Payments Counsel, MEAPAC & Expansion

Dubai, Dubai, United Arab Emirates

Category: Legal
Job ID: R_106701
Job Type: Regular

Job Description:

At Remitly, we believe everyone deserves the freedom to access, move, and manage their money wherever life takes them. Since 2011, we’ve tirelessly delivered on our promise to customers sending money globally, providing secure, simple, and reliable ways to manage their money, ensuring true peace of mind. Whether it’s supporting loved ones back home, growing a business across continents, or pursuing new opportunities abroad, we’re not just here to move money— we’re here to move our global customers forward.
We’re looking for builders, reimaginers, and global thinkers who want to work at the intersection of technology, trust, and transformation. If that’s you and you’re ready to do the most meaningful work of your career—we invite you to join over 2,800 passionate Remitlians worldwide who are united by our vision to transform lives with trusted financial services that transcend borders.

About the Role:

Remitly is looking for a Dubai based Legal Counsel to support Remitly's growth across the Middle East and Asia Pacific (MEAPAC). In this role, you will be responsible for driving licensing and expansion initiatives in the region, providing expert legal support on regulatory matters, payment agreement negotiations, product and service development. Working closely with Remitly's business, product, compliance, and finance teams, your role will also involve interpreting and analyzing complex legal and regulatory requirements, identifying areas of risk and opportunity, as well as providing timely and effective advice to ensure compliance with relevant laws and regulations. The successful candidate will be proactive, highly organized, hands on, a great cross-functional team player, and will be able to stay updated on evolving regulatory matters in relevant jurisdictions. This role is based in Dubai and will report to the Legal Director, Middle East and APAC.

You Will:

Support Remitly's expansion initiatives across MEAPAC, including regulatory feasibility assessments of new markets, legal structuring of new products and market entry strategies in the region.
Manage and support licensing and authorization processes with financial regulators and others across the MEAPAC region – including India, the Middle East and other key jurisdictions across APAC (applications, filings, and ongoing supervisory engagement).
Advise on the regulatory framework applicable to financial institutions in jurisdictions in MEAPAC.
Monitor and stay current with changes in payment-related laws and regulations in MEAPAC and advise on any necessary changes to Remitly's products and services.
As needed, review and negotiate strategic agreements with partners in MEAPAC (including banks, payment processors, and other regulated entities) as well as providing legal advice and support for global projects.
Support and advise the government relations and compliance teams on regulatory matters, including interactions and correspondence with relevant authorities.
Manage and collaborate with external counsel in various jurisdictions as needed.
Support with any other legal work in the region.

You Have:

Qualifications to practice law with 7+ years of experience — preferably including both in-house counsel and top national or international law firm experience.
Experience in financial services, including advice on payments agreements and product development.
Direct experience with the licensing processes, including hands-on interaction with regulators throughout the application process.
In-depth knowledge of Indian payments regulations and industry standards as well as experience advising on regulatory issues in relevant jurisdictions. Experience with the payments regulatory environment in other MEAPAC jurisdictions is a plus.
Experience working directly with regulators and managing external counsel.
Demonstrated ability to lead cross-functional legal projects and implement programs of regulatory change in a fast-paced, high-growth environment, across multiple countries and time zones.
A practical and self-motivated attitude, happy to work on complex projects.
AI fluency.
Full professional proficiency in English required, additional languages are a plus.

Our Benefits:

Medical, Dental & Vision Insurance
Life Insurance & Income Protection
Housing Allowance
Employee Stock Purchase Plan (ESPP)
Commuter Reimbursement
Mental Health & Family Forming benefits
Learning & development benefits

Our Connected Work Culture: Driving Innovation, Together
At Remitly, we believe that true innovation sparks when we come together. Our Connected Work Culture fosters dynamic in-person collaboration, where ideas ignite and challenging problems find solutions faster.

Under the Company's current hybrid-work expectations, employees in this position work onsite Tuesday through Thursday each week. Additional onsite attendance may be required based on business needs, and the Company may modify its hybrid-work expectations from time to time. These intentional in-office moments are vital for deepening relationships, fueling creativity, and ensuring your impact is felt where it matters most.

Remitly is an E-Verify Employer

At Remitly, we are dedicated to ensuring that our workplace offers equal employment opportunities to all employees and candidates, in full compliance with applicable laws and regulations.

Remitly is an equal opportunity employer. We celebrate diversity and are committed to creating an inclusive environment for all employees.

Job Description:

At Remitly, we believe everyone deserves the freedom to access, move, and manage their money wherever life takes them. Since 2011, we’ve tirelessly delivered on our promise to customers sending money globally, providing secure, simple, and reliable ways to manage their money, ensuring true peace of mind. Whether it’s supporting loved ones back home, growing a business across continents, or pursuing new opportunities abroad, we’re not just here to move money— we’re here to move our global customers forward.
We’re looking for builders, reimaginers, and global thinkers who want to work at the intersection of technology, trust, and transformation. If that’s you and you’re ready to do the most meaningful work of your career—we invite you to join over 2,800 passionate Remitlians worldwide who are united by our vision to transform lives with trusted financial services that transcend borders.

About the Role:

Remitly is looking for a Dubai based Legal Counsel to support Remitly's growth across the Middle East and Asia Pacific (MEAPAC). In this role, you will be responsible for driving licensing and expansion initiatives in the region, providing expert legal support on regulatory matters, payment agreement negotiations, product and service development. Working closely with Remitly's business, product, compliance, and finance teams, your role will also involve interpreting and analyzing complex legal and regulatory requirements, identifying areas of risk and opportunity, as well as providing timely and effective advice to ensure compliance with relevant laws and regulations. The successful candidate will be proactive, highly organized, hands on, a great cross-functional team player, and will be able to stay updated on evolving regulatory matters in relevant jurisdictions. This role is based in Dubai and will report to the Legal Director, Middle East and APAC.

You Will:

Support Remitly's expansion initiatives across MEAPAC, including regulatory feasibility assessments of new markets, legal structuring of new products and market entry strategies in the region.
Manage and support licensing and authorization processes with financial regulators and others across the MEAPAC region – including India, the Middle East and other key jurisdictions across APAC (applications, filings, and ongoing supervisory engagement).
Advise on the regulatory framework applicable to financial institutions in jurisdictions in MEAPAC.
Monitor and stay current with changes in payment-related laws and regulations in MEAPAC and advise on any necessary changes to Remitly's products and services.
As needed, review and negotiate strategic agreements with partners in MEAPAC (including banks, payment processors, and other regulated entities) as well as providing legal advice and support for global projects.
Support and advise the government relations and compliance teams on regulatory matters, including interactions and correspondence with relevant authorities.
Manage and collaborate with external counsel in various jurisdictions as needed.
Support with any other legal work in the region.

You Have:

Qualifications to practice law with 7+ years of experience — preferably including both in-house counsel and top national or international law firm experience.
Experience in financial services, including advice on payments agreements and product development.
Direct experience with the licensing processes, including hands-on interaction with regulators throughout the application process.
In-depth knowledge of Indian payments regulations and industry standards as well as experience advising on regulatory issues in relevant jurisdictions. Experience with the payments regulatory environment in other MEAPAC jurisdictions is a plus.
Experience working directly with regulators and managing external counsel.
Demonstrated ability to lead cross-functional legal projects and implement programs of regulatory change in a fast-paced, high-growth environment, across multiple countries and time zones.
A practical and self-motivated attitude, happy to work on complex projects.
AI fluency.
Full professional proficiency in English required, additional languages are a plus.

Our Benefits:

Medical, Dental & Vision Insurance
Life Insurance & Income Protection
Housing Allowance
Employee Stock Purchase Plan (ESPP)
Commuter Reimbursement
Mental Health & Family Forming benefits
Learning & development benefits

Our Connected Work Culture: Driving Innovation, Together
At Remitly, we believe that true innovation sparks when we come together. Our Connected Work Culture fosters dynamic in-person collaboration, where ideas ignite and challenging problems find solutions faster.

Under the Company's current hybrid-work expectations, employees in this position work onsite Tuesday through Thursday each week. Additional onsite attendance may be required based on business needs, and the Company may modify its hybrid-work expectations from time to time. These intentional in-office moments are vital for deepening relationships, fueling creativity, and ensuring your impact is felt where it matters most.

Remitly is an E-Verify Employer

At Remitly, we are dedicated to ensuring that our workplace offers equal employment opportunities to all employees and candidates, in full compliance with applicable laws and regulations.

Remitly is an equal opportunity employer. We celebrate diversity and are committed to creating an inclusive environment for all employees.

What our Remitlians say

Evelyne Kuo

Program Manager - Technical

On the Security & Privacy team, I reimagine what’s possible by going beyond traditional compliance to create a culture where security is part of everyone’s day-to-day — through programs like our champion network, engaging training sessions, and company-wide awareness events that make security approachable and empowering.”

What our Remitlians say

Amara Agbo

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To me, reimagining what’s possible means constantly learning new technologies and applying cutting-edge solutions to build localized systems that scale across currencies, countries, and regulations. The challenges we solve at Remitly don’t just strengthen our platform — they expand financial access for millions of people worldwide. That’s what makes the work both exciting and impactful.”

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Rosa Castellon Herrera

Senior Team Manager - QA

Stand for excellence means to me always raising the bar, pushing through discomfort, to deliver our best to our teams and customers every time. We come together as a team to share ideas to develop a rubric that helps us deliver impactful results.”

What our Remitlians say

A photo of a Remitly employee, smiling and looking at the camera.

Stephanie Cameron

Senior Product Manager

On the product team at Remitly, I’m trusted to make decisions that drive real impact—not just for my team, but for the business and our customers. I’m encouraged to take ownership of problems even when they’re outside my immediate scope, to speak up, and to bring the right people together to solve them. Lately, that’s meant working on real-time FX and funding tools that support our treasury team in lowering transaction costs—so we can pass those savings on to our customers. That trust and cross-team collaboration make it easy to stay focused on what really matters in the long run.”

What our Remitlians say

Nadav Yekutiel

Senior Manager - Analytics

At Remitly, diving deep has meant pushing past easy answers to truly understand what our customers need. I’ve seen our analytics teams uncover insights that weren’t obvious at first glance — like identifying hidden friction points in the customer journey that, once solved, improved both experience and trust. This commitment to going beyond the surface makes our recommendations stronger, and it’s a big part of how we deliver meaningful impact across the business.”