Licensing and Legal Operations Associate

The Role

Kikoff is seeking a State Licensing and Legal Ops Associate to own our state licensing portfolio and support legal operations across the business. This is a hands-on role at the intersection of regulatory compliance and commercial operations. The right candidate brings direct experience managing multi-state licensing activity, strong organizational instincts, and the ability to support contract lifecycle management across a growing set of bank, technology, and vendor partnerships.

You will work closely with legal, compliance, finance, and the business line team to keep Kikoff properly licensed, well-documented, and operationally tight across regulatory and contractual obligations — and will take the lead in deploying state-of-the-art AI tools to ensure the legal and compliance teams are efficient and effective.

What You'll Do

State Licensing

• Own and manage Kikoff's state licensing portfolio, including all active licenses, pending applications, and renewal calendars across money transmission, consumer lending, and related license types.
• Prepare, submit, and track license applications and renewals through NMLS and directly with state regulators, ensuring timely and accurate filings.
• Respond to regulator requests and information requests related to licensing matters.
• Maintain current and accurate license records, surety bonds, registered agent information, and statutory documents across all jurisdictions.
• Monitor state-level legislative and regulatory changes that affect Kikoff's licensing obligations, and proactively flag material developments to legal and compliance leadership.
• Coordinate with finance and legal on financial statement submissions and other license maintenance requirements.
• Support expansion into new states by conducting licensing requirement analyses and building out filing timelines for new product launches or program changes.

Legal and Contract Operations

• Manage the contract lifecycle across Kikoff's bank partnerships, commercial agreements, vendor contracts, and third-party service agreements, including intake, routing, execution, and storage.
• Maintain and continuously improve the contract management system and related business processes to ensure all agreements are accurately tracked, version-controlled, and accessible.
• Use AI tools to track key contract dates, renewal windows, notice periods, and material obligations, and surface upcoming deadlines to relevant stakeholders.
• Coordinate with internal teams on contract redlines, signature workflows, and execution logistics using standard e-signature tooling.
• Support due diligence and contracting processes for new partnership opportunities, including organizing document requests and managing data rooms.
• Assist legal in drafting and reviewing routine contract amendments, NDAs, and ancillary agreements under attorney supervision.
• Build and maintain internal reports and dashboards on licensing status, contract coverage, and pending legal ops items to provide leadership visibility.
• Take the lead in using Claude and other AI tools in innovative ways to improve the functioning of the legal and compliance teams.

What We're Looking For

• 3–5 years of experience in state licensing, legal operations, or regulatory compliance within financial services, FinTech, or a related industry.
• Hands-on NMLS experience, including direct responsibility for license applications, renewals, amendments, and MU filings.
• Familiarity with consumer lending, money transmission, or similar state-level licensing regimes across multiple jurisdictions.
• Experience supporting or owning a contract management function, including working with CLM tools or maintaining organized contract repositories.
• Strong project management skills with the ability to manage multiple workstreams, competing deadlines, and cross-functional stakeholders simultaneously.
• High attention to detail and comfort working in a document-intensive environment with significant regulatory and legal consequences.
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills, including the ability to interface directly with state regulators and internal business partners.
• Comfortable operating independently in a fast-paced environment with a bias toward getting things done.
• Experience with AI tools.
• Active California Notary Public commission, or ability and willingness to obtain certification upon hire.

Nice to Have

• Prior experience at a FinTech operating under a bank partnership or BaaS model.
• Exposure to state examinations or regulatory inquiries related to licensing or lending.
• Experience with CLM platforms such as Evisort, Ironclad, Juro, or similar.
• Experience with productivity tools such as Jira and Monday.com.
• Paralegal certification or equivalent legal operations background.
• Working knowledge of federal consumer lending regulations (TILA, ECOA, FCRA) and their intersection with state licensing.