General Counsel - New York - Morpho

Description

Job Description

About Morpho
Morpho is a leading Decentralized Finance (DeFi) lending protocol that secured $70 million from Ribbit Capital, a16z crypto, Coinbase Ventures, Variant, Brevan Howard, Pantera, Blocktower, and 50 others to build an open lending network giving anyone, anywhere, access to the best possible terms. Morpho is experiencing explosive growth, with over $10 billion in deposits on the network, solidifying itself as the new standard for DeFi lending. Now, Morpho is scaling its team of contributors to establish itself as a cornerstone, not just of DeFi, but of a new internet-native financial system.

Mission

Morpho's mission is to power human ambition with open access to capital. Human ambition has no borders, but the capital to fuel it does. Today's financial system is closed and fragmented. No one sees all opportunities, most overpay, and some are excluded entirely. We believe capital should flow efficiently to where it's needed most — giving anyone, anywhere, access to the best possible terms.

Location

NYC or remote (ET)

How We Work

We move fast on hard problems in a nascent market with no set playbook: navigating uncertainty is part of the job. You'll be challenged: anyone can question work and decisions must be justified. We keep a high bar and match it with high support: we help each other unblock and share context openly, with low ego. More about our values:

Role

The mission of this role is to scale Morpho's adoption by building and leading a world‑class Legal & Public Affairs organization that empowers our existing leaders and teams, strengthens Morpho's credibility with top‑tier partners and regulators, and enables the company to move faster through clear, risk‑weighted decisions and scalable frameworks—especially as we expand US institutional readiness and high‑value partnerships.

Responsibilities

• Build and scale a high‑performing Legal & Public Affairs organization: empower and develop the existing team, design the org, hire through scaling phases, and implement lightweight playbooks and systems (including AI/automation) that increase leverage.
• Own the Legal + Public Affairs roadmaps to ensure they stay aligned with business priorities and evolve as Morpho scales.
• Lead US institutional readiness: negotiate complex, high‑value partnerships (especially US institutional / TradFi) and build the frameworks (positions, escalation rules, playbooks) that let Morpho scale safely.
• Increase Morpho's velocity and decision quality: turn ambiguous, high‑stakes topics into risk‑weighted paths to "yes" with clear options, trade‑offs, owners, and timelines.
• Represent Morpho externally with credibility: act as a senior face of the company with partners, counsel, policymakers/regulators, and ecosystem stakeholders.

What Success Looks Like

In Your First 30 Days

• You've built a solid understanding of Morpho's products, ecosystem, major partnerships, and risk appetite.
• You've mapped the current legal workstreams (product, regulatory, commercial, corporate, governance) and aligned with leadership on priorities and ways of working.

By Month 4–6 (End of Probation)

• You've designed the Legal & Public Affairs org and are actively recruiting/structuring the team.
• You've taken ownership of a major strategic initiative and unlocked execution through clear, risk‑weighted decisions.
• You've defined with the team a 6+ month Legal + PA roadmap aligned with business needs, including a concrete US institutional readiness plan.

By Month 12

• Legal and Public Affairs are trusted internal enablers: high‑impact opportunities are captured, and bottlenecks are actively removed.
• The company absorbs growth without legal drag via scalable playbooks, strong team leverage, smart use of external counsel, and proactive anticipation of regulatory shifts.
• Morpho's external credibility and narrative are materially stronger and consistently executed.

Job Requirements

Competencies & Traits

• Adaptability, comfort with ambiguity, and a bias for action
• First‑principles thinking and strong decision quality under imperfect information
• Focus & simplicity: clear prioritization and crisp trade‑offs
• Low ego and collective success mindset
• Business‑driven: legal as an enabler, not a gatekeeper
• Crypto curiosity and continuous learning

Must‑Have Experience

• 15+ years of legal & public affairs experience, including significant in‑house leadership in a high‑growth tech/fintech environment
• Web3/crypto exposure (digital assets, DeFi, trading/lending, product/regulatory interface)
• Proven track record negotiating major, high‑value partnerships — especially US institutional / TradFi‑facing work — and operating effectively in the US context
• Demonstrated ability to be a senior external representative with Tier‑1 partners and regulators/policymakers
• Experience owning both Legal and Public Affairs strategy (narrative, roadmap, stakeholder management) while balancing both
• Experience building and scaling teams through growth phases (org design, hiring, performance/feedback, budgeting)
• Startup‑compatible (tools, agility)

Perks & Benefits

We design benefits around deep work and growth, so you can do the best work of your career. Expect fair, top‑tier compensation, real flexibility, time together in Paris, great health coverage, and support to keep learning.

Equal Opportunity

We welcome applicants from all backgrounds and hire based on talent, potential, and values alignment.

Ready to Shape the Future of Finance?

Minimum full‑time salary of $260,000 - $300,000. Disclosure in accordance with New York City's Pay Transparency Law. Full Time employees at Morpho are also eligible for other compensation elements, including equity, tokens, and benefits, dependent on the position type.