SVP, General Counsel and Corporate Secretary

Responsibilities

• We are looking for someone with significant experience as a senior legal leader (GC/Deputy GC/AGC or equivalent) in a scaling, complex environment with demonstrated ability to lead large, distributed teams and build durable operating systems. The successful candidate will
• Own Oyster's global legal strategy and risk posture, translating company strategy into clear legal priorities and decisions
• Serve as principal legal advisor to the CEO, C-team, and Board; support governance, Board materials, and corporate secretary responsibilities
• Lead and scale a global legal organization (35+), including hiring, org design, performance management, and leadership development
• Partner cross-functionally with Product, Engineering, Revenue, Finance, Operations, and People to ship and scale products responsibly
• Oversee global employment and labor law advisory in the EOR context, including escalations, claims/disputes strategy, and outside counsel management
• Lead commercial legal strategy for enterprise deals and strategic partnerships (playbooks, negotiation frameworks, deal support models)
• Own Oyster's ESG and BCorp thought leadership and compliance efforts
• Own AI, data protection/privacy, and trust-related legal guidance in partnership with Security/Compliance
• Build scalable legal infrastructure: templates, self-serve guidance, intake/triage, SLAs, knowledge management, metrics, and dashboards
• Responsible for continuous improvement of Legal team operations, including efficiency gains and integration of AI solutions
• Manage outside counsel and legal vendors: selection, scoping, budgets, invoice review, and performance
• Support corporate matters as needed (entities, subsidiaries, financing/M&A support, regulator interactions)
• Advocate for EOR industry though participation in industry groups and by directing Oyster's government affairs and regulatory agenda
• Other duties as assigned
• Core Requirements
• Juris Doctorate or other qualified lawyer admitted to practice in one or more jurisdictions
• At least 5 years experience working as a GC/Deputy GC/AGC or equivalent within a corporate legal department
• At least 10 years PQE practicing law
• Experience building and managing distributed teams
• Experience working in a remote work environment
• Ability to handle complex legal issues involving various countries laws (including employment-related questions and glo

Benefits

Additional Information

✨ One platform, a whole world of opportunity The best jobs are often restricted to a few wealthy cities, but talent exists everywhere. Oyster set out to change this by launching a global employment platform that enables companies to hire, pay, and support talent anywhere. We're proof that a strong, engaged culture doesn't require an office. Since January 2020, Oyster has: 🌏 Built a distributed team of 400+ across 60+ countries 👩💻 Featured in Forbes as #9 in FlexJobs Top 30 Companies for remote jobs 🌈 Formed a diverse leadership team and a workforce that's 60% female 🏆 Earned top employee engagement scores 🦄 Raised $286 million; valued at $1.2 billion 💚 Achieved B Corp status in 2023 Our momentum shows the power of global employment, and we're just getting started! If you want to help us drive change and work remotely, we'd love for you to apply! Location: While this position is posted in a specific location, all of Oyster's positions are fully remote. To create the best experience for our new hire, this role requires you to be based within the UTC +3/-5 time zone. Oyster is looking for a business-minded, systems-oriented Senior Vice President, General Counsel & Corporate Secretary to lead our global Legal and Compliance function. You'll be the principal legal advisor to our executive team and Board, accountable for legal strategy across our product, customer, and corporate domains. Reporting to Oyster's CEO, you'll lead and develop a high-performing team of 35+ lawyers and legal professionals across multiple time zones, and you'll push legal innovation and pragmatic business solutions that allow Oyster to move fast while staying compliant and trusted. Strong commercial instincts: can balance growth, customer experience, and risk with pragmatic judgment Operational expertise to help accelerate generation of revenue by optimizing the legal operating model, reducing friction in the sales and onboarding cycles. Deep comfort advising on global employment and worker classification risk; understands the EOR model and its legal/compliance dynamics. Excellent executive communication and stakeholder management, experience working directly with Board of Directors Track record building playbooks/processes that let non-lawyers self-serve lower-risk decisions. Remote-first leadership: effective async communicator, strong prioritization, calm under pressure. Additional responsibilities may include corporate diligence support, contract negotiation, developing organizational policies and procedures. In this role, you may touch all facets of law.

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