General Counsel

Skills

About the Role

You are an experienced strategic and business minded lawyer who will lead global legal, compliance and regulatory functions. You will guide corporate governance, commercial transactions, regulatory strategy, compliance programs and risk management across multiple jurisdictions. You will oversee outside counsel, support product teams, and build scalable legal infrastructure to enable innovation in crypto and fintech contexts.

Requirements

• Juris Doctor (JD) or equivalent law degree from an accredited institution and active membership in good standing with at least one state provincial bar association
• 12+ years of legal experience, including substantial in house leadership experience within fintech, cryptocurrency, blockchain, financial services, payments, SaaS, or other highly regulated technology industries
• Demonstrated experience serving as General Counsel, Deputy General Counsel, or senior legal executive in a fast growing global organization
• Deep expertise in commercial transactions, including drafting and negotiating complex agreements related to enterprise software, APIs, partnerships, licensing, custody, token issuance, infrastructure, and technology services
• Strong knowledge of global regulatory frameworks affecting crypto, blockchain, fintech, securities, payments, AML/KYC, sanctions, privacy, and digital assets
• Experience advising executive leadership teams and Boards of Directors on corporate governance, legal strategy, risk management, financing activities, mergers acquisitions, and organizational structuring
• Proven ability to manage multi jurisdictional legal and compliance matters across the U S, Canada, Europe, and Asia
• Experience building and scaling legal and compliance functions, including policies, processes, playbooks, and operational infrastructure
• Demonstrated ability to oversee litigation, investigations, regulatory inquiries, disputes, and crisis management matters
• Experience managing outside counsel relationships and legal budgets effectively in a high growth environment
• Strong understanding of intellectual property strategy, technology licensing, and product counseling for emerging technologies
• Ability to partner cross functionally with engineering, product, finance, security, operations, HR, and executive stakeholders
• Excellent judgment, strategic thinking, communication, negotiation, and leadership skills
• Ability to operate effectively in a fast moving, ambiguous, and highly technical environment

Responsibilities

• Define, execute, and evolve the legal and compliance strategy aligned with risk tolerance and business objectives
• Advise the Board of Directors, executive leadership, and senior management on legal regulatory and governance issues
• Guide corporate governance, board processes, equity plans, capital raises, mergers acquisitions, and restructurings
• Provide legal support in industry consortia and associations involved
• Oversee external counsel selection and management and control the legal budget ensuring cost efficient operations
• Oversee negotiation drafting and execution of complex commercial agreements including licensing partnerships APIs custody token issuance SaaS and enterprise contracts
• Support product teams with assessments of legal risk regulatory compliance and legal architecture for new features protocols token standards sidechains and integrations
• Structure cross border transactions and operations including advising on jurisdictional compliance and entity structuring
• Define and oversee legal aspects of IP protection
• Drive strategy for regulatory engagement in multiple jurisdictions in crypto securities fintech payments custody data privacy and related domains
• Oversee compliance programs for AML sanctions licensing data protection privacy GDPR CCPA consumer protection export controls and security compliance audits
• Monitor emerging regulatory policy and legislative developments in crypto blockchain and fintech and lead internal responses
• Manage legal risk and crisis response including litigation investigations disputes IP enforcement and regulatory enforcement actions
• Hire, mentor, and develop legal, compliance and contract teams
• Build scalable legal infrastructure policies playbooks templates workflows contract management tools compliance frameworks and self serve legal tooling
• Promote cross functional collaboration with engineering security product finance operations and marketing groups
• Establish KPIs and reporting for the legal function balance agility with legal rigor in a fast moving environment
• Partner with the Director of People to ensure compliance with employment regulations across multiple jurisdictions
• Support internal investigations, terminations, and employment related disputes as needed