Counsel, Commercial (Institutional Legal)

Overview

This role is for a Counsel, Commercial (Institutional Legal) position based in the U.S., supporting institutional markets and professional trading clients such as banks, brokers, hedge funds, market makers, corporates, and other professional traders. The position is part of a small, experienced Institutional Legal team with backgrounds in traditional finance and fintech. The role involves advising on institutional products including prime brokerage, exchange, trading and custody, derivatives, and financing products.

Responsibilities

• Negotiate complex, tailored agreements with strategic partners and sophisticated counterparties in finance, payments, and digital currency sectors.
• Provide full product life-cycle legal counseling for global prime brokerage, custody, and derivatives products.
• Advise on legal and regulatory issues related to digital currency and blockchain technology.
• Lead and support complex, global cross-functional initiatives ensuring alignment with Institutional Sales, Business Development, Product/Engineering, Finance/Tax, and Compliance teams.
• Collaborate effectively with cross-functional teams and legal colleagues to solve problems, build partnerships, and close deals efficiently.
• Proactively address business challenges during global growth planning, develop risk management strategies, and build commercial processes that enable business agility.
• Anticipate and creatively solve problems related to transactional and product roadmaps.
• Act as a business partner, providing practical legal advice beyond traditional counsel.

Requirements

• Licensed attorney with at least 5 years of experience in financial services institutions (e.g., banks, e-money issuers, payment service firms, broker-dealers, asset managers) or law firms serving such clients.
• Strong negotiation skills with experience reviewing and negotiating financial agreements such as prime brokerage, lending, and derivatives documentation.
• Proven commercial and transactional legal experience.
• Interest in digital currency and blockchain technology.
• Experience working with and leading cross-functional, globally distributed teams.
• Familiarity with U.S. and/or EU or UK regulatory regimes applicable to financial instruments.
• Ability to challenge the status quo and preconceived notions.
• Excellent judgment, analytical rigor, clear communication, and business pragmatism.
• Strong project ownership from concept through completion.
• Creativity and experience with scalable financial services and technology solutions.
• Practical business judgment and intellectual curiosity.
• Attention to detail and process ownership.
• Team-oriented and collaborative mindset.

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience working with product teams launching fintech, financial services, investment, or similar products.
• Experience with registering and perfecting collateral arrangements.
• Knowledge of bankruptcy rules and regulations.
• Experience with cross-border legal analysis.
• Familiarity with Edgar and regulatory filings analysis.

Compensation & Benefits

• Annual base salary range: $183,855 to $216,300 USD (excluding equity and bonus).
• Total compensation may include equity, bonus eligibility, and benefits such as medical, dental, vision, and 401(k).

Location & Work Environment

• U.S.-based role.
• Remote-first but not remote-only; in-person participation is required throughout the year.
• Attendance at team and company-wide offsites held multiple times annually is expected and supported.

Equal Opportunity & Accommodations

The employer is an Equal Opportunity Employer and considers qualified applicants without regard to race, color, religion, creed, gender, national origin, age, disability, veteran status, sex, gender expression or identity, sexual orientation, or any other protected status. Reasonable accommodations are provided for individuals with disabilities during the employment process upon request.

Additional Information

• Candidates may submit a maximum of four applications within any 30-day period.
• The organization complies with applicable data privacy regulations for job applicants.
• AI tools may be used for initial screening interviews and interview note transcription; however, AI will not be used to make employment decisions.
• Reasonable accommodations related to AI interview processes are available upon request.