Fractional General Counsel

Pocket Worlds; San Francisco (CA); Remote; USD 165,000 - 276,000; Part time

Job summary

Pocket Worlds is seeking a Fractional General Counsel to own and coordinate the company’s legal function as we scale globally. You will connect external counsel with internal teams, set priorities, drive execution, and ensure legal matters are resolved efficiently.

This is a fractional, ongoing engagement requiring consistent availability throughout the workweek, collaborating closely with the founders and focusing primarily on U.S. legal matters with international coordination as needed.

Qualifications

• 8+ years of relevant legal experience, ideally spanning both top-tier law firms and in-house.
• Experience advising venture-backed, high-growth technology companies.
• Strong foundation in corporate governance and commercial agreements.
• Familiarity with employment, privacy/compliance, and litigation management.
• Experience coordinating multiple external law firms and legal workstreams.

Responsibilities

• Own and coordinate Pocket's legal roadmap and day-to-day matters.
• Serve as primary contact for external law firms and coordinate work across internal teams.
• Manage outside counsel relationships, budgets, and legal spend.
• Build scalable legal processes, infrastructure, and approval workflows.
• Provide practical legal risk assessment and translate advice into actionable business decisions.

Skills

8+ years experience in law

Venture-backed tech experience

Job description

About the Role

Pocket is looking for a Fractional General Counsel to own, coordinate, and build the company's legal function as we scale globally.

We work with a network of leading international law firms across corporate, commercial, employment, privacy, compliance, and litigation matters.

Your role is to serve as the central point of ownership for everything legal at Pocket — connecting external counsel with internal teams, setting priorities, driving execution, and ensuring legal matters are resolved efficiently.

We're not looking for someone to handle every legal matter personally. We're looking for someone who knows what needs to get done, who should do it, and how to get it across the finish line.

This is a fractional, ongoing engagement, requiring consistent availability throughout the working week and close collaboration with our founders.

What You'll Own

Legal Operations & Strategy

• Own and prioritize the company's legal roadmap and day-to-day legal matters.

• Serve as the primary point of contact for external law firms.

• Coordinate legal work across internal teams and external counsel.

• Track legal matters, deadlines, deliverables, and outstanding decisions.

• Manage outside counsel relationships, budgets, and legal spend.

• Build scalable legal processes, infrastructure, and approval workflows.

• Proactively identify and elevate material legal risks.

Corporate & Governance

• Coordinate corporate governance and board-related matters.

• Oversee equity, ESOP, stock options, and capitalization matters.

• Support fundraising, financing, and corporate transactions.

• Work closely with external corporate counsel.

Commercial & Contracts

• Draft, review, and negotiate commercial agreements.

• Oversee vendor, manufacturing, partnership, and enterprise agreements.

• Manage NDAs and other day-to-day contracts.

• Develop standardized contract templates and approval processes.

Employment & People

• Oversee employment and contractor agreements.

• Coordinate employee separations and related documentation.

• Manage IP assignment and confidentiality matters.

• Support employee policies, handbooks, and HR compliance.

• Coordinate immigration and employment-law matters with specialist counsel.

Privacy, Compliance & Risk

• Coordinate privacy, data protection, and consumer protection matters.

• Oversee product-related regulatory and compliance requirements.

• Support the development of internal compliance programs.

• Coordinate litigation and disputes with external counsel.

• Ensure legal advice translates into clear, actionable business decisions.

What We're Looking For

• 8+ years of relevant legal experience, ideally combining leading law firm and in-house experience.

• Experience advising venture-backed, high-growth technology companies.

• Strong foundation in corporate governance and commercial agreements.

• Working knowledge of employment, privacy, compliance, and litigation management.

• Experience coordinating multiple external law firms and legal workstreams.

• Ability to operate independently and exercise sound legal judgment.

• Highly practical, commercially minded, and execution-oriented.

• Ability to distinguish material business risks from theoretical legal concerns.

• Comfortable working directly with founders and senior leadership.

• Strong organizational skills and a bias toward action.

• Builder mentality — excited to create scalable legal infrastructure rather than inherit an established department.

Experience with consumer technology, hardware, AI, international operations, or high-growth DTC businesses is a strong plus.

Working Arrangement

• Fractional / Part-Time

• Ongoing engagement with regular availability throughout the working week.

• Expected commitment: approximately 1–3 hours per business day, with flexibility based on company needs.

• Close collaboration with the founding team.

• Primarily focused on U.S. legal matters, with coordination of international counsel as needed.

Reporting & Growth

Reports directly to the COO and works closely with the CEO, CTO, Finance, Operations, Product, and external legal partners.

As Pocket continues to scale, this role may evolve into a broader leadership position within the company's legal function.

About the interview

Quick intro call (15 min) — experience, motivation, compensation expectations, and location fit

1. Legal case study based on a realistic Pocket business/legal problem

2. Legal interview covering corporate, commercial, employment, privacy/compliance, and practical risk assessment

3. Cross-functional interview with Finance, Operations, or Product

4. Interview with the founders

5. Reference check

6. Offer

7. Onboarding

About Pocket

Pocket is a Y Combinator W26 company building a premium hardware plus software product in the AI voice recorder space. We are obsessed with quality and speed. We are scaling very fast in the US and now European markets and building a device experience that can become the category leader.