General Counsel

MATS Program; Berkeley (CA); Hybrid; USD 200,000 - 260,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Catered lunches and dinners on work-?d

Staff trips and conferences

Professional development funding

Medical, dental, vision, and life ins.

US 401(k) options with Roth/Trad

Job summary

MATS Program in Berkeley, CA seeks a General Counsel to build and run the legal function for a growing nonprofit. You will own contracts, governance, employment law across US/UK, IP and data privacy, and risk management, working closely with the CEO and COO on high-stakes matters.

You will develop processes, templates, and playbooks to scale, manage outside counsel, and support board reviews, while ensuring compliance and responsible governance for a mission-driven organization.

Qualifications

• J.D. and active California Bar membership.
• 5-7 years of relevant legal experience as in-house corporate counsel or nonprofit General Counsel.
• Experience with nonprofit or tax-exempt organizations and governance is preferred.

Responsibilities

• Draft, review, and negotiate grant agreements, donor agreements, vendor contracts, fellowship agreements, and MOUs.
• Maintain 501(c)(3) compliance and advise on board governance and filings.
• Advise on hiring, contractor classification, and employment matters in US and UK.
• Manage IP questions around research outputs and oversee data privacy (GDPR/CCPA).
• Identify and mitigate legal and reputational risk across programs and international operations.
• Prepare materials for board review on legal and compliance topics.
• Build templates, playbooks, and lightweight processes for self-service legal questions.
• Engage and manage outside counsel for specialized matters (immigration, international tax, litigation).
• Help navigate immigration situations for fellows and employees.

Skills

Legal advisory

Contract negotiation

Employment law

IP & data privacy

Governance & compliance

Cross-border exposure

Board support

Risk management

Education

J.D.

California Bar admission

Job description

Legal lead for a fast-growing AI safety research nonprofit.

MATS finds and trains talented individuals for what we see as the world's most urgent and talent-constrained problem: reducing risks from unaligned artificial intelligence. We believe ambitious researchers from a variety of backgrounds have the potential to meaningfully contribute to alignment, control, security, and governance research. Through our research fellowship, we provide mentorship, training, professional network, and financial support to accelerate their careers and increase their impact.

Since 2021, we have trained over 630 researchers. 75% of pre-2026 fellows continue to work in AI alignment. 10% have co-founded organizations. Our fellows have produced 215+ research papers with 17,000+ citations. And we are just getting started: in the coming year we will expand our program to support even more researchers.

The Role

MATS is hiring its first General Counsel to build and run the legal function for a growing, multinational nonprofit. Reporting to the COO, you'll be the organization's primary legal advisor: owning contracts and grant agreements, nonprofit governance and compliance, employment law across the US and UK, IP and data privacy, and risk management, while working closely with the CEO, and board on higher-stakes matters. This is a hands-on, generalist legal role at an organization that doesn't yet have in-house counsel, so you'll be building processes and templates as much as advising on individual matters.

What you'll do

• Contracts & agreements:Draft, review, and negotiate grant agreements, donor agreements, vendor contracts, fellowship agreements, and partnership MOUs.
• Nonprofit governance & compliance:Maintain MATS' 501(c)(3) compliance, advise on board governance, conflicts of interest, and lobbying/political activity limits, and support annual filings alongside Finance.
• Employment law (US & UK):Advise on hiring, contractor classification, and employment matters across US and UK entities, including offer letters, policies, and terminations.
• IP & data privacy:Manage intellectual property questions around research outputs and publications, and oversee data privacy practices (GDPR/CCPA) for participant and donor data.
• Risk management:Identify and mitigate legal and reputational risk across programs, events, and international operations; maintain appropriate insurance coverage in partnership with Finance.
• Board & leadership support:Serve as a resource to the CEO and COO on sensitive matters, and prepare materials for board review on legal and compliance topics.
• Process building:Build templates, playbooks, and lightweight processes so the organization can self-serve on routine legal questions as it scales.
• Outside counsel management:Engage and manage outside counsel for specialized matters (immigration, international tax, litigation) where in-house expertise isn't the right fit.
• Immigration Assistance:Help navigate immigration situations for our fellows and employees.

What we're looking for

• Credentials:J.D. and active California Bar membership; 5-7 years of relevant legal experience as in-house corporate counsel or as General Counsel at a nonprofit.
• Nonprofit fluency:Experience with nonprofit or tax-exempt organizations, ideally including 501(c)(3) compliance and governance; strong in-house corporate legal experience also considered.
• Generalist orientation:Comfortable advising across contracts, employment, IP, and compliance rather than specializing narrowly; willing to research areas outside your core expertise.
• Cross-border exposure:Experience with or willingness to quickly get up to speed on UK employment and entity considerations, given MATS' London operations.
• Judgment & communication:Able to translate legal risk into plain-language guidance for non-lawyers, and to make sound calls independently without a large legal department behind you.
• Mission alignment:Genuine interest in AI safety or the nonprofit research/education space is a strong plus, though not required.

Nice to have

• Prior experience as first or founding counsel at a growing organization.
• Familiarity with academic or research institution contracting (grants, fellowships, publication agreements).
• Experience with immigration matters affecting international researchers (US and UK visas).
• Exposure to philanthropic or donor-advised fund structures.
• Shape the legal foundation of the world's largest AI safety talent pipeline from the ground up.
• Direct partnership with the COO and CEO on the organization's highest-stakes decisions.
• A close-knit, mission-driven team tackling one of the most consequential problems of our time.
• Offices in Berkeley and London.

About the Compensation

• Compensation range for this role is $200,000 to $260,000 per year for Bay area-based hires, depending on qualifications and experience. The essential skills listed above contain the basic requirements, and align with the lower end of this range.
• MATS provides in-office, catered lunches and dinners to employees on workdays.
• Paid work trips, including staff retreats, business trips, and relevant conferences.
• Funding and support for professional development.
• 17 days of annual paid time off for Berkeley-based employees, and 20 days of annual leave (not including bank holidays) for London-based employees.
• Flexibility for hybrid work (but not for fully remote work).
• Collaborative and intellectually stimulating work environment.
• Medical, dental, vision, and life insurance.
• Both Roth 401(k) and Traditional 401(k) for US-based employees for Berkeley-based candidates, or Pension Scheme for London-based candidates.

MATS is committed to fostering a diverse and inclusive work environment at the forefront of our field. We encourage applications from individuals of all backgrounds and experiences.