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Associate General Counsel

San Francisco, California, United States

Instawork’s vision is to create economic opportunities for local businesses and skilled hourly workers in communities around the world. With an AI-first approach, we’re supercharging the leading online labor marketplace and looking for exceptional talent to help us build the future of hourly work. Backed by world-class investors like Benchmark, Spark Capital, Craft Ventures, Greylock, Y Combinator, and more, we want you to help us continue to scale quickly and make an even greater impact.

We are seeking an Associate General Counsel (AGC) to lead litigation, partner with product, and help us build an AI‑first approach to our legal function. Reporting directly to the Chief Legal Officer, you will oversee company‑level litigation and investigations, while developing the next generation of legal automation.

Who You Are:

  • Education: J.D. from an ABA‑accredited law school; active bar in CA (or eligible for in‑house registration).
  • Experience: 6–10+ years in litigation and investigations, ideally a mix of law firm and in‑house experience at a tech and/or marketplace company.
  • Skills:
    • Expertise in litigation management, labor & employment, and regulatory matters.
    • Experience leveraging legal technology or process automation to enhance efficiency.
    • Strong judgment, communication, and strategic problem‑solving skills.
    • Ability to manage high‑stakes matters in a fast‑moving environment.
  • Mindset: Entrepreneurial, AI‑curious, and eager to modernize how legal work is delivered.

What You’ll Do:

  • Litigation & Regulatory
    • Lead company‑level litigation and pre‑litigation, including labor/worker claims, enforcement actions, class actions, and commercial disputes.
    • Manage outside counsel to drive strategic and cost‑efficient outcomes.
    • Respond to government inquiries, audits, and regulatory investigations.
    • Partner with HR, Trust & Safety, and Operations to address worker classification and wage & hour risk.
  • AI‑First Legal Operations
    • Design and implement AI‑powered workflows for litigation tracking, regulatory reporting, and internal inquiries.
    • Develop prompt libraries, legal agents, and self‑service tools for cross‑functional teams (e.g., contract summaries, policy guidance, dispute intake).
    • Identify opportunities to automate recurring legal tasks, including matter intake, document review, and regulatory notifications.
    • Partner with the CLO to evaluate and deploy AI‑driven legal technology that scales our small, high‑impact legal team.
    • Maintain governance and security standards for AI use within the legal function.
  • Strategic Risk Management
    • Advise executives on litigation risk, regulatory trends, product & privacy initiatives, and mitigation strategies.
    • Collaborate on policies, training, and scalable processes to reduce risk in high‑growth environments.

Nice to Have:

  • Hands‑on experience with class actions, multi‑state regulatory issues, or high‑volume gig workforce claims.
  • Exposure to AI‑driven legal tools, including document summarization, intake automation, or custom GPT/agent development.
  • Familiarity with legal project management and CLM systems.

For CA based applicants:

  • The base salary for this position is $275,000 - $300,000
  • This position is eligible for equity in the form of stock options
  • This position is eligible for Instawork benefits, including:
    • A variety of medical, dental, and vision plans with coverage beginning on the date of hire
    • Flexible paid time off
    • At least 8 paid company holidays annually
    • Phone stipend
    • Commuter stipend
    • Supplemental pay on qualified leaves
    • Employee health savings accounts (HSA) contribution
    • Flexible spending plans
    • 401K plan
    • Perkspot - discount program through Lumity
      #LI-Onsite  #LI-JG3

Our Values 

  • Empathy, Trust & Candor
    We put ourselves in the shoes of our colleagues and customers and don’t shy away from uncomfortable conversations, instead building trust through honest and direct feedback.

  • Bias for Action
    We practice high-velocity decision-making, clear-eyed that we often operate with incomplete information. Growing quickly means it’s OK to be wrong, so long as we learn from our mistakes and course correct!

  • Always Be Learning
    We’re a curious bunch, and with AI transforming our workplace we encourage everyone to learn from each other, compounding our knowledge and experience to help us change an entire industry.

  • Act Like an Owner
    We work long, hard, and smart, building products that delight our users and drive growth. Your ability to impact Instawork is limited only by your courage and conviction, not your job description.

About Instawork

Founded in 2015, Instawork is the nation’s leading online labor marketplace for food services, hospitality, light industry, and logistics, connecting more than 7M skilled workers with local restaurants, hotels, warehouses, stadiums, and more. Our AI-powered platform serves thousands of businesses across more than 50 major markets in the United States and Canada. We're not just helping fill shifts, we're supporting local economies—and we're just getting started!

Instawork has been featured by CBS News, The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, and the Associated Press. Forbes included us on their Next Billion Dollar Startups list; RetailTech Breakthrough named us Workforce Hiring Solution of the Year for 2025; and Inc. 5000 recognized us as one of the country's top 10% fastest-growing companies two years in a row. But what matters most is our impact. We're solving real problems for real people, and we’re doing it at scale.

Join our team to help us build something that matters! We’re looking for superstars who want to help us shape the future of work. With hubs in San Francisco, Bangalore, and Chicago, city offices in New York, Phoenix, and Singapore, we're back to working together in-person five days a week because we believe the best ideas happen when great people collaborate face-to-face. We also value diverse perspectives and encourage applications from candidates of all backgrounds.

Ready to make an impact? Learn more at www.instawork.com/about.

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