Senior Legal Counsel

About Wintermute

Wintermute is one of the largest crypto native algorithmic trading companies in digital assets. We provide liquidity across most cryptocurrency exchanges and trading platforms, a broad range of OTC trading solutions as well as support high profile blockchain projects and traditional financial institutions moving into crypto. Wintermute also has a Wintermute Ventures arm that invests in early stage DeFi projects.

Wintermute was founded in 2017 and has successfully navigated industry cycles. Culturally, we combine the best of the two worlds: the technology standards of high-frequency trading firms in traditional markets and the innovative and entrepreneurial culture of technology startups. To Wintermute digital assets is not just another asset class, we believe in the innovative potential of blockchain, the fundamental innovations, we have a long-term view on the digital asset market and are taking a leadership position in building an innovative and compliant market. You can read more here.

Nature of the role

We are looking for a Senior Legal Counsel who will focus on US regulatory matters as they apply to Wintermute business. The ideal candidate has a combination of traditional financial markets experience and experience in the cryptocurrency industry. This role will focus on regulatory topics as they relate to various Wintermute businesses, such as on-exchange trading, OTC trading (spot and derivatives) and liquidity provisioning. You will have the opportunity to work on a varied set of regulatory topics, as well as commercial disputes and litigation.

Key Responsibilities:

• Lead US regulatory research and advise the business on the most appropriate implications of such regulations to each of Wintermute’s business lines
• Keep track of the evolving cryptocurrency regulation (SEC, CFTC, FINRA, IRS, etc) as it applies to Wintermute
• Keep track of a wide range of important ongoing litigation and bankruptcy cases in the US as these may apply to Wintermute’s counterparties
• Lead and coordinate inquiries or information requests from regulators or other third parties
• Lead specific projects related to the topics above as required
• Lead legal-commercial negotiations including implementing/advising on any regulatory changes to template documentation: draft and negotiate agreements in relation to our business lines (OTC, liquidity provision, exchange agreements, trading agreements, software agreements, and others)
• Advise, implement and operationalise any US legal advice or regulatory or case-law developments as needed, whilst ensuring alignment with the general and global business objectives
• Collaborate with other business and legal stakeholders and assist on other non-US regulatory matters as may be required
• Other legal projects: get involved in a wide range of wider legal topics depending on skills, preferences and company needs, including commercial disputes/litigation, employment, and corporate projects

Hard Skills Requirements:

• 5-10 years of experience practicing law (qualified), ideally a combination of a top-tier law firm, in-house counsel for a firm specialized in financial services, fintech and in crypto
• Experience working in a high-performance, dynamic and high-growth environment and leading complex projects from problem solving to completion under tight deadlines
• Being hands-on, doing whatever needs to be done and self-motivation are essential (not just relying on outside counsel or other parties)
• Detailed knowledge of US regulation as it applies to trading firms, including money transmission laws, SEC/FINRA and CFTC/NFA rules and regulations as applies to proprietary trading crypto firms in the US and abroad
• Experience responding to data requests and similar requests by various government and commercial parties is strongly preferred
• Relevant and good experience in dispute resolution/litigation and/or US bankruptcy is strongly preferred
• Ability to be nimble and apply legal concepts to problem-solve in a US and non-US context, especially in respect of novel issues
• Good understanding of the crypto industry, i.e. main players, types of tokens, token governance, DAOs, blockchain foundations; willingness to learn in-depth quickly is critical
• Strong grasp of commercial law in relation to financial services, e.g. OTC agreements (spot, derivatives and structured products is a strong advantage), lending agreements, financial services contracts, trading agreements and others is strongly preferred
• Proven ability to see the bigger picture and commercial strategy; quickly understand new functional areas and have a cross-functional mindset
• Strong interest and curiosity in algorithmic trading and decentralized finance
• Detail oriented, commercial hands-on attitude to legal and business problems
• Experience with MS Office. Willingness to quickly learn new tools as required, e.g. Slack, Google Suite, CRM, CLM (Ironclad and/or Spotdraft)

Join our dynamic team and benefit from:

• Working at one of the most innovative trading firms globally.
• Engaging projects offering accelerated responsibilities and ownership compared to traditional finance environments.
• Great company culture: informal, non-hierarchical, ambitious, highly professional with a startup vibe, collaborative and entrepreneurial.
• A performance-based compensation with a significant earning potential

Note:

• This is a fully remote position and the successful candidate must be eligible to work in the US.
• We prefer candidates based on the East Coast or in the UK but are open to exceptional candidates from other regions in the US.