Assistant General Counsel

Overview

This organization is hiring its first Assistant General Counsel. Legal work is currently handled by the General Counsel and a small group of outside firms. This role adds a second experienced lawyer who can take meaningful work off the General Counsel’s desk, own matters end to end, and help shape how the legal function develops as the company grows.

Reporting to the General Counsel, this role owns a large portion of commercial legal work, including drafting and negotiating client agreements, vendor and partner contracts, and product terms. The role also includes building templates, playbooks, and processes to make routine legal work easier to manage.

In addition, this role serves as the General Counsel’s second-in-command, covering for the General Counsel when they are out and stepping in as priorities shift week to week. This is a hands-on senior role with direct access to company leadership and the opportunity to develop an effective legal function for a growing business.

Responsibilities

• Own commercial contracting end to end, including:
  • Client and institutional agreements
  • Partner and protocol arrangements
  • Other agreements across the business
• Negotiate directly with counterparties and their counsel, including sophisticated institutional clients working from their own paper
• Advise Product and Engineering as they design and ship onchain products, turning legal and regulatory constraints into practical guidance
• Cover the broader legal docket alongside the General Counsel, including:
  • Corporate and governance matters
  • Equity and financing support
  • Employment questions
  • IP, privacy, marketing review, disputes, and regulatory work
• Partner with the Head of Compliance to keep contractual commitments, policies, and controls aligned
• Help determine which matters should be handled in-house versus supported by outside counsel
• Improve legal intake, contract management, templates, playbooks, and other processes for a small legal team
• Use AI and automation across drafting, review, intake, and contract management to make the work faster or better

Requirements

• Strong commercial contracting experience, including drafting, negotiating, and closing a high volume of varied agreements
• Time in-house (ideally at a company with a small legal team where you were expected to work independently)
• Breadth across several legal areas rather than a single specialty, with the ability to ramp quickly on unfamiliar issues
• Experience building templates, playbooks, processes, or tooling that make routine legal work easier
• Experience working directly with Product, Engineering, Finance, People, Compliance, and/or other business teams
• Ability to provide clear, practical guidance without overcomplicating issues, and to manage risk without defaulting to the most conservative answer
• Good judgment and the confidence to raise concerns directly when something does not look right
• Comfort working in a growing company where priorities and legal questions change
• Willingness to stay close to the detail and do the work yourself
• JD and active membership in good standing of at least one US state bar

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience in crypto, digital assets, fintech, financial services, or onchain financial products
• Familiarity with legal and regulatory questions for businesses operating across traditional and onchain finance
• Experience advising on financial products or working with sophisticated institutional counterparties
• Experience supporting financings, equity matters, corporate governance, or regulatory work
• Experience using AI, automation, contract lifecycle tooling, or other legal technology to improve legal team effectiveness

Compensation & Benefits

• Remote-first: work from anywhere in the United States
• Regular in-person company retreats and cross-country “office visit” perk
• 100% paid medical, dental, and vision premiums for employees
• $1,000 WFH stipend
• Monthly reimbursement for home internet, phone, and cellular data
• Unlimited vacation
• 100% paid parental leave of 12 weeks
• Fertility benefits
• Opportunity for incentive compensation

Compensation details:

• National pay range for this role is $200,000 - $240,000 base plus additional On Target Earnings potential by level and equity in the company.

Location

Remote-first role based in the contiguous United States and Canada.

Hiring is reserved for potential employees who are able to work within the contiguous United States and Canada. If you need alternative accommodations, note this in your application.

Additional Hiring Information

The organization may use artificial intelligence (AI) tools to support parts of the hiring process (e.g., reviewing applications, analyzing resumes, or assessing responses). These tools assist the recruitment team but do not replace human judgment. Final hiring decisions are made by humans.