General Counsel, Sei Foundation

Overview

A foundation operating within an international ecosystem is seeking a General Counsel to serve as its senior legal leader and strategic partner to the Board of Directors and leadership team. This role involves building the legal function from the ground up in a startup-style environment, managing multiple legal and strategic workstreams, and providing practical legal guidance to support organizational growth and decision-making.

Responsibilities

Legal Leadership & Strategic Counsel

• Act as the principal legal adviser on governance, corporate, commercial, strategic, and operational matters.
• Collaborate closely with the Board of Directors and senior stakeholders to assess legal risks and support key decisions.
• Provide practical, solution-oriented advice balancing legal rigor with organizational needs and execution timelines.
• Navigate novel or ambiguous legal issues without hindering progress.

Governance, Corporate & Commercial Matters

• Lead legal support for governance processes including board resolutions, approvals, and delegated authorities.
• Advise on entity structuring, affiliated-entity relationships, and internal legal frameworks.
• Draft, review, and negotiate a wide range of commercial agreements and third-party service provider contracts.
• Develop scalable legal processes, templates, and internal workflows.

International & Cross-Border Matters

• Lead and coordinate legal work across multiple jurisdictions including the United States, Cayman Islands, Singapore, Korea, and the UK.
• Support cross-border structuring and jurisdiction-specific legal analysis.
• Work with external and fractional counsel to ensure clarity, efficiency, and consistency.
• Advise leadership on international operating complexities and jurisdictional tradeoffs.

Outside Counsel & Execution Management

• Manage outside counsel across specialist areas and jurisdictions, focusing on efficiency and practical outcomes.
• Decide which matters to handle internally versus externally to optimize legal resource deployment.
• Translate external legal advice into clear internal recommendations and actionable steps.
• Maintain momentum across concurrent matters by prioritizing and aligning stakeholders.

Institution Building

• Build and shape a practical, trusted, and appropriately scaled legal function for a lean, fast-moving foundation.
• Identify emerging legal risks early and design internal processes to mitigate them.
• Contribute to institution-building where legal judgment intersects with strategy, operations, governance, and organizational design.
• Demonstrate ownership, accountability, and a builder mentality.

Required Qualifications

• Juris Doctor (J.D.) degree and active bar membership in at least one U.S. jurisdiction; international bar membership also considered.
• Significant legal experience in-house and/or at a leading law firm, with exposure to high-growth organizations, complex transactions, or cross-border legal matters.
• Proven ability to operate independently as a senior legal lead managing multiple complex workstreams.
• Strong judgment with the ability to translate legal analysis into clear, practical, governance- and business-oriented recommendations.
• Experience working across international jurisdictions and coordinating with local, offshore, or specialized external counsel.
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills, capable of working effectively with directors, founders, executives, and external advisers.
• Comfortable working in a fast-moving environment with evolving priorities and imperfect information.

Preferred Qualifications

• Prior experience as General Counsel, Associate General Counsel, or senior in-house legal lead at a startup, foundation, protocol ecosystem, or growth-stage organization.
• Experience with international structuring or legal matters involving jurisdictions such as Cayman Islands, Singapore, or Korea.
• Familiarity with technology, digital assets, fintech, or other globally oriented operating environments.
• Experience supporting foundations, funds, or other non-traditional entity structures.
• Demonstrated success building legal processes or establishing legal infrastructure in early-stage or rapidly evolving settings.
• Strong track record of working effectively with external advisers while maintaining internal ownership of key decisions and workstreams.

Compensation & Benefits

Details regarding compensation and benefits were not provided.

Location

The role involves coordination across multiple international jurisdictions including the United States, Cayman Islands, Singapore, Korea, and the UK. Specific location or remote work details were not provided.