General Counsel

🔥 0 minutes ago

🇺🇸 United States – Remote

⏰ Full Time

🟠 Senior

🔴 Lead

⚖️ Legal Counsel / General Counsel

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Convergent Research

WebsiteLinkedInAll Job Openings

11 - 50 employees

🤝 Non-profit

🔬 Science

Non-profit • Science • Technology

Convergent Research is a nonprofit organization that supports the creation and operation of Focused Research Organizations (FROs). These are new types of scientific startups dedicated to tackling large-scale, coordinated projects in science and technology. The organization aims to produce high-impact public goods and drive forward technically ambitious projects led by teams of scientists, engineers, and entrepreneurs. Convergent Research operates with a focus on achieving pre-specified, quantifiable technical milestones within finite-duration projects. It is supported by significant funding from notable entities, including investment by influential figures in the science and tech communities.

📋 Description

• Own Convergent's legal strategy – Set the overall legal and risk framework for the organization and all FROs. Advise the President/CEO and leadership team on significant decisions, structural questions, and areas of legal or regulatory exposure—before they become problems. • Lead IP strategy and governance – Build and maintain Convergent's IP strategy across the FRO portfolio: when to file, what to protect, how to structure licensing and spinout transactions. Work with FRO CEOs to ensure IP decisions are made deliberately and early. Manage relationships with outside patent counsel and help develop simple playbooks that empower FRO teams to make good disclosure decisions without escalating everything. • Manage and develop the legal team – Provide strategic direction to the FRO General Counsel and Contracts Counsel. Set clear escalation norms, and ensure the function is operating as a cohesive unit—not a collection of individual contributors. • Own outside counsel relationships – Manage Convergent's roster of outside counsel across nonprofit law, patents, corporate transactions, employment, and international matters. Negotiate rates, evaluate performance, and make sure the right firm is working on the right matter at the right price point. • Ensure 501(c)(3) compliance across the portfolio – The disregarded LLC structure protects corporate liability, not tax-exempt status. You'll ensure that FRO activities are monitored for exempt-org compliance, flag risks before they become IRS issues, and maintain strong oversight relationships with specialized outside counsel. • Navigate international and regulatory complexity – Convergent has UK entities, government-funded FROs, and an evolving set of international relationships. You'll ensure the organization is on the right side of GDPR, OFAC, anti-bribery statutes, and other cross-border requirements. • Drive deal strategy on complex transactions – Be at the table early on spinout structures, licensing agreements, FRO graduations, and university partnerships—not just at the contract stage. Help shape the deal before the lawyers are handed a draft. • Build systems and playbooks – Develop the templates, process documentation, and institutional knowledge that let Convergent's legal function scale without scaling headcount linearly. The goal is a legal function that makes the rest of the organization faster, not slower.

🎯 Requirements

• A strategic thinker with a builder's instinct – You don't wait to be handed problems. You scan the horizon, identify what's coming, and help the organization get ahead of it. When someone says "we want to do X," your default is curiosity about how to make it work—not reasons it can't. • An experienced corporate attorney – J.D. and active bar membership in at least one U.S. state, with 10+ years of practice. Your foundation is in corporate or commercial law—you know how deals are structured, how to manage volume and complexity, and how to deploy outside counsel efficiently. Nonprofit or research-sector experience is a strong plus; familiarity with 501(c)(3) compliance, disregarded entities, and exempt org law is important, whether that comes from direct experience or your ability to get up to speed quickly. • Proactive on risk—not reactive to it – You identify compliance exposure, structural vulnerabilities, and deal risks before they surface as crises. You have a framework for when to escalate and when to resolve, and you help the organization understand that being "squared away" on the easy stuff creates room to take smart risks elsewhere. • A skilled resource manager – You know how to pick the right firm for the right work, negotiate rates, and make sure your outside counsel is actually adding value. You treat legal spend as a resource to be optimized, not just a cost to be approved. • Comfortable with structural complexity – Convergent is a nonprofit fiscal sponsor with 13 single-member LLC subsidiaries, UK entities, government contracts, philanthropic funding, IP licensing, and spinout transactions—all happening simultaneously. If that sounds like a lot, it is. You're not rattled by it. • Clear and decisive – You communicate legal advice in terms that non-lawyers can act on. You know when to say no, and you make "no" count by saying it rarely. When you find a path forward, you say so with confidence. • A people-leader and relationship-builder – You'll manage a small legal team, work closely with FRO CEOs, and serve as a trusted partner to Convergent's leadership. You invest in those relationships, give candid feedback, and hold yourself to the same standard you hold others.

🏖️ Benefits

• An opportunity to change the world and work with some of the most talented scientists, operators, and thinkers in the R&D ecosystem • Competitive salary with up to a 6% 401k match, equitably benchmarked based on experience and adjusted for location) • Excellent medical insurance options: 10–20 plans to choose from across major national and local carriers. Employee and family premiums for most plans are fully covered by the Company contribution. • Excellent dental and vision insurance. Employee and family premiums for most plans are fully covered by the Company contribution. • Company-paid life insurance, AD&D, long- and short-term disability insurance, as well as voluntary supplemental insurance options • 19 holidays (including the week off between Christmas Eve and New Year's Day) • 3 weeks PTO with tenure increases, with separate allotments for sick and parental leave • Generous fertility benefits and childcare reimbursement • Education and professional development benefits • Wellness allowance for fitness and wellness activities • Quarterly offsite team retreats and additional opportunities to meet your teammates in person • Support for fully remote work