Director of Compliance & Legal | Leading Specialty Finance Platform

About the Opportunity:

A rapidly growing specialty finance platform is hiring a Director of Legal & Compliance to lead transaction support, compliance, and legal operations for its commercial lending group. The group manages more than $1.3 billion in loan assets across three lending strategies and closes 60 to 75 transactions a year.

This newly created role will play a key part in supporting deal closings, strengthening processes, and ensuring consistent legal and compliance standards across the group. Reporting directly to the President, you’ll have significant autonomy, visibility across the business, and room to grow as the platform scales.

What You'll Do:

Deal Support & Legal Operations

• Serve as a key coordination point for transaction execution and deal closings


• Review closing packages and checklists, identify missing documentation, and resolve outstanding items


• Monitor post-closing requirements and ensure outstanding items are completed and properly documented


• Work closely with business, operations, and internal legal teams to help move transactions through closing


• Review and manage commercial agreements, contracts, policies, and other legal documentation

Compliance & Process Improvement

• Contribute to the development and maintenance of compliance policies, procedures, and governance frameworks


• Develop monitoring, testing, and reporting processes to evaluate effectiveness and identify areas of risk


• Identify opportunities to improve compliance processes and operational workflows across the group


• Monitor documentation and processes for adherence to established policies and regulatory requirements


• Support risk assessments across compliance, regulatory, AML, KYC, third-party, and emerging business activities

Governance & Leadership

• Support standardization efforts across the lending group while identifying opportunities for process improvement


• Advise leadership on legal, regulatory, governance, and compliance matters impacting the business


• Provide oversight for internal compliance reviews, regulatory examinations, and external audits


• Develop compliance metrics and reporting to identify trends, risks, and opportunities for improvement


• Build scalable processes, controls, and governance practices as the business grows

Qualifications:

• 8+ years of progressive experience in legal, compliance, regulatory, client onboarding, risk management, or a related function


• Experience supporting commercial or financial transactions, including reviewing transaction documentation, closing checklists, and related legal or compliance requirements


• Familiarity with transaction execution and closing processes, including coordinating with business, operations, and legal stakeholders


• Experience reviewing and monitoring documentation for adherence to established policies, procedures, and regulatory requirements


• Ability to identify exceptions and recommend appropriate solutions


• Demonstrated ability to work hands-on in a transactional environment, manage multiple priorities, and exercise sound judgment on deal-specific legal and compliance matters


• Ability to influence senior leadership and drive organizational change


• Excellent communication, stakeholder management, negotiation, and analytical skills


• Bachelor's degree

Plus, not required:

• JD, LLB, LLM, CAMS designation, or equivalent professional designation

Additional Details:

Location: Fort Lauderdale, FL (Las Olas). Hybrid, approximately 3 days on site

Reports To: President and Head of the lending group

Compensation: Competitive base plus annual bonus

Team: Individual contributor initially, with scope to build support as the business grows

If you are interested, do not hesitate to apply.