Legal Counsel, Institutional
Coinbase
At Coinbase, our mission is to increase economic freedom around the world, and we couldn’t do this without hiring the best people. We’re a group of hard-working overachievers who are deeply focused on building the future of finance and Web3 for our users across the globe, whether they’re trading, storing, staking or using crypto. Know those people who always lead the group project? That’s us.
There are a few things we look for across all hires we make at Coinbase, regardless of role or team. First, we look for candidates who will thrive in a culture like ours, where we default to trust, embrace feedback, and disrupt ourselves. Second, we expect all employees to commit to our mission-focused approach to our work. Finally, we seek people who are excited to learn about and live crypto, because those are the folks who enjoy the intense moments in our sprint and recharge work culture. We’re a remote-first company looking to hire the absolute best talent all over the world.
Who you are:
- You’ve got positive energy. You’re optimistic about the future and determined to get there.
- You’re never tired of learning. You want to be a pro in bleeding edge tech like DeFi, NFTs, DAOs, and Web 3.0.
- You appreciate direct communication. You’re both an active communicator and an eager listener - because let’s face it, you can’t have one without the other. You’re cool with candid feedback and see every setback as an opportunity to grow.
- You can pivot on the fly. Crypto is constantly evolving, so our priorities do, too. What you worked on last month may not be what you work on today, and that excites you. You’re not looking for a boring job.
- You have a “can do” attitude. Our teams create high-quality work on quick timelines. Owning a problem doesn’t scare you, but rather empowers you to take 100% responsibility for achieving our mission.
- You want to be part of a winning team. We’re stronger together, and you’re a person who embraces being pushed out of your comfort zone.
Coinbase has built the world's leading compliant cryptocurrency platform serving over 68 million accounts in more than 100 countries. With multiple successful products, and our vocal advocacy for blockchain technology, we have played a major part in mainstream awareness and adoption of cryptocurrency. We are proud to offer an entire suite of products that are helping build the cryptoeconomy and increase economic freedom around the world.
There are a few things we look for across all hires we make at Coinbase, regardless of role or team. First, we look for signals that a candidate will thrive in a culture like ours, where we default to trust, embrace feedback, disrupt ourselves, and expect sustained high performance because we play as a championship team. Second, we expect all employees to commit to our mission-focused approach to our work. Finally, we seek people with the desire and capacity to build and share expertise in the frontier technologies of crypto and blockchain, in whatever way is most relevant to their role.
The Legal Counsel (Institutional Legal) role will be based in the UK working as part of the Institutional Legal team covering international markets and professional trading clients including banks, brokers, hedge funds, market makers corporates and other professional traders. The team consists of a small but highly experienced group of lawyers from a combination of traditional finance and fintech backgrounds. The role reports into the head of the team and covers institutional products including prime brokerage, exchange, trading and custody, derivatives and financing products. We’re looking for a lawyer with solid product development, regulatory and negotiation skills preferably developed within the traditional prime brokerage, securities financing, and/or derivatives sectors. A sense of curiosity, flexibility and adventure combined with the desire to make an impact at the intersection of crypto and traditional global markets is essential.
What you’ll be doing (ie. job duties):
- Negotiate first-of-a-kind, highly-tailored agreements with strategic partners and sophisticated counterparties in the finance, payments and digital currency space.
- Provide full product life-cycle counseling for a variety of global prime brokerage, custody and derivatives related products, and practical advice on associated legal issues and risks, complex agreement structures and company policies in a risk-tolerant, but compliance-oriented environment.
- Stay abreast of and advise on digital currency and blockchain technology legal and regulatory issues.
- Lead and assist with complex and global cross-functional efforts, driving and ensuring cross-functional alignment with other stakeholders (Institutional Sales, Business Development, Product/Engineering, Finance/Tax, Compliance).
- Effectively collaborate with those same cross-functional teams and legal colleagues to solve problems, build partnerships, and close deals quickly.
- Proactively solve problems for the business as they plan and execute on an aggressive global growth plan, develop scaled strategies for addressing risk in business-centric ways and build commercial processes that allow the business flexibility and freedom to move quickly.
- Look around corners and creatively solve problems for the business as they plan, build, and execute their transactional and product roadmap.
- Be a business partner, not just a lawyer.
What we look for in you (ie. job requirements):
- Qualified solicitor in England and Wales with at least 2 years experience working in a financial services institution in the UK (e.g. e-money issuer, payment service firm, broker dealer / asset manager) or in a law firm supporting such clients (ideally with some previous in-house experience).
- Interest in digital currency and blockchain technology.
- Experience working with product teams launching fintech, financial services, investment or similar products.
- Experience working and leading with cross-functional, globally located teams.
- Familiarity with UK/EU regulatory regimes applicable to financial instruments (including MiFID, EMIR, AIFMD) and crypto assets (e.g. MiCA, AMLD).
- Comfortable challenging the status quo and preconceived notions of what is possible.
- Excellent judgement, analytical rigour, clear communication, and business pragmatism.
- Top-notch analytical skills with experience owning projects from concept to finish.
- Creativity, comfort and experience with oral solutions that help scale financial services businesses and technology solutions that help scale practices.
- Sound and practical business judgement.
- Intellectual curiosity and flexibility.
- Team-oriented and collaborative.
Nice to haves:
- Experience supporting critical authorisation and license applications for spot and derivatives expansion in multiple jurisdictions.
- Experience analyzing the regulatory status of crypto assets and whether they may qualify as regulated financial instruments (e.g. under MiFID).
- Experience of advising on cross-border licensing requirements, safe-harbors and creating client classification procedures.
- Strong negotiation skills and ability to review and negotiate financial agreements (e.g. prime brokerage, lending and derivatives documentation).
- Experience registering and perfecting collateral arrangements.
Position ID: P60891
Pay Transparency Notice: The target annual salary for this position can range as detailed below. Full time offers from Coinbase also include target bonus + target equity + benefits (including medical, dental, and vision).
Commitment to Equal Opportunity
Coinbase is committed to diversity in its workforce and is proud to be an Equal Opportunity Employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, creed, gender, national origin, age, disability, veteran status, sex, gender expression or identity, sexual orientation or any other basis protected by applicable law. Coinbase will also consider for employment qualified applicants with criminal histories in a manner consistent with applicable federal, state and local law. For US applicants, you may view the Know Your Rights notice here. Additionally, Coinbase participates in the E-Verify program in certain locations, as required by law.
Coinbase is also committed to providing reasonable accommodations to individuals with disabilities. If you need a reasonable accommodation because of a disability for any part of the employment process, please contact us at accommodations[at]coinbase.com to let us know the nature of your request and your contact information. For quick access to screen reading technology compatible with this site click here to download a free compatible screen reader (free step by step tutorial can be found here).
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