Senior Counsel, Product Legal

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.

Ready to #LiveCrypto? 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.

We are looking for an experienced Product Counsel to join our Consumer Legal team. Reporting to our Product Legal Lead for the Developer group, this is where the (legal) magic in the cryptoeconomy happens!

This team sits at the intersection of regulation and engineering crypto work. There’s lots of interesting problems to think through from enabling customers to use crypto in the real world, creating services that enable builders to leverage crypto in their own products, and, uncovering ways that crypto/blockchain services can operate in harmony with global regulations.

Coinbase’s Consumer Legal team also enables access to new crypto assets and works on the wild side of self-custodial wallets, web3, stablecoins, dapps, DAOs, DeFi, NFTs and more. Here you’ll be working on the very frontlines of the initiatives that are going to help us become a crypto-first economy and work towards our mission of creating an open financial system and bring about more economic freedom in the world.

What you’ll be doing (ie. job duties):

• Join and contribute to a best-in-class crypto product legal team, embedded with our Developer business.
• Work hand-in-hand in the day-to-day operations of Coinbase product teams, providing legal, business and strategic advice. Look around corners and creatively tackle problems for teams that are planning, building, and executing on an innovative product roadmap.
• Provide full product life-cycle counseling, from ideation and development to launch, operation and sunset. Know how to help build, and when vital to dismantle.
• Keep things legal globally! Focus spanning U.S. domestic as well as international issues.
• Identify issues that may fall outside your expertise, driving resolution by partnering with other members of the Coinbase legal team and with outside counsel.
• Work cross-functionally with different key colleagues, including Compliance, Communications, Finance, Security, Data Analytics, and more. Be a good partner and bring the right individuals to the table.
• Respond promptly to a wide range of sophisticated legal requests and coordinate closely with Legal department colleagues to ensure the swift delivery of thoughtful, practical advice.
• Be the legal owner for your product and practice area, seize the initiative to engage with teams, seek out additional relevant information to the task at hand, ask hard questions, and provide great legal counsel for the issues at hand and ones you see around the corner.
• Operate in a fast paced, demanding environment and quickly adjust to meet leadership's needs.
• Recognize priority initiatives and effectively manage your clients and your advice to scale your advice and provide the right level of guidance for the request at hand.

What we look for in you (ie. job requirements):

• You are currently licensed in a U.S. state. J.D. or equivalent with 7+ years of legal experience, preferably with in-house experience with a consumer technology, fintech or crypto/blockchain company.
• You have experience counseling product teams in launching technology products and have a clear understanding of the legal underpinnings supporting these products.
• You have a strong interest in digital currency, blockchain technology, and innovative constructs pioneered by decentralized applications, web3, and defi.
• You’re familiar with major global laws, regulations, and agencies associated with payments/financial services, internet technology, and crypto, including money transmission laws, NYDFS Bitlicense, banking regulations, e-money issuance, securities regulation, BSA, CDA Section 230, CFPB, CFTC, FTC Section 5 and UDAAP, GDPR, etc.
• You have proven problem-solving, communication and interpersonal skills.
• You exercise excellent legal judgment with analytic rigor, prudential risk assessment, and a balance of realizable creativity and pragmatism.
• You are comfortable with risk-adjusted thinking, and can understand when interpretive flexibility is warranted.
• You are team-oriented and collaborative, you bring cross-departmental colleagues to the table, and build your practice to enable your clients to successfully build and launch crypto products at Coinbase.

Nice to haves:

• Experience with KYC/IDV services and regulations
• Experience with international crypto regulations
• Technical backend infra/engineering experience or exposure.

Job #: P54095

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 Pay Transparency, Employee Rights and Know Your Rights notices by clicking on their corresponding links. Additionally, Coinbase participates in the E-Verify program in certain locations, as required by law.

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