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Lightspark is building the Money Grid, modern open financial infrastructure for instant, accessible, and affordable payments globally. The company operates Lightspark Payments, a regulated money transmission business holding Money Transmission Licenses across US states and operating on the Lightning Network.
You will lead and manage the licensing and audit function for Lightspark Payments' regulated business. Reporting to the Chief Compliance Officer, you will own the complete license lifecycle: preparing, filing, and tracking state money transmission license applications across all states via NMLS, managing change-of-control and key-individual amendments, and handling renewals and ongoing maintenance. You will serve as the primary regulator contact during licensing cycles, responding to deficiency requests and supplemental information inquiries.
Key responsibilities include maintaining a comprehensive licensing calendar and inventory tracking license conditions, surety bonds, net worth requirements, registered agents, and renewal deadlines in coordination with Finance and Legal. You will prepare, review, and submit regulatory reports including the NMLS MSB Call Report and other periodic state and federal filings, ensuring accuracy and timely submission.
You will manage the full regulatory examination lifecycle from notification through close-out, coordinating document requests, organizing production, preparing management and subject matter experts for interviews, and serving as the day-to-day examiner contact. You will oversee the audit program including bank audits, partner audits, annual independent Title 31 BSA/AML audits, and Compliance Management System audits, coordinating with independent auditors and internal stakeholders.
Leading audit and examination remediation is central to the role: logging findings, assigning owners, defining corrective action plans with realistic timelines, tracking progress to completion, validating effectiveness, and reporting status to leadership. You will establish quality assurance and monitoring approaches for licensing and audit activities, maintaining a central repository of examination responses, audit evidence, and regulatory correspondence.
You will monitor changes in state and federal money transmission laws and regulations, assess impact to Lightspark Payments, and work with the CCO and Legal to update policies and procedures. You will continuously improve processes by identifying manual steps and pain points, designing templates, trackers, workflows, and automation to support scalability as the business expands into new states, products, and partnerships.
Cross-functional collaboration is essential: you will partner with Product, Engineering, Operations, Finance, and Legal to evaluate new products, markets, and business changes for licensing impact and regulatory notification requirements before launch. You will support the CCO with Controls Inventory, risk assessments, policies, procedures, and compliance program documentation related to licensing and audit findings. You will provide direction and work prioritization for the Compliance Analyst supporting licensing and examination activities.
On-site attendance in the Los Angeles office is preferred; remote candidates must commit to regular travel to Los Angeles for team and cross-functional collaboration.
REQUIREMENTS:
- 5+ years of hands-on experience working in NMLS, actively applying for and maintaining state money transmission licenses for a licensed money transmitter or similarly regulated fintech
- Demonstrated experience interacting directly with state and federal regulators (state banking departments, FinCEN, IRS) during licensing cycles and examinations, including responding to findings and deficiency requests
- Experience preparing and filing the NMLS MSB Call Report and other periodic regulatory reports
- Working knowledge of state money transmission laws and the Bank Secrecy Act as applicable to Money Services Businesses (MSBs), and consumer protection requirements such as Reg E; familiarity with digital asset or cross-border payments is a plus
- Proven experience managing examinations and audits (regulatory, bank partner, and independent audits such as Title 31 or CMS) and leading remediation of findings through to closure
- Exceptional attention to detail and organization, with ability to manage many concurrent filings, deadlines, and requests without compromising accuracy
- Process-improvement mindset: comfortable building or redesigning processes, trackers, and workflows, and using tools or automation to make licensing and audit work more efficient and repeatable
- Strong written and verbal communication skills, with credibility to work with regulators, auditors, executives, and cross-functional teams
- Sound judgment and ability to escalate appropriately to the CCO, balancing regulatory requirements with business needs
- Prior experience in a start-up or high-growth environment, or building programs from scratch, is preferred
- Bachelor's degree preferred; relevant certifications (such as CAMS or CRCM) are a plus
- Intense professional curiosity and a growth mindset
