Associate Director - Legal

About Us Build the future of banking. Zeta is a next-generation banking technology company providing cloud-native, fully stackable processing and core banking platforms for issuers. With a focus on scalability, compliance, and innovation, Zeta empowers financial institutions to modernize their technology infrastructure and deliver secure, seamless digital banking experiences.  Our Impact and Growth Our impact runs at real-world scale. Today, over 25 million cards are live on Zeta-powered platforms across 7 countries, supported by a passionate team of 1,700+ Zetanauts across India, the US, EMEA, and Asia. Backed by SoftBank Vision Fund, Mastercard, and other reputed strategic investors, we reached a valuation of $2 billion in Jan 1, 2025.  Our Product Lines Our focus is on establishing product lines that focus on key outcomes by addressing real customer pain points, modernizing legacy systems, and strengthening core fundamentals. As a result, our systems and platforms support a wide range of banking and payments capabilities, including: 1. Tachyon, our cloud-native banking stack built for population-scale systems 2. Cipher, our unified authentication platform for secure, high-volume banking environments 3. Digital Credit as a Service, enabling banks to launch credit lines on UPI 4. Elena, our intelligent and conversational AI platform for banking 5. Pixel, India’s first digital-native credit card, launched in partnership with HDFC Bank, for whom we also revamped their PayZapp mobile app: Winner of the Celent Model Bank Award for Payments Innovation 2024 6. Sparrow, the leading card experience for non-prime cardholders in the US …and more across cards, payments, lending, and core banking.  Our Culture and Values We are an engineering-first organization that values ownership, bias for action, and long-term thinking. Together, we solve some of the hardest problems in banking tech. Our culture is built around trust, collaboration, and creating the conditions for you to drive impact proportionate to your potential. Reinforcing our commitment to creating an inclusive and supportive workplace, we have been consistently recognized as a Great Place to Work. If you want to build cutting-edge banking tech that enables banks to serve millions reliably, securely, and at a population scale, Zeta is your playground. Learn More About Zeta If you would like to learn more about how we have grown and evolved over the years, watch our journey here. You can also explore our website and follow us on LinkedIn, Instagram,YouTube, and X. About the Role Zeta is seeking an Associate Director – Legal to serve as a strategic advisor within its legal team. The role supports the company's technology business, including its SaaS platforms for banks and financial institutions, as it scales across India, the US, the UK, and other global markets.This is a high-impact, product-facing role for a seasoned lawyer with deep expertise in technology contracts and a strong understanding of the banking and financial services sector that Zeta's platforms serve. The role involves making sure Zeta's products, partnerships, and client engagements are structured and delivered in a legally sound way. Reporting to Zeta's India legal leadership, the Associate Director will work closely with the Product, Sales, Engineering, Compliance, and Information Security teams, with significant autonomy and visibility. The ideal candidate will own matters end to end, negotiate directly with clients, financial institutions, and technology partners, and lead a team of capable lawyers. They will also help shape the legal function of a fast-growing global technology company. Responsibilities • Draft, review, and negotiate B2B SaaS contracts, outsourcing contracts, software development agreements, license agreements, and managed-services, partnership, and third-party vendor agreements with clients, financial institutions, and technology partners, making sure they align with legal and business requirements. • Serve as the subject matter expert on all aspects of technology contracts. • While anchored in technology law, provide practical legal advice across all matters that affect the business, including corporate, commercial, employment, and intellectual property issues, and offer innovative solutions to minimize and manage legal risks across jurisdictions. • Manage the input from internal stakeholders that is needed to draft and review critical agreements. • Lead and mentor a team of lawyers, overseeing the quality and turnaround of contract reviews and negotiations. • Constantly improve the legal team's templates and playbooks, drawing on learnings from each client engagement. • Act as a business enabler, keeping the legal team aligned with Zeta's speed of delivery and culture of teamwork. Skills • Regulatory and commercial acumen: Commercially minded, pragmatic; translates complex legal and regulatory issues into clear, actionable guidance for non-legal stakeholders. • Stakeholder management and communication: Strong communication and negotiation skills, sound and independent judgment, ability to counsel senior management strategically. • Execution and prioritization: Highly organized and detail-oriented; manages multiple matters simultaneously in a fast-paced, high-growth setting; ability to leverage AI for legal work highly preferred. • Team leadership and people management: Ability to lead and manage a team effectively. • Ownership and adaptability: Proactive self-starter, energized by ambiguity, comfortable in unfamiliar areas of law, takes ownership of outcomes, thrives in a collaborative, product-driven culture. Experience and Qualification • 5-year BA LLB, BBA LLB or equivalent law degree from a recognized institution; qualified to practice law in India. An LLM is a plus but not mandatory • 9-12 years of post-qualification experience in the technology law practice of a top-tier law firm and/or as in-house counsel at a B2B SaaS technology company