Senior Counsel

Circle is a financial technology company at the epicenter of the emerging internet of money, where value can finally travel like other digital data — globally, nearly instantly and less expensively than legacy settlement systems. This ground-breaking new internet layer opens up previously unimaginable possibilities for payments, commerce and markets that can help raise global economic prosperity and enhance inclusion. Our infrastructure – including USDC, a blockchain-based dollar – helps businesses, institutions and developers harness these breakthroughs and capitalize on this major turning point in the evolution of money and technology.

What you’ll be part of:

Circle is committed to visibility and stability in everything we do. As we grow as an organization, we're expanding into some of the world's strongest jurisdictions. Speed and efficiency are motivators for our success and our employees live by our company values: Multistakeholder, Mindfulness, Driven by Excellence and High Integrity. Circlers are consistently evolving in a remote world where strength in numbers fuels team success. We have built a flexible and diverse work environment where new ideas are encouraged and everyone is a stakeholder.

What you’ll be responsible for:  

Under the direction of the Assistant General Counsel - Commercial, you will play an immediate and direct role in complex commercial transactional work and marketing, supporting our Business and Business Development segments, and our compliance and vendor management teams as we offer new products and grow in new markets.

What you'll work on: 

• Be a trusted partner to Circle’s Product, Business, Compliance, and Finance teams, working collaboratively and building a strong line of communication with the business.
• Structure, negotiate and draft complex fintech, payments, crypto and tech transactions, addressing legal risk in business-centric ways with the goal of strengthening partnerships and advancing opportunities.
• Support the creation and expansion of contract templates and terms of use to reflect new and existing products and services.
• Aid in the development and implementation of processes, procedures and metrics (including efficient contracting processes) to increase the overall effectiveness of the legal services provided to the company.
• Address legal risk in business-centric ways, developing processes to solve problems, strengthening partnerships and advancing opportunities.
• Assist business leaders with contract interpretation and management.
• Remain up-to-date on relevant finance, payments and digital currency space to ensure an ongoing ability to provide sound marketing compliance advice.

You will aspire to our four core values:

• Multistakeholder - you have dedication and commitment to our customers, shareholders, employees and families and local communities.
• Mindful - you seek to be respectful, an active listener and to pay attention to detail.  
• Driven by Excellence - you are driven by our mission and our passion for customer success which means you relentlessly pursue excellence, that you do not tolerate mediocrity and you work intensely to achieve your goals. 
• High Integrity - you seek open and honest communication, and you hold yourself to very high moral and ethical standards.  You reject manipulation, dishonesty and intolerance.

What you’ll bring to Circle:  

• 6+ years (for Counsel)/10+ years (for Senior Counsel) of practical, hands-on legal experience, both law firm (AM Law 100) and in-house experience are preferred.
• Extensive experience drafting and negotiating complex fintech, financial services and tech agreements.
• Experience collaborating with cross-functional teams on strategic partnerships, with a focus on Product, Business and Compliance teams.
• Experience advising clients on risk mitigation across technology product platforms.
• You are passionate about financial technology and the disruptive potential of cryptocurrency and blockchains, are a team player with a sense of humor, and enjoy learning but also mentoring.
• You are comfortable working in an evolving and growing environment that is prone to changes, and managing multiple projects simultaneously.
• You apply sound, practical business judgment to your legal recommendations, and are creative at solving problems while balancing important legal risks for the business.
• You can work autonomously and independently with minimal guidance but are also comfortable working collaboratively as part of a team.
• You have a JD (preferably from a “T-14” law school and/or with honors/