Director, Investments Counsel

Chan Zuckerberg Initiative; Redwood City (CA); On-site; USD 323,000 - 485,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

401(k) match

Housing assistance

Student loan repayment

Childcare support

Commuter benefits

Life of Service Gifts

Paid time off to volunteer

Relocation support

And more!

Job summary

Chan Zuckerberg Initiative in Redwood City, CA, seeks a Director, Investments Counsel to serve as the primary legal partner to the Investments team. This role guides fund structures, co-investments, and bespoke transactions across taxable and tax-exempt entities.

You will lead negotiations, develop scalable legal frameworks, advise senior leaders, and collaborate with Legal, Investments, Finance, Compliance, and outside counsel to ensure rigorous yet practical investment execution.

Qualifications

• 15+ years of legal experience in investment funds and asset management.
• Experience as strategic legal advisor within complex organizations.
• Leading investor-side negotiations for fund investments and co-investments.
• Expertise structuring investments across taxable and tax-exempt entities (UBTI, ERISA).
• Strong ability to lead high-value negotiations and manage multiple transactions.
• Experience developing and improving legal processes and governance.

Responsibilities

• Lead the legal strategy for public and private funds, co-investments, and related investments.
• Advise Investment leadership on fund structures and bespoke transactions.
• Negotiate LPAs, side letters, and co-investment agreements.
• Develop scalable legal frameworks and governance practices.
• Coordinate with Tax, Finance, Compliance, and outside counsel to ensure compliant execution.
• Provide regulatory updates and risk assessment for investment activities.

Skills

Legal leadership

Investment funds

Negotiations

Regulatory awareness

Tax planning

Strategic counsel

Cross-functional collaboration

External counsel management

Senior stakeholder influence

Education

Juris Doctor (JD)

Job description

The Chan Zuckerberg Initiative was founded in 2015 by Priscilla Chan and Mark Zuckerberg to harness the power of technology to pursue some of society’s most ambitious goals — from curing or preventing all disease to transforming how students learn.

At CZI, you’ll join a deeply collaborative, mission-driven community where your work helps drive breakthroughs across our flagship nonprofit organizations, Biohub and Learning Commons. Whether enabling scientific breakthroughs via open science and AI-powered biology or strengthening the tools teachers and students rely on every day, your contributions help turn bold ideas into real-world impact.

Our teams operate at the intersection of innovation and scale, building the infrastructure, partnerships, and capabilities that allow scientists, educators, and innovators to tackle some of the most complex challenges of our time — and to do so with urgency, integrity, and optimism.

The Team

The Investments team is a key partner in enabling Biohub’s pioneering work to combine frontier AI with frontier biology to solve disease and Learning Commons’ mission to build AI infrastructure that aligns how students learn with the tools that shape their learning experiences.

The Investment team's goal is to build a world-class investment portfolio to help fund CZI’s ongoing operations over the long term. This includes providing the resources needed to support our work. Our program pursues a “manager of managers” approach, scouring the globe to find extraordinary investment organizations that invest across a wide spectrum of styles and asset classes.

The Opportunity

This Director, Investments Counsel role reports to the General Counsel and serves as the primary legal partner dedicated to CZI's Investment team. In this highly visible role, you will provide strategic legal counsel across public and private fund investments, co-investments, and other strategic investment opportunities, helping the team navigate complex legal, regulatory, and tax considerations while enabling thoughtful investment execution.

You will partner closely with investment professionals, advising on fund structuring, legal risk, and transaction execution while balancing legal rigor with practical business objectives. Working across taxable and tax-exempt entities, you will support the review, negotiation, and execution of a broad range of investment transactions and serve as a trusted advisor on matters that require sound judgment and thoughtful legal guidance.

As a strategic legal partner, you will lead complex negotiations, develop scalable legal frameworks, and help strengthen governance and best practices across CZI's investment activities. You'll collaborate closely with colleagues across Legal, Investments, Finance, and Tax, as well as outside counsel, to bring consistency, efficiency, and clarity to the organization's investment processes.

This role requires deep expertise in investment funds, exceptional judgment in navigating sophisticated legal issues, and the ability to influence senior stakeholders across functions. It offers the opportunity to help shape and strengthen CZI's investment legal capabilities while making a meaningful impact within a collaborative, mission-driven organization.

What You'll Do

• Lead the legal strategy supporting CZI's investment activities across public and private funds, co-investments, and related investment opportunities.
• Serve as the primary legal advisor to Investment leadership, providing guidance on complex fund structures, co-investments, and bespoke transactions across asset classes.
• Lead the legal execution of investment transactions, including review and negotiation of LPAs, side letters, co-investment agreements, and other key investment documents.
• Structure and negotiate complex arrangements while balancing legal, tax, regulatory, and mission-driven considerations.
• Develop and enhance standardized legal processes, playbooks, and governance practices to improve consistency and efficiency across investment execution.
• Manage relationships with external counsel, ensuring high-quality, practical legal support aligned with CZI's priorities.
• Partner closely with Tax, Finance, Compliance, and other cross-functional teams to support integrated decision-making across entity structures and regulatory requirements.
• Advise on regulatory developments and emerging legal issues related to investment activities, including considerations for tax-exempt investors
• Lead legal risk assessment and mitigation strategies across investment transactions, including governance, compliance, and reputational considerations.
• Foster strong cross-functional partnerships that enable thoughtful, efficient investment execution.
• Contribute to broader Legal team priorities and cross-functional initiatives as a senior member of Team LeGiT.

What You'll Bring

• 15+ years of legal experience in investment funds and asset management, with deep expertise across private equity, hedge funds, and other alternative investments.
• Significant experience serving as a strategic legal advisor within complex organizations.
• Extensive experience leading investor-side negotiations for fund investments, co-investments, and bespoke transactions across varied legal structures.
• Strong expertise in structuring investments across taxable and tax-exempt entities, including familiarity with UBTI, ERISA, and related considerations.
• Demonstrated ability to lead complex, high-value negotiations and manage multiple concurrent transactions.
• Experience developing and improving legal processes, frameworks, and best practices.
• Proven ability to manage external counsel relationships effectively.
• Strong business judgment and ability to translate legal complexity into practical, actionable guidance.
• Excellent communication and influencing skills, with experience partnering effectively with senior leaders across functions.
• High degree of integrity, discretion, and sound judgment in a dynamic environment.
• Commitment to CZI's mission and ability to operate effectively in a mission-driven, evolving organization.
• Juris Doctor (JD) required; active bar membership (California preferred or willingness to obtain).

Compensation

The Redwood City, CA base pay range for a new hire in this role is $323,000-$485,000. New hires are typically hired into the lower portion of the range, enabling employee growth in the range over time. Actual placement in range is based on job-related skills and experience, as evaluated throughout the interview process.

Pay ranges outside Redwood City, CA are adjusted based on cost of labor in each respective geographical market. Your recruiter can share more about the specific pay range for your location during the hiring process.

In addition to base salary, this role is eligible for a discretionary target bonus, based on individual and company performance. Bonus eligibility and targets are determined in accordance with CZI’s total rewards philosophy and may vary by role.

Benefits for the Whole You

We’re thankful to have an incredible team behind our work. To honor their commitment, we offer a wide range of benefits to support the people who make all we do possible.

• CZI provides a generous employer match on employee 401(k) contributions to support planning for the future.
• Annual benefit for employees that can be used most meaningfully for them and their families, such as housing, student loan repayment, childcare, commuter costs, or other life needs.
• CZI Life of Service Gifts are awarded to employees to “live the mission” and support the causes closest to them.
• Paid time off to volunteer at an organization of your choice.
• Funding for select family-forming benefits.
• Relocation support for employees who need assistance moving to the Bay Area
• And more!

If you’re interested in a role but your previous experience doesn’t perfectly align with each qualification in the job description, we still encourage you to apply as you may be the perfect fit for this or another role.

Explore ourwork modes,benefits, andinterview processatwww.chanzuckerberg.com/careers.

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