy.
• Coordinate legal input across jurisdictions so the business receives one coherent view, not fragmented advice.

Risk, governance & leadership support

• Identify and articulate key legal and regulatory risks facing the business, with practical mitigation strategies.
• Provide clear, timely advice to the CEO and leadership team on legal and regulatory matters.
• Support executive and Board-level reporting on legal and regulatory posture as required.
• Help build legal and compliance literacy across the business so teams understand obligations without fear or friction.

Note: This role does not have direct reports initially. You will lead through influence, coaching and cross-functional ownership, with the opportunity to shape future team structures as Hnry scales.

💪 You will

• Have 10+ years’ experience in legal, regulatory or compliance roles, ideally within fintech, payments, financial services or other regulated technology businesses.
• Bring hands-on experience across New Zealand, Australia and the United Kingdom, particularly within the payments space.
• Be comfortable operating in partner-based regulatory models (e.g. FCA oversight via regulated payment or e-money partners).
• Have strong experience reviewing and negotiating commercial contracts in fast-moving, product-led organisations.
• Understand how regulation, legal risk and product design intersect — and how to give advice that enables progress.
• Be pragmatic, commercially aware and outcome-focused.
• Be an excellent communicator, able to explain complex topics clearly to executives, product teams and external partners.
• Be comfortable working closely with an Exec team as a trusted legal and regulatory advisor.

Bonus points for the following:

• Direct experience with AML/CTF frameworks, open banking or CDR regimes, or stored-value/payment products.
• Experience scaling legal and compliance frameworks in a high-growth, multi-jurisdictional business.
• Experience with IP strategy, brand protection and trademark enforcement across multiple markets.

🫵 How we work

• We are a fast-moving, highly collaborative and motivated company, that is growing quickly
• We have a relentless focus on the customer, and on delivering great experiences to ensure we maintain our high rate of customer referrals
• We take a data-driven approach to everything we do, making decisions based on user behaviour - constantly tweaking and optimising to improve
• We follow agile practices, delivering improvements iteratively in small chunks. We track the impact of our work and measure ourselves based on delivering tangible contributions towards agreed targets
• We encourage experimentation - whether that’s experimenting with new tools or techniques, or experimenting with new technologies
• Every team across the business works to the same sprint-based delivery model at the same cadence, and our technical delivery is performed by cross-functional, blended teams comprising a mix of engineering, product and customer team representatives
• We invest in our people, and provide opportunities for career growth and progression
• We work hard and we finish on time, no crazy hours

<aside> 💰 Salary banding: $220,000 - $250,000 per annum

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✨ At Hnry, we operate a policy of pay parity across our organisation to ensure that all Hnry staff are fairly and equally compensated based on their contributions and experience. The salary for this role will be determined based on the applicant’s experience✨

💜 How to apply

Complete the Hnry Job Application Form and we will be in touch!