Product Counsel

Tools for Humanity; San Francisco (CA); On-site; USD 255,000 - 305,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Flexible, unlimited PTO

Comprehensive medical, dental, and vision coverage

401(k) plan with employer match

Monthly phone reimbursement

Three meals per day served in-house

Job summary

Tools for Humanity is seeking a Product Counsel in San Francisco to oversee legal aspects of innovative technologies, including AI and blockchain. This role involves collaboration with product and engineering teams to manage regulatory risks and support product launches.

The ideal candidate has substantial experience in product counseling and thrives in fast-paced environments. The package includes a competitive salary and comprehensive benefits.

Qualifications

• 5+ years of experience as product counsel, including in-house experience.
• Significant advising on complex product issues across the full lifecycle.
• Familiarity with intellectual property concepts and legal frameworks.

Responsibilities

• Serve as a legal partner across product, engineering, and design teams.
• Advise on legal matters related to digital identity, blockchain, and AI.
• Translate complex legal considerations into actionable guidance.

Skills

Product counseling experience

Intellectual curiosity

Legal and regulatory issues assessment

Education

Juris Doctor from a top-tier law school

Job description

About the Company:

Tools for Humanity (TFH) designs and builds technology behind World. World is building a real human network designed to accelerate people in the age of AI. As bots and autonomous agents reshape the internet, people, institutions, and applications need a trusted way to confirm who is a real human while preserving privacy. The TFH and World tech stacks make this possible: the Orb verifies real, unique people, World ID proves it privately, and World App puts these capabilities, and more, in people’s hands. Together, they add a human layer to an AI-driven internet.

World is already running at a global scale. More than 17 million people across 160 countries have verified with World ID, and more new Orb verifications take place each week. World App is already among the most used wallets globally. Developers are integrating World ID to build safer online experiences and create spaces where real people can participate, earn, and be recognized in ways AI simply can’t replicate.

Founded in 2019, TFH has more than 400 people across hardware, software, AI, cryptography, mobile engineering, and global operations. Our teams come from OpenAI, Tesla, SpaceX, Apple, Google, Stripe, Meta, Coinbase, Palantir and MIT Media Lab. We’re backed by leading investors, including a16z, Khosla Ventures, Bain Capital Crypto, Blockchain Capital, Variant, Tiger Global, and Coinbase Ventures, as well as prominent operators and founders across fintech and AI.

TFH and World have been featured on the cover of TIME Magazine, highlighted in Fast Company’s Next 5 in Fintech, and explored in a Bloomberg deep dive. The New York Times, Bankless and TechCrunch have all recognized our collective progress in identity, cryptography, AI, and global-scale hardware deployment. Our leadership is also named to the Time AI 100. Learn more about the newest product launches from our Liftoff event.

About the Team

Our Legal team is dedicated to supporting the World Network by managing Tools for Humanity’s legal affairs globally. We collaborate across the company to advance the blockchain project and enhance our products, including the Orb (our hardware device), World ID, World App, and World Chain. We value creativity, curiosity, a sense of humor, and a shared sense of urgency.

Location:

San Francisco, California (in-person)

About the Opportunity

We are seeking a Product Counsel to support Tools for Humanity’s global product counseling function across some of the most novel and fast-moving areas of technology, including artificial intelligence, biometrics, digital identity, blockchain infrastructure, consumer products, online safety, and privacy-preserving technologies.

This role will work closely with product, engineering, cryptography, hardware, design, security, and business teams throughout the product lifecycle, helping the company launch globally scaled digital identity, blockchain, and consumer financial products while thoughtfully managing legal, regulatory, safety, and reputational risk. The role will report to the Deputy General Counsel, Product & Intellectual Property, and will collaborate closely with cross-functional stakeholders across the company.

The ideal candidate combines strong product counseling experience with practical judgment, intellectual curiosity, and the ability to operate effectively in a fast-moving and highly collaborative environment. You should be equally comfortable advising on day-to-day product development questions, helping teams navigate ambiguity, and supporting the launch of entirely new technologies and business models.

Key Responsibilities

Product Counseling & Emerging Technology

• Serve as a legal partner to product, engineering, AI, hardware, cryptography, design, and security teams across the development and launch lifecycle of TFH products and infrastructure
• Advise on legal and regulatory issues relating to digital identity systems, biometrics, blockchain-enabled products, consumer financial technologies, privacy, consumer protection, online safety, platform governance, and AI-enabled systems.
• Partner closely with product and engineering teams to assess legal and reputational risks associated with new features, products, experiments, and business models
• Help develop practical and scalable approaches for launching products globally across diverse and evolving regulatory environments
• Translate complex legal and policy considerations into clear, actionable guidance for technical and business stakeholders
• Draft and advise on product terms, disclosures, policies, user flows, and internal guidance materials
• Support incident response, product escalations, and cross-functional reviews relating to trust, safety, security, and user risk issues

Intellectual Property & Technology

• Advise on intellectual property issues relating to software, hardware, AI systems, cryptography, identity technologies, branding, and consumer products
• Support patent, trademark, copyright, licensing, open source, and technology risk management matters
• Partner with engineering and research teams to identify and help protect strategic innovations and inventions
• Help develop scalable internal processes relating to open source governance, invention capture, product review, and IP compliance

Cross-Functional Collaboration & Process Building

• Collaborate effectively across legal specialties, including commercial, privacy, regulatory, employment, litigation, security, and corporate legal functions
• Help build scalable legal processes, playbooks, templates, and review frameworks that improve consistency and organizational velocity
• Contribute to improving operational systems and tooling supporting product reviews and launches
• Support the development of practical guidance and self-service resources for business and product teams

About You

Relevant Experience

• 5+ years of experience as product counsel, including substantial in-house product counseling experience supporting consumer technology, financial technology, blockchain, digital identity, and/or other highly regulated technology platforms.
• Significant experience advising on complex product counseling issues across the full product lifecycle, including product development, feature launches, user experience design, go-to-market initiatives, and ongoing operational support
• Demonstrated knowledge of laws and regulatory frameworks relating to several of the following areas: financial services, blockchain technology, digital identity systems, artificial intelligence, privacy, biometrics, consumer protection, online safety, advertising and marketing, platform governance, and intellectual property
• Experience supporting globally distributed consumer products and navigating multi-jurisdictional legal and regulatory issues
• Familiarity with intellectual property concepts, including patents, trademarks, copyright, licensing, open source software, and technology risk management

Product & Technical Fluency

• Ability to engage effectively with technical teams and understand complex systems, architectures, and product tradeoffs
• Strong business judgment and ability to balance legal risk, user experience, operational realities, and product velocity
• Comfortable operating in evolving legal and regulatory environments where clear precedent may not exist

Collaboration & Communication

• Proven ability to build trusted relationships across legal, engineering, product, design, research, security, and operations teams
• Excellent communicator capable of translating technical or legal concepts into practical, business-oriented guidance
• Collaborative, low-ego working style with strong emotional intelligence and sound judgment

Execution & Problem-Solving

• Exceptional analytical, organizational, and problem-solving skills
• Ability to manage multiple priorities simultaneously while maintaining strong attention to detail
• Practical, business-oriented approach to problem solving and risk assessment
• Resourceful, adaptable, and comfortable operating in a fast-paced and evolving environment

Credentials

• Juris Doctor from a top-tier law school
• Membership in at least one U.S. state bar

In-Person

• Ability to work in-person from San Francisco, CA

What We Offer

• Collaborative, creative office space in San Francisco
• Flexible, unlimited PTO
• Monthly phone reimbursement or company-provided device
• 3 meals/day served in house
• Comprehensive medical, dental, vision, and mental health coverage
• 401(k) plan with employer match

• Commuter benefits and professional development stipend

The reasonably estimated salary for this role at TFH ranges from $255,000 - $305,000, plus a competitive long term incentive package. Actual compensation is based on factors such as the candidate’s skills, qualifications, and experience.

In addition, TFH offers a wide range of best-in-class, comprehensive, and inclusive employee benefits for this role, including healthcare, dental, vision, 401(k) plan and match, life insurance, flexible time off, commuter benefits, professional development stipend, and much more.

By submitting your application, you consent to the processing and internal sharing of your CV within the company, in compliance with the GDPR.