Senior Corporate Counsel

Studs is a category-defining ear piercing and earring brand named one of “the 10 most innovative companies in retail for 2023” by Fast Company. Studs connects ear piercing with aftercare and earring shopping to create an end-to-end Earscaping® experience. We offer a better retail and digital experience that prioritizes safety and expertise in a cool, fun and welcoming environment, along with a wide earring assortment—all at an accessible price point.

Based in New York, NY, the Senior Corporate Counsel will work closely with Studs’ Chief Legal & Compliance Officer and other business leaders as we continue to quickly expand our retail footprint - in 2024, we grew from 20 to 30 studios in 12 states, and we anticipate the same pace of growth in 2025 and beyond. First and foremost, you are a generalist who is comfortable regularly navigating new legal issues. The ideal candidate will have a desire and ability to become a crucial business partner to leaders across our business, helping them define processes and appropriately manage risk as they navigate interesting challenges. You will work with almost all departments across our business, including Retail, Marketing, Digital, Merchandising and Operations to give them practical, solutions-focused advice on a variety of issues. You will push forward major initiatives around privacy compliance, health regulations compliance and workplace safety, and you will manage, from end-to-end, Studs’ commercial contracting process and insurance risk management. Finally, you will support our CLO as necessary, including with government affairs initiatives, major transactions and developing effective internal controls. To truly succeed in this role, you will be an enterprise-level thinker with a flexible and future-oriented mind set.

Salary Range: $200,000 - $225,000, plus equity

Key Responsibilities:

General Commercial

• Provide commercially-minded legal and strategic advice to various departments including retail operations, digital, marketing, store development, merchandising and operations.
• Draft and negotiate a variety of commercial agreements including non-disclosure agreements, IT and other technology platform agreements, manufacturing and supply chain agreements, master services agreements, other vendor/service provider agreements, and data protection and privacy agreements.
• Maintain an efficient commercial agreement review process that includes appropriate internal controls and keeps our contract management system up to date.
• Serve as a thought leader and strategic partner supporting various departments’ transactions and day-to-day operations.
• Manage Studs’ insurance program including obtaining COIs, building a process around managing claims and the annual renewal process.
• Build out and improve the legal department’s template library.

Privacy, Marketing and Digital

• Responsible for privacy compliance at Studs, including advising cross-functional partners on privacy issues, managing updates to Studs’ privacy policy and terms of use and ensuring compliant collection, use and deletion of customer and employee PII. 
• Provide legal advice related to Studs’ data governance framework, including working with internal constituents across the organization regarding the management and/or use of data and helping to develop and implement privacy-related policies in compliance with applicable laws and regulations.
• Provide commercially-minded legal advice on marketing and digital initiatives including properly acquiring and using intellectual property rights, product descriptions, sales and promotional language, compliance with FTC regulations and ADA and accessibility compliance.
• Keep abreast of evolving state and federal privacy laws.

Regulatory Compliance

• Manage Studs’ health regulations compliance program, including researching health regulations requirements where Studs operates, communicating such requirements to cross-functional partners, advising on the New Studio Opening process to ensure all such requirements are met from construction to handoff and running a regular studio compliance audit program with the Retail Team.
• Develop compliance training for retail managers to ensure they understand health regulations compliance and workplace safety and build rigor around operating studios in compliance with such requirements.
• Develop an efficient system for procuring and maintaining individual licenses and establishment licenses from state and local departments of health.
• Keep abreast of health regulations and relevant trade, environmental and product safety laws relating to retail trade and jewelry manufacturing and sales.

Other Support

• Partner with CLO on a variety of strategic projects involving major transactions, government affairs and internal controls.

Requirements:

• J.D. and New York state bar membership or registered in-house attorney status in New York.
• 4+ years of relevant work experience in a law firm and, preferably, in-house legal department.
• Experience advising high growth, venture-backed companies is a plus.
• Experience with retail, privacy, IP and/or consumer protection regulations is a major plus.
• Driven, creative problem solver that consistently acts with integrity and speaks up.
• Owner’s mindset, with the ability to approach feedback and problems with a positive attitude.
• Ability to interact effectively at all levels of the organization in a fast-paced environment while building strong internal relationships and influence across departments.
• Comfort with working in a dynamic organization that is not afraid to change for the better.
• Have a practical, business-oriented approach to problems and ability to translate legal issues into clear, “plain English” guidance for non-lawyers.
• Be a team player who rolls up their sleeves and takes on additional responsibilities, while also being comfortable working independently and thinking strategically.
• Be flexible and able to thrive in a fast-paced environment, including having strong business judgment and knowing when to provide quick responses versus deep dives.
• Ability to prioritize and manage multiple critical projects under tight deadlines. 

Benefits & Perks

• Comprehensive medical, dental, and vision insurance, including $0 in-network mental health visits, commuter benefits and 401k
• HSA (Health Savings Account) or FSA (Flexible Spending Account)
• Additional mental health resources such as Talkspace and Headspace
• Gender affirmation support services, EAP sessions and work/life resources 
• Flexible Work Environment (3 days in office, 2 days work from home)
• 4 weeks accrued Paid Time Off, 7 days accrued Sick Time, 11 paid holidays, and 4 Quarterly Wellness Days (where the whole team takes time off together to recharge)
• Three months of paid Parental Leave (biological, adoptive, and foster parents are all eligible)
• A paid sabbatical after four years of full-time service
• Ongoing learning & development, opportunities for upward mobility, performance reviews, and consistent coaching to help you grow professionally
• Discounts on piercings and products (we’ve got your friends and family covered too!)
• Access to PerkSpot and additional benefits such as pet insurance, discounted tickets, personal finance coaching, healthy rewards and extended life insurance

Studs is an equal opportunity employer and is committed to providing a work environment that fosters diversity, inclusion, and equal opportunity without regard to race, color, gender, age, creed, sex, religion, national origin, disability (physical or mental), marital status, citizenship, ancestry, sexual orientation, gender identity and gender expression, or any other legally protected status. Studs considers qualified applicants with criminal histories. We comply with applicable state and local laws prohibiting discrimination in employment in every jurisdiction in which we operate. If you require an accommodation for the application process, please fill out this form.

Click here for the Studs Privacy Notice for California Applicants.