Back to jobs
New

Senior Legal Counsel

New York, New York

About us:

Public is an investing platform that makes building a multi-asset portfolio fast, frictionless, and secure. Members can trade stocks, options, bonds, crypto, ETFs, and alternative assets—all in one place. Alongside its robust suite of investing tools, Public offers Alpha, a layer of artificial intelligence that provides fundamental data and custom analysis to support informed investment decisions.

Since 2019, Public has raised over $300 million. Investors include Accel, Tiger Global, Will Smith's Dreamers VC, The Chainsmokers' Mantis VC, and Shari Redstone's Advancit Capital, as well as renowned figures in business and culture, like Maria Sharapova, Tony Hawk, and NYU Stern professor Scott Galloway.

About the role: 

To support our ambitious goals and continued growth, we’re looking for a sharp, enthusiastic attorney to be the fourth member of our Legal team, reporting to the General Counsel.  This is a “generalist” role, with an emphasis on product counseling, commercial transactions and regulatory work.

Public is a highly regulated financial services and technology company. Experience in brokerage or another highly regulated financial field is a plus, however this role would also be suitable for a hardworking and sharp generalist who is willing to put in the work to get up the regulatory learning curve. 

This role is based in New York City. You should expect to work from the office four days a week, Monday through Thursday.

What you’ll do:

You’ll handle a little bit of everything, including:

  • Product counseling:
    • Public operates in a highly-regulated space. Those regulations impact all aspects of our business, including the customer-facing product and back-end operations.
    • You’ll work closely with our Product and Engineering teams to navigate those regulations as they build new products and features.  You’ll also help them to negotiate any contracts necessary to bring the product to life.
  • Brokerage:
    • Public owns its own FINRA-registered broker-dealer. You’ll work with Compliance to ensure that we continue to meet our SEC and FINRA obligations.
    • You’ll help interpret relevant laws and regulations, research SEC and FINRA guidance, and distill those rules into actionable guidance for our business teams.
  • Crypto:
    • Public customers can trade a set of cryptocurrencies on our platform, thanks to our partnership with Bakkt Crypto Solutions.
    • You will further refine our crypto compliance regime, including conducting Howey analysis, updating our marketing compliance rules, and conducting diligence on coins before they are listed on the Public platform.
  • Contract negotiation:
    • Handle the wide range of commercial agreements that come up at a consumer technology company: professional services agreements, vendor MSAs and SOWs, IP licenses, NDAs, co-marketing agreements, etc.
  • Legal processes/systems:
    • Creating and updating playbooks for each business team at Public, to help them navigate legal and compliance requirements and negotiate the best deals possible.
    • Build a template library for our most common types of deals, like influencer agreements and production agreements.
    • Refine our legal ticketing system to better manage the workflow on the Legal team.

Qualifications:

  • J.D. degree from an ABA accredited law school (or foreign equivalent)
  • Membership in at least 1 U.S. State Bar, with good standing
  • 5-10 years of legal experience, ideally a combination of working at a top law firm followed by in-house at an early-stage technology or financial services company.
  • Experience working in fast-paced, high-growth environments, preferably at another fintech or startup company. 
  • Experience with a broad range of legal matters, from commercial transactions to corporate governance to regulatory compliance to employment and IP.
  • Strong leadership and communication skills, with the ability to collaborate cross-functionally and influence senior stakeholders.
  • Intense curiosity and desire to learn new things.
  • High level of integrity and the ability to balance legal and compliance obligations with business objectives.
  • Able to operate in ambiguous, fast-paced environments and have the ability to work under pressure and identify, prioritize and resolve issues quickly and independently.
  • Track record of quickly learning and leveraging various pieces of software including project management tools, CRM systems, and compliance software.

Bonus Points:

  • Experience with broker-dealer or registered investment advisors.
  • Experience working with Compliance teams and creating efficient, effective compliance systems and processes.

Benefits:

  • Competitive salary and equity
  • Comprehensive health, dental, and vision plans
  • Generous PTO and parental leave policy
  • 401(k) plan with company match
  • Opportunities for career growth and professional development

Public is an equal employment opportunity employer to all employees and applicants for employment and prohibits discrimination and harassment of any type.  We celebrate people of all race, color, religion, age, sex, national origin, disability status, genetics, veteran status, sexual orientation, gender identity, or expression.

The base compensation range for this role is $200,000 to $240,000 (plus competitive pre-IPO equity) depending on skills and experience.

Apply for this job

*

indicates a required field

Resume/CV*

Accepted file types: pdf, doc, docx, txt, rtf

Cover Letter

Accepted file types: pdf, doc, docx, txt, rtf

Select...
Select...

U.S. Standard Demographic Questions

We invite applicants to share their demographic background. If you choose to complete this survey, your responses may be used to identify areas of improvement in our hiring process.
Select...
Select...
Select...
Select...
Select...
Select...

Voluntary Self-Identification

For government reporting purposes, we ask candidates to respond to the below self-identification survey. Completion of the form is entirely voluntary. Whatever your decision, it will not be considered in the hiring process or thereafter. Any information that you do provide will be recorded and maintained in a confidential file.

As set forth in Public’s Equal Employment Opportunity policy, we do not discriminate on the basis of any protected group status under any applicable law.

Select...
Select...
Race & Ethnicity Definitions

If you believe you belong to any of the categories of protected veterans listed below, please indicate by making the appropriate selection. As a government contractor subject to the Vietnam Era Veterans Readjustment Assistance Act (VEVRAA), we request this information in order to measure the effectiveness of the outreach and positive recruitment efforts we undertake pursuant to VEVRAA. Classification of protected categories is as follows:

A "disabled veteran" is one of the following: a veteran of the U.S. military, ground, naval or air service who is entitled to compensation (or who but for the receipt of military retired pay would be entitled to compensation) under laws administered by the Secretary of Veterans Affairs; or a person who was discharged or released from active duty because of a service-connected disability.

A "recently separated veteran" means any veteran during the three-year period beginning on the date of such veteran's discharge or release from active duty in the U.S. military, ground, naval, or air service.

An "active duty wartime or campaign badge veteran" means a veteran who served on active duty in the U.S. military, ground, naval or air service during a war, or in a campaign or expedition for which a campaign badge has been authorized under the laws administered by the Department of Defense.

An "Armed forces service medal veteran" means a veteran who, while serving on active duty in the U.S. military, ground, naval or air service, participated in a United States military operation for which an Armed Forces service medal was awarded pursuant to Executive Order 12985.

Select...

Voluntary Self-Identification of Disability

Form CC-305
Page 1 of 1
OMB Control Number 1250-0005
Expires 04/30/2026

Why are you being asked to complete this form?

We are a federal contractor or subcontractor. The law requires us to provide equal employment opportunity to qualified people with disabilities. We have a goal of having at least 7% of our workers as people with disabilities. The law says we must measure our progress towards this goal. To do this, we must ask applicants and employees if they have a disability or have ever had one. People can become disabled, so we need to ask this question at least every five years.

Completing this form is voluntary, and we hope that you will choose to do so. Your answer is confidential. No one who makes hiring decisions will see it. Your decision to complete the form and your answer will not harm you in any way. If you want to learn more about the law or this form, visit the U.S. Department of Labor’s Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs (OFCCP) website at www.dol.gov/ofccp.

How do you know if you have a disability?

A disability is a condition that substantially limits one or more of your “major life activities.” If you have or have ever had such a condition, you are a person with a disability. Disabilities include, but are not limited to:

  • Alcohol or other substance use disorder (not currently using drugs illegally)
  • Autoimmune disorder, for example, lupus, fibromyalgia, rheumatoid arthritis, HIV/AIDS
  • Blind or low vision
  • Cancer (past or present)
  • Cardiovascular or heart disease
  • Celiac disease
  • Cerebral palsy
  • Deaf or serious difficulty hearing
  • Diabetes
  • Disfigurement, for example, disfigurement caused by burns, wounds, accidents, or congenital disorders
  • Epilepsy or other seizure disorder
  • Gastrointestinal disorders, for example, Crohn's Disease, irritable bowel syndrome
  • Intellectual or developmental disability
  • Mental health conditions, for example, depression, bipolar disorder, anxiety disorder, schizophrenia, PTSD
  • Missing limbs or partially missing limbs
  • Mobility impairment, benefiting from the use of a wheelchair, scooter, walker, leg brace(s) and/or other supports
  • Nervous system condition, for example, migraine headaches, Parkinson’s disease, multiple sclerosis (MS)
  • Neurodivergence, for example, attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), autism spectrum disorder, dyslexia, dyspraxia, other learning disabilities
  • Partial or complete paralysis (any cause)
  • Pulmonary or respiratory conditions, for example, tuberculosis, asthma, emphysema
  • Short stature (dwarfism)
  • Traumatic brain injury
Select...

PUBLIC BURDEN STATEMENT: According to the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 no persons are required to respond to a collection of information unless such collection displays a valid OMB control number. This survey should take about 5 minutes to complete.