Head of Legal & Regulatory Affairs

MLabs•New York, NY

9d•Hybrid

About The Position

We are a leading Decentralized Finance (DeFi) protocol that recently secured $70 million from world-class investors including Ribbit Capital, a16z crypto, Coinbase Ventures, and Pantera. We are building an open lending network designed to give anyone, anywhere, access to the best possible financial terms. With over $10 billion in deposits, our network is experiencing explosive growth and is rapidly becoming a cornerstone of the new internet-native financial system. Our mission is to power human ambition by providing open access to capital, removing the borders and fragmentation of traditional finance. We are seeking a visionary leader to scale our adoption by building and leading a world-class Legal & Public Affairs organization. Your mission is to empower our existing teams, strengthen our credibility with top-tier institutional partners and regulators, and enable us to move faster through clear, risk-weighted decisions. This is a critical leadership role as we expand our US institutional readiness and high-value partnerships.

Requirements

15+ years of legal and public affairs experience, including significant in-house leadership in a high-growth tech or fintech environment.
Web3/Crypto Expertise: Significant exposure to digital assets, DeFi, trading/lending, and the product/regulatory interface.
Institutional Negotiator: A proven track record of negotiating major partnerships—especially US institutional-facing work—and operating effectively in the US context.
Strategic Leadership: Experience owning both Legal and Public Affairs strategy simultaneously (narrative, roadmap, and stakeholder management).
Team Builder: Demonstrated ability to design, hire, and manage high-performing teams through rapid growth phases.
First-Principles Thinking: Strong decision-making skills under imperfect information.
Business-Driven: A mindset that views legal as an enabler of growth, not a gatekeeper.
Adaptability: High comfort level with ambiguity and a bias for action in a nascent market.
Low Ego: A collective success mindset with a commitment to high support and open context sharing.

Responsibilities

Build & Scale: Design the organization, hire through scaling phases, and implement AI/automation-driven playbooks to increase team leverage.
Strategic Roadmap: Own the Legal and Public Affairs roadmaps, ensuring they evolve in lockstep with business priorities.
Institutional Readiness: Lead negotiations for complex, high-value partnerships (specifically US Institutional/TradFi) and build the frameworks to scale safely.
Velocity & Decision Quality: Convert ambiguous, high-stakes regulatory and legal topics into actionable paths forward with clear trade-offs.
External Representation: Act as a senior face of the company with partners, outside counsel, policymakers, and regulators.

Benefits

Competitive salary and equity packages.
Real flexible working arrangements.
Regular team offsites and time together in Paris.
Comprehensive health coverage tailored to your location.
Dedicated support and budget for ongoing professional development.
The opportunity to shape the legal and regulatory framework of a generational shift in finance.

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