General Counsel

Paxos Labs; New York (NY); On-site; USD 250,000 - 350,000; Full time

Job summary

Paxos Labs is hiring a General Counsel to own the legal and regulatory strategy as our digital asset products scale. You will establish the legal function and partner with leadership across strategy, compliance, and governance in a fast-paced, in-person New York setting.

The role requires deep regulatory, transactional, and corporate governance expertise and comfort operating without a large legal team, with remote work considered case-by-case.

Qualifications

• JD from an accredited law school and US bar admission in good standing.
• 8–12 years of practice, ideally combining top-tier firm work with in-house fintech/digital asset experience.
• Demonstrated digital asset regulatory expertise with token classification and licensing positions.
• Transactional depth in secured lending or structured finance.
• Experience with offshore structures and multijurisdictional coverage.
• Fluency in how digital asset products function; understand smart contracts conceptually.
• Comfort operating without a team and building one as the company scales.

Responsibilities

• Own legal and regulatory strategy across the full product line, including stablecoins and tokenized assets.
• Draft, negotiate, and close every commercial agreement for the organization.
• Lead regulatory analysis and positioning.
• Produce defensible characterizations for securities, commodities, and virtual asset service provider positioning.
• Own the corporate structure: formation, governance, cap table, financing documentation.
• Own the compliance stack, including AML/sanctions, KYB, due diligence and policy suite.
• Serve as the legal voice in commercial negotiations with counterparties.
• Handle employment, IP, privacy and general corporate matters.

Skills

Regulatory expertise

Digital assets

Structured finance

Offshore structures

Multijurisdictional

Smart contract basics

Independent leadership

Education

Juris Doctor (JD)

Job description

Who we are

Paxos Labs builds enterprise infrastructure that powers the next generation of trusted onchain financial products. We work with the largest financial enterprises in the world to build transparent and verifiable onchain infrastructure that works for end users and everyday financial use cases. If you believe in bringing DeFi and digital assets to the mainstream, consider leading that work at Paxos Labs.

We’re hiring a General Counsel to own legal and regulatory strategy as Paxos Labs scales its digital asset products.

Who we're looking for

Our products sit at the intersection of stablecoins, tokenized commodities, and institutional DeFi, which means the legal work runs from regulatory characterization to structured credit documentation to enterprise contracting, often in the same week.

We are seeking a General Counsel capable of moving between the commercial negotiation of stablecoin earn agreements, substantive regulatory analysis, and corporate governance matters in a single day. As the sole legal officer of the organization, the General Counsel will be responsible for establishing the legal function, not for maintaining one that already exists.

Responsibilities

• Own legal and regulatory strategy across the full product line, including stablecoin earn, stablecoin orchestration, tokenized commodities and lending.
• Draft, negotiate, and close every commercial agreement that comes through the organization.
• Lead regulatory analysis and positioning.
• Produce defensible characterizations for securities, commodities, money transmission, and virtual asset service provider positioning.
• Own the corporate structure. Manage entity formation and maintenance, board governance, intercompany arrangements, cap table matters, and financing documentation.
• Own the compliance stack, including AML and sanctions programs, KYB and counterparty onboarding, due diligence questionnaire responses, and the policy suite supporting institutional counterparty relationships.
• Serve as the legal voice in commercial negotiations, sitting directly with counterparties rather than behind the deal team.
• Handle employment, IP, privacy, and general corporate matters as they arise.

Qualifications

• JD from an accredited law school and active bar admission and good standing in at least one US jurisdiction.
• 8 to 12 years of practice, ideally combining a top-tier law firm foundation with in-house experience at a digital asset or fintech company.
• Demonstrated digital asset regulatory expertise. You have taken positions on token classification, distribution structures, and licensing questions and defended them to counterparties, auditors, and regulators.
• Transactional depth in secured lending or structured finance. You have papered facilities, and thought carefully about perfection and enforceability.
• Experience working with offshore structures and juggling multijurisdictional coverage.Working fluency in how digital asset products actually function. You can understand smart contract architecture at a conceptual level and understand what a vault, an oracle, or a liquidation mechanism does before you write about it.
• Comfort operating without a team beneath you, and interest in building one as the company scales.

Why join us?

• Build the Future: Play a critical role in transforming traditional enterprises with innovative digital asset solutions.
• Own the Function: Define the legal and compliance organization from the ground up rather than executing someone else's playbook.
• Do Impactful Work: Contribute to projects that have a tangible impact on the global financial landscape.
• Enable Personal Growth: Benefit from continuous learning and professional development in a rapidly evolving industry with an emphasis on personal career advancement.
• Receive Competitive Compensation: Receive a competitive salary and participate directly in ownership structures that provide top-of-the-line benefits.
• Join A Dynamic Team: Thrive in a fast-paced, agile setting where your ideas are valued and your contributions are recognized.

Location

We are a heavily in-person team working in New York City. We prize effective in-person coordination that allows us to move fast. We also consider remote work on a case by case basis.