Senior Counsel, Governance

Job description

✨ ONE PLATFORM, A WHOLE WORLD OF OPPORTUNITY The best jobs have always clustered in a handful of the world's wealthiest cities. But talent is everywhere. Oyster set out to close that gap - building a global employment platform that lets companies hire, pay, and care for brilliant people anywhere. We're proof that a high-performing culture doesn't need an office. Distributed across 60+ countries since 2020, we've built something the industry keeps noticing: - Ranked #10 of 250 on TIME and Statista's 2026 list of America's Top WorkTech Companies https://www.oysterhr.com/library/oyster-hr-named-10-of-americas-top-worktech-companies-of-2026-by-time - Named one of America's Greatest Startup Workplaces 2026 https://www.oysterhr.com/library/oyster-2026-newsweek-award by Newsweek - A G2 Spring 2026 Leader https://www.oysterhr.com/library/oyster-named-best-roi-for-any-global-employment-platform-for-g2-spring-2026 across Employer of Record, Global Employment, Multi-country Payroll, and HR Compliance - The only B Corp-certified global employment platform ~ independently verified since 2023 Two of those rankings measured our business impact from the outside. One measured how our own people feel about working here. They landed in the same place ~ because at Oyster, culture and performance aren't separate conversations. They're the same one. And we're just getting started. If you want to do the best work of your career alongside people who care as much as you do, 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 and you can work from home. Forever. To create the best experience for our new hire, this role requires you to be based within +3 / -3 UTC. Role Summary Are you a governance-minded lawyer who thrives on ambiguity, ownership, and building something from scratch? As our Senior Counsel, Governance, you'll join Oyster's Legal team as the dedicated governance and entity-formation counsel supporting Global Expansions. Working directly with our Global Expansion team, you will be making the structuring and licensing calls for legal entities, and then personally rolling up your sleeves to help get it formed, filed, and audit-ready. Beyond launch, you own the hands-on administrative work of standing up each entity, and you’ll help build scalable governance processes to ensure operational readiness and a smooth transition to our legal entity management team. This is a 12-month, fixed-term engagement built for someone who wants outsized ownership over a fast-moving, high-visibility program, and who's comfortable being both the strategist and the person actually doing the work. Key Responsibilities - Entity Structuring & Formation: Lead governance and structuring decisions for each new direct entity launch, determining the right corporate form, ownership structure, and licensing pathway for each jurisdiction. - Hands-On Launch Execution: Personally drive the practical work of standing up new entities, coordinating filings, registered agents/local service providers, director and officer appointments, bank account and licensing paperwork, and other set-up tasks needed to get each entity live and compliant, ahead of dedicated launch support coming online later in the project. - Regulatory & Licensing Research: Conduct jurisdiction-specific legal and regulatory research to identify entity, licensing, and governance requirements ahead of each launch. - Corporate Documentation & Governance Records: Draft, review, and maintain foundational corporate documentation (formation documents, board minutes, governance policies, powers of attorney) for each new entity, keeping a clean, audit-ready governance framework from day one. - Cross-Functional Partnership: Partner closely with the Global Expansion launch team (Legal, Finance, Operations, People, Payroll, and Treasury) to sequence and de-risk entity launches against an aggressive project timeline. - Risk Identification & Mitigation: Identify governance, licensing, and regulatory risk early in the launch process, and build practical, business-first solutions to keep launches on track. - Process & Knowledge Handoff: Document repeatable processes and playbooks for entity formation and governance so this knowledge transfers cleanly to the team that takes over ongoing entity maintenance once this engagement ends. Core Requirements - Qualified lawyer with 7+ years' experience in corporate governance, entity formation, and multi-jurisdictional entity management, ideally including SaaS, tech, or EOR/HR-tech environments. - Demonstrated experience personally establishing and maintaining corporate entities across multiple jurisdictions, not just advising on it, but doing the hands-on execution work (filings, registered agents, licensing applications, and similar). - Demonstrated experience interacting directly with external counsel, corporate secretarial providers, regulators, and registered agents across multiple jurisdictions. - Comfortable holding a power of attorney to represent company directors/officers where needed. - Ability to operate with significant autonomy on a fast-moving, ambiguous, high-stakes project with minimal ramp-up time, and to be available for an 11-month, fixed-term engagement. - Strong judgment translating legal and regulatory requirements into practical, sequenced execution plans for a non-legal, cross-functional audience. - Experience thriving in fast-paced, high-growth, or startup environments. Bonus Points - Prior experience with an EOR/PEO or global HR platform. - Experience building governance playbooks or processes designed to be handed off to others. - Project Management experience setting up entities in multiple jurisdictions. - Familiarity with corporate governance tools (e.g. Klea or similar), Notion, and Asana. - Experience with e-signature platforms (DocuSign, HelloSign, local qualified e-sign providers) and wet signature flows. - Experience managing jurisdiction-specific signing formalities (e.g., notarization, legalization/apostille, witness requirements, etc.) - Familiarity with D&O insurance coverage and director indemnification agreements. You'll also need - A reliable home internet connection - Fluency in both written and spoken English HOW WE WORK TOGETHER AT OYSTER Our values guide the work we do, the decisions we make, and the culture that makes Oyster what it is. We make it happen—progress is our default setting. We drive change, we build and give trust, and we move as one united team. Our mission is to create a more equal world of work: helping companies everywhere hire, pay, and care for talent anywhere. Everything we do ladders up to our mission. We embrace asynchronous, collaborative work and share how we operate in the Oyster Public HQ https://oysterhr.notion.site/Welcome-to-The-Reef-Oyster-s-Open-Source-Employee-Guide-fc482e3f107c4afd8c85ed217f1d0c1d so other global teams can learn from us. HOW YOU WORK With diverse locations, cultures, and needs, we created How YOU Work; https://oysterhr.notion.site/How-YOU-work-ac16c1932e314ffd8cb693e332458395 a program supporting your whole human experience at Oyster: - Work from anywhere: Oyster has no borders or HQ. As long as work is timely, your team is supported, and you're authorized to work where you live, you can work from anywhere. - Paid time off: Enjoy 40 days off per year (including holidays and vacation), or more if required by your country. - Mental health support: Access Plumm https://oysterhr.notion.site/Plumm-3b5e7e70dec6428e975f68f25972cfb7, our mental well-being service. - Wellbeing allowance: Each month, receive a wellbeing allowance in your ThanksBen wallet to spend on a wide range of options. - Flexible parental leave: All new parents are eligible for at least three months’ paid leave, with job protection for up to 12 months or as required locally. - WFH stipend: Receive a stipend for your laptop and home office equipment to get you set up quickly. ✨ THE BEST JOBS SHOULD BE AVAILABLE TO EVERYONE We embrace diverse perspectives and intentionally build our product and company with an inclusive, global mindset. We encourage you to apply, even if you don’t meet every criterion, and are committed to a trust-based, thriving environment. Oyster is committed to ensuring equal opportunity of employment for qualified persons with disabilities and actively fosters an inclusive work environment. If you require reasonable accommodations throughout the recruiting process, please email jobs@oysterhr.com with the subject line: Interview Accommodations. Our available positions are on our careers page. Our team will only contact you from an @oysterhr.com email, and we will never ask for money as part of an interview process or job offer. If you receive a suspicious email about Oyster jobs or are directed to a site other than www.oysterhr.com/careers http://www.oysterhr.com/careers, please report it via our Compliance and Ethics Helpline https://faceup.com/c/8tpzyyye.