Legal Counsel

About CapeCape is America’s privacy-first mobile carrier. Our mission is to be a force for good in global wireless. Cape was founded in 2022 by people who believe privacy is a fundamental right, not a luxury to be traded away. Our journey began when our founder recognized a critical vulnerability in our modern world: everyone relies on the same stagnant cellular infrastructure and legacy systems that track our every movement, monitor and profile our connections, and lose and sell our personal data.Instead of accepting the status quo, we decided to fix it. National security professionals, journalists, parents, and everyone in between can stay connected and have privacy.We didn’t just build a layer on top of old tech; we built America’s most private and secure mobile carrier from the ground up. By building our own network from scratch, we are able to design and build a suite of privacy and security features that no other carrier on the planet can offer.Today, Cape provides our secure network to consumers, businesses, and government agencies alike. We closed our Series C in March 2026, and we are scaling rapidly, with the goal of giving people back control of their most personal information.The TeamAt Cape, we are the architects of a privacy-centric movement that is just getting started. We are relentless builders, constantly innovating at the edge of what's possible in telecommunications. We operate on a foundation of high trust and high expectations. Our structure is flat, and collaboration matters more than hierarchy. As a member of our team, you will collaborate with world-class engineers, architects, and visionaries, and work across organizational lines to solve "impossible" problems and deliver mission-critical results for our users every single day.The Role (also the Mission)As our first in-house lawyer, this role is for someone who thrives at the intersection of law and model development - a builder with sharp instincts who is steady under ambiguity. You want to practice across a wide range of substantive areas, with real stakes, and with the latitude to make judgment calls.You'll work directly across our business lines, including federal, enterprise, and consumer, navigating regulated spaces, government contracts, IP, commercial contracts, AI, employment, and everything in between. You'll manage a lean but high-quality roster of outside counsel, direct strategy and execute, and provide actionable guidance to our internal teams. If your version of a great legal career means breadth, autonomy, and the chance to build something from scratch, this is it.The Legal Counsel will be a key member of Cape’s Internal Operations team, enabling Cape to move at maximum velocity. You'll be the first dedicated lawyer on our team, reporting directly to our Head of Operations (a JD holder) helping to establish a legal function that scales.In this role you will:Own legal needs across the company, spanning interactions with regulatory agencies, government and commercial contracts, employment matters, and IP risks.Serve as the primary legal point of contact for internal stakeholders across Engineering, Product, Business Development, and Operations - acting as a true mini-GC for the business.Establish, scale, and manage Cape’s internal legal processes, templates (eg MSAs, NDAs), and compliance frameworks (eg FCC, state licensing).Build and manage a curated outside counsel network, directing external lawyers on complex matters and deciding when and how to engage them.Partner with our government contracts team and outside counsel on FARS/DFARS, contract formation, teaming agreements, and compliance questions as we execute on defense programs.Professionalize how Cape thinks about legal risk - establish processes and frameworks where none currently exist.Work closely with leadership on corporate matters, partnerships, and transactions as the business scales.Are you the candidate we are looking for? (Requirements for the role) You have:JD from an accredited law school and active bar membership in good standing. Typically requires 6-8+ years of legal experience, ideally including top-tier law firm training.A genuine interest in applying your training to a dynamic startup environment. You need to be the kind of lawyer who gets up to speed fast and earns the trust of engineers, sales professionals, and outside specialists alike.The instincts of a builder: you're comfortable being the first person to own something, and you'd rather figure it out than wait for a playbook. You are already leveraging AI tools to simplify and scale.Exposure to government contracts a plus.Comfort operating with ambiguity and across functions - you're as effective in a room with engineers as you are with outside counsel.A long-term interest in a broad, general practice - whether that means GC one day or just continuing to do interesting work across a wide range of areas.Compensation:We offer competitive compensation that is geo-adjusted based on your location, along with meaningful equity so you share in the value you help create. Salary range for this role in Washington, DC is $210,000-$250,000 depending on experience and interview performance.Our benefits include:401(k) matchUnlimited PTO100% coverage of medical, dental, and vision premiums for you and your dependents12 weeks paid parental leave (for all parents, no waiting period)Stipends forFamily-forming needsGender-affirming careOur Culture & ValuesWe hire excellent people, give them outsized responsibility, and trust them to execute. Every person at Cape has a proven track record of tackling hard problems and winning.We believe that personal privacy and national security are not at odds, and that they can be reconciled through strong technology.We believe companies exist to build awesome things and take care of the people who build them, so we offer top-tier healthcare, 401(k) matching, and a generous vacation policy that our team actually uses to recharge.We believe that a stronger company and a better product are built by people from all walks of life. We hire without regard to race, color, ancestry, religion, sex, national origin, sexual orientation, gender identity, age, marital status, disability, or Veteran status. If you are great at what you do, you belong here.How to applyClick the link below to apply.We reserve the right to make use of any unsolicited resumes received from outside recruiting agencies and / or individual recruiters without being responsible for payment of any fees asserted from the use of unsolicited resumes.We are an Equal Opportunity Employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, or national origin, and without regard to disability or status as a protected veteran, or any other status protected by law.LocationArlingtonEmployment TypeFull timeLocation TypeHybridDepartmentInternal Ops