Counsel, Commercial (Institutional Legal)
The Counsel, Commercial (Institutional Legal) role at Coinbase involves joining a specialized team that negotiates tailored agreements and provides comprehensive legal counsel for complex financial products within the dynamic cryptocurrency environment. This position is based in the United States and focuses on serving U.S. markets and professional trading clients, including banks, brokers, hedge funds, market makers, corporates, and other professional traders. The team comprises a small yet highly experienced group of lawyers with backgrounds in both traditional finance and fintech. The role reports to the head of the team and covers institutional products such as prime brokerage, exchange, trading and custody, derivatives, and financing products. Ideal candidates should possess solid product development, regulatory, and negotiation skills, preferably developed within the traditional prime brokerage, securities financing, and/or derivatives sectors. A sense of curiosity, flexibility, and a desire to make an impact at the intersection of crypto and traditional global markets are essential.
Key responsibilities include negotiating first-of-a-kind, highly tailored agreements with strategic partners and sophisticated counterparties in the finance, payments, and digital currency space. The role also involves providing full product life-cycle counseling for various global prime brokerage, custody, and derivatives-related products, offering practical advice on associated legal issues and risks, complex agreement structures, and company policies in a risk-tolerant yet compliance-oriented environment. Staying abreast of and advising on digital currency and blockchain technology legal and regulatory issues is crucial. Additionally, the role requires leading and assisting with complex and global cross-functional efforts, ensuring alignment with stakeholders such as Institutional Sales, Business Development, Product/Engineering, Finance/Tax, and Compliance. Effective collaboration with cross-functional teams and legal colleagues to solve problems, build partnerships, and close deals quickly is essential. Proactively solving problems for the business, developing strategies to address risk in business-centric ways, and building commercial processes that allow the business flexibility and freedom to move quickly are key aspects of the role. Candidates should be prepared to look around corners and creatively solve problems as the company plans, builds, and executes its transactional and product roadmap. Being a business partner, not just a lawyer, is a fundamental expectation.
Required qualifications include being a licensed attorney with at least five years of experience working in a financial services institution (e.g., bank, e-money issuer, payment service firm, broker-dealer/asset manager) or in a law firm supporting such clients. Strong negotiation skills and the ability to review and negotiate financial agreements (e.g., prime brokerage, lending, and derivatives documentation) are essential. A strong history of commercial and transactional legal work is required. An interest in digital currency and blockchain technology is important. Experience working and leading with cross-functional, globally located teams is necessary. Familiarity with U.S. and/or EU or UK regulatory regimes applicable to financial instruments is beneficial. Candidates should be comfortable challenging the status quo and preconceived notions of what is possible. Excellent judgment, analytical rigor, clear communication, and business pragmatism are crucial. Top-notch analytical skills with experience owning projects from concept to finish are expected. Creativity, comfort, and experience with oral solutions that help scale financial services businesses and technology solutions that help scale practices are advantageous. Sound and practical business judgment, intellectual curiosity, flexibility, attention to detail, and a focus on process ownership from start to finish are important. Being team-oriented and collaborative is essential.
Compensation for this role includes an annual base salary range of $183,855 to $216,300 USD, excluding equity and bonus. Total compensation may also include equity and bonus eligibility, as well as benefits such as medical, dental, vision, and 401(k) plans.
Coinbase is committed to increasing economic freedom in the world and offers a dynamic work environment that fosters collaboration, connection, and alignment. While many roles at Coinbase are remote-first, in-person participation is required throughout the year, with team and company-wide offsites held multiple times annually. Attendance at these offsites is expected and fully supported. The company culture is intense and demands the best from its employees, providing an opportunity to build the future alongside others who excel in their disciplines.
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## Highlights:
- Counsel, Commercial (Institutional Legal), Remote - USA - Coinbase
- Counsel, Commercial (Institutional Legal) - Coinbase | Built In
- Coinbase hiring Counsel, Commercial (Institutional Legal) in New York, NY | LinkedIn