Associate General Counsel

JOB SUMMARY

Burning Man Project is seeking an Associate General Counsel to provide strategic legal counsel, risk management, and operational support for the nonprofit’s mission, program areas, event production, and global network. Reporting directly to the General Counsel, the Associate General Counsel will advise on a broad and highly diverse range of complex legal matters in a unique organizational setting. You will serve in a highly visible, deeply collaborative position, working hand-in-hand with numerous internal departments and teams to manage risk while keeping the spirit of Burning Man and Black Rock City alive. The successful candidate must have the skills necessary to navigate a wide range of practice areas including multi-jurisdictional government relations, global intellectual property licensing, enforcement and portfolio management, often complicated employment matters, nonprofit governance, event production contracting, and many others. If you thrive on intellectual variety, excel at building relationships across diverse teams, and love turning multi-layered legal complexity into elegant, creative solutions, we want to hear from you.

 

This is a regular full-time role, hybrid (3 days per week in the office), located at Burning Man Project’s San Francisco, CA office.

  The deadline to apply for this role is 5:00pm Pacific on 08/7/26.

DUTIES & ESSENTIAL JOB FUNCTIONS

Strategy & Risk Evaluation

• Serve as a central legal partner across the organization’s departments and teams, evaluating operational risk and developing compliant solutions aligned with organizational goals.
• Conduct complex legal research, draft legal memoranda, and manage incoming requests for counsel from across the organization.
• Facilitate team and stakeholder meetings.

Government Relations, Permitting & Land Use

• Advise on governmental and regulatory issues across Federal, State, County, Local, and Tribal jurisdictions, working closely with the organization’s Government Relations Team.
• Navigate regulatory frameworks and support ongoing compliance and relations with government agencies, including the Bureau of Land Management (BLM), Nevada state agencies, and Washoe and Pershing Counties.

Employment Law and Employee Relations

• Advise the People Operations (HR) team on high-risk employee relations matters, internal compliance investigations, and dispute resolution.
• Monitor federal, state, and local employment law developments to ensure proactive compliance across a dynamic, event-driven workforce.

Intellectual Property

• Manage the organization's global intellectual property portfolio, ensuring the protection of trademarks, copyrights, and digital media in alignment with Burning Man’s Decommodification Principle.
• Monitor and enforce against unauthorized commercial use of the organization’s intellectual property, event images, and audio/visual recordings.
• Oversee IP licensing frameworks for media projects, publications, Regional Events, and international affiliates.

Other 

• Pursues ongoing learning to stay current on emergent knowledge, skills and processes relevant to job duties
• Performs other duties as assigned

LEARNING AND TEACHING

• Documentation - Drives the creation, publishing, and maintenance of process documentation related to assigned duties.
• Teaching – Takes a leadership role in the acculturation and training of staff. Teaches live or e-learning classes, as requested. Promotes a culture of teaching and learning throughout the community.
• Mentoring - Mentors subordinates in acquiring the knowledge, skills, and experience that will allow them to advance in the organization. Aids, encourages and inspires their team.
• Training development - Collaborates with the education team to develop training materials in their area of expertise, as requested.
• Learning – Pursues ongoing learning in their area of expertise, working to stay current on emergent knowledge, skills, and processes. Participates in conferences, forums, and networking events, where appropriate.
• Speaking – Represents Burning Man as a subject matter expert and culture-bearer, as requested.

QUALIFICATIONS

REQUIRED  

• Bachelor’s degree and a Juris Doctor (J.D.) from an accredited law school.
• Minimum of six years of legal practice experience in a fast-paced environment, including previous in-house generalist experience.
• Active bar membership in good standing
• Proven capability to independently manage a diverse, high-volume caseload across broad and distinct practice areas within a unique organizational environment.
• Demonstrated success advising executive leadership and non-legal department heads, with the ability to translate complex statutory or regulatory requirements into practical operational guidance.
• Direct experience handling intellectual property enforcement, contracts administration, employment law, internal investigations, compliance, and corporate risk management.
• Strong analytical, risk-assessment, and problem-solving skills, paired with sharp attention to detail and a commitment to maintaining ethical standards.
• A motivated self-starter who fosters a cooperative work environment and maintains the flexibility to work fluctuating hours beyond the standard workweek as needed.
• Ability to adjust schedule seasonally to work at the Burning Man event held in Nevada

PREFERRED

• Experience with nonprofit compliance is desired
• It is helpful if the candidate has previously been to Burning Man and/or is familiar with its culture

Note: If you have gained the necessary experience to succeed in this role and have acquired this experience in other ways, we encourage you to apply and share all relevant experience in your application.

REQUIRED LICENSES/CERTIFICATIONS

• Good standing with at least one state bar, preferably California or Nevada.

WHAT’S IN IT FOR YOU?

We are certain that working for Burning Man Project is unlike any other job on the planet! In addition to the unique opportunity to participate and contribute to our global community and culture within a creative, fun, and inspiring work environment, we’re also thrilled to provide the following:

COMPENSATION:

Individual compensation decisions are dependent on a variety of factors, including prior experience and geographical location. The anticipated salary range for this position is $162,000  to $210,000 annually.

ADDITIONAL BENEFITS:

• Health benefits: medical, dental, vision insurance for employees and dependents.
• Long term disability and life insurance.
• 401k retirement plan with voluntary employee contribution.
• Accrued vacation and sick time: Up to 10 days vacation per 12 months on assignment.
• Additional annual paid time off in accordance with policy guidelines; 7 paid holidays annually, in addition to paid office closure during December 24th - January 1st.
• Paid parental and bonding leave.
• Communications benefits for remote employees; reimbursement of up to $120/month for home office internet and phone expenses.
• Commuter benefit program.
• Mental health support, life coaching, financial and legal consultation services through our employee assistance program.
• Professional development fund along with unique leadership and learning opportunities. 
• Equipment and tools necessary to succeed in a remote friendly workplace.

PHYSICAL REQUIREMENTS/WORK ENVIRONMENT

• Off-playa: Work is primarily sedentary in nature. This role may require some work outside of the traditional work day in order to accommodate meetings and events in the evenings and weekends to work around volunteer and resource schedules.   
• On-playa: Work is primarily sedentary but will also include the need to find and meet with department representatives who may not be in the vicinity therefore, this could include walking or using some form of transportation.  Some of the work will be in outside weather conditions and exposed to fumes or airborne particles, as well as possible extremes in temperature.

NOTICE FOR ALL APPLICANTS:

• Burning Man Project celebrates the importance of creating a diverse environment and enthusiastically encourages Black, Indigenous, Peoples of Color, LGBTQIA+, Immigrant, women, and people with disabilities, of all ages, to apply.
• Burning Man Project provides equal employment opportunities to all employees and applicants for employment and prohibits discrimination and harassment of any type without regard to race, color, religion, age, sex, national origin, disability status, genetics, protected veteran status, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, or any other characteristic protected by federal, state or local laws. This policy applies to all terms and conditions of employment, including recruiting, hiring, placement, promotion, termination, layoff, recall, transfer, leaves of absence, compensation and training.
• Pursuant to the San Francisco Fair Chance Ordinance, we will consider for employment qualified applicants with arrest and conviction records.