General Counsel, Sei Foundation (New York)

About the Opportunity

The Sei Foundation is seeking a General Counsel to serve as its senior legal leader and a trusted strategic partner to the Board of Directors and broader leadership ecosystem. This is a broad, hands‑on startup‑style GC role for someone who enjoys building from first principles, operating across multiple legal and strategic workstreams, and helping an organization navigate complexity with sound judgment and practical execution.

The role spans governance, corporate, commercial, and cross‑border legal matters, with meaningful exposure to international structuring and jurisdiction‑specific issues. The General Counsel will help build and own the Foundation’s legal function end‑to‑end, working closely with directors, senior stakeholders, and external advisers to support thoughtful decision‑making and durable institutional growth.

This opportunity is especially well suited for a legal leader who is comfortable operating beyond narrow legal silos. The right candidate brings strong legal instincts, high ownership, commercial judgment, and the ability to translate ambiguity into action in a dynamic, internationally oriented environment.

Key Responsibilities

Legal Leadership & Strategic Counsel

• Serve as the Foundation’s principal legal adviser across governance, corporate, commercial, strategic, and operational matters.
• Partner closely with the Board of Directors and senior stakeholders to support key decisions, assess legal risk, and develop pragmatic paths forward.
• Provide practical, solution‑oriented advice that balances legal rigor with speed, organizational needs, and execution realities.
• Help the Foundation navigate novel or ambiguous issues without becoming a bottleneck to progress.

Governance, Corporate & Commercial Matters

• Lead legal support for governance matters, including board processes, resolutions, approvals, delegated authorities, and related documentation.
• Advise on entity structuring, affiliated‑entity relationships, organizational decision‑making, and internal legal frameworks.
• Draft, review, and negotiate a broad range of commercial agreements, strategic arrangements, and third‑party service provider documentation.
• Support the development of scalable legal processes, templates, and internal workflows that the organization can use in practice.

International & Cross‑Border Matters

• Lead and coordinate legal work involving multiple jurisdictions, including the United States, Cayman Islands, Singapore, Korea, and the UK.
• Support cross‑border structuring, jurisdiction‑specific analysis, and legal coordination across related entities, foundations, and affiliated activities.
• Work closely with external and fractional counsel in relevant jurisdictions to ensure clarity of ownership, efficiency of execution, and consistency of advice.
• Help leadership think through international operating complexity, legal exposure, and jurisdictional tradeoffs as the Foundation evolves.

Outside Counsel & Execution Management

• Manage outside counsel across specialist areas and jurisdictions, with a strong focus on efficiency, judgment, and practical outcomes.
• Determine which matters should be handled internally versus externally, ensuring legal resources are deployed thoughtfully.
• Translate external legal advice into clear internal recommendations and actionable next steps.
• Maintain momentum across multiple concurrent matters by setting priorities, driving decisions, and keeping stakeholders aligned.

Institution Building

• Help build and shape a legal function that is practical, trusted, and appropriately scaled for a lean, fast‑moving foundation.
• Identify emerging legal risks early and help design workable internal processes before those risks become more significant.
• Contribute to broader institution‑building where legal judgment intersects with strategy, operations, governance, and organizational design.
• Bring a builder mentality and a strong bias toward ownership, accountability, and forward progress.

Required Qualifications

• J.D. and active bar membership in at least one U.S. jurisdiction, international considered.
• Significant legal experience in‑house and/or at a leading law firm, with exposure to high‑growth organizations, complex transactions, or cross‑border legal matters.
• Demonstrated ability to operate independently as a senior legal lead and manage multiple complex workstreams simultaneously.
• Strong judgment and ability to translate legal analysis into clear, practical, governance- and business-oriented recommendations.
• Experience working across international jurisdictions and coordinating with local, offshore, or specialized external counsel.
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills, including the ability to work effectively with directors, founders, executives, and external advisers.
• Comfort operating in a fast-moving environment with evolving priorities and imperfect information.

Preferred Qualifications

• Prior experience as a General Counsel, Associate General Counsel, or senior in‑house legal lead at a startup, foundation, protocol ecosystem, or growth‑stage organization.
• Experience with international structuring or legal matters involving jurisdictions such as Cayman, Singapore, or Korea.
• Familiarity with technology, digital assets, fintech, or other globally oriented operating environments.
• Experience supporting foundations, funds, or other non‑traditional entity structures.
• Demonstrated success building legal processes or helping stand up legal infrastructure in an early‑stage or rapidly evolving setting.
• Strong track record of working effectively with external advisers while maintaining internal ownership of key decisions and workstreams.

What Stands Out

• Commercially sharp and pragmatic; gives clear, actionable advice that enables progress.
• Comfortable in genuine ambiguity and able to make well‑reasoned calls without waiting for perfect certainty.
• High‑agency, direct, and trusted by senior stakeholders.
• Able to combine legal depth with sound judgment, discretion, and strong execution in a lean environment.

About Sei Foundation

The Sei Foundation operates with an international lens and a builder mindset, with a critical function in the broader Sei ecosystem. The Foundation is navigating a range of legal, governance, commercial, and organizational questions that come with growth across jurisdictions, and the General Counsel will play a central role in helping shape that path. This is an opportunity to work closely with the Board and key stakeholders while building a legal function that is deeply integrated into how the Foundation operates.

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