Corporate Counsel at whatnot

This role is ideal for a mid-to-senior level attorney with at least 7 years of experience split between a top-tier law firm and an in-house tech environment. Yo

Work type: hybrid

Location: New York, NY | Los Angeles, CA | San Francisco, CA

Salary: $225,000 – $285,000/yr

Type: Full-time

Summary

This role is ideal for a mid-to-senior level attorney with at least 7 years of experience split between a top-tier law firm and an in-house tech environment. You should have a dual mastery of high-volume commercial contracting (SaaS, marketing, and vendor deals) and corporate backbone work, including M&A, financing, and entity management. The compensation is highly competitive, ranging from $225,000 to $285,000, and comes with a robust benefits package that includes a 4% 401k match and specialized allowances for childcare and family planning. While the role is listed as hybrid in NYC, SF, or LA, the culture emphasizes high autonomy and "dogfooding" the product, meaning you’ll get a monthly budget to actually shop on the platform. **You might be a good fit if you...** * Have an active bar membership in CA or NY and experience in the high-growth marketplace or e-commerce sector. * Are comfortable pivoting between negotiating a creator influencer contract and assisting with a strategic acquisition. * Excel at translating complex legal risks into clear, actionable advice for product and finance teams. * Enjoy a fast-paced "build it" environment where you are expected to create scalable legal playbooks from scratch.

Job Description

## 🚀 Join the Future of Commerce with Whatnot!

Whatnot is the largest livestream shopping platform in North America and Europe to buy, sell, and discover the things you love. Whether it's trading cards, fashion, electronics, or live plants, our sellers are building real businesses across hundreds of categories. We're building live commerce at a scale that's never been done in the West, and there's no playbook to copy. The people here are shaping how an entirely new industry develops.

As a remote co-located team, we're inspired by our [values](https://www.whatnot.com/careers) and anchored in hubs across the US, UK, Ireland, Poland, Germany, and Australia. We move fast, stay close to our users, and focus on the work that drives the most impact.

We're one of the [fastest growing marketplaces](https://a16z.com/marketplace-100/) and were recently named the [#1 Best Startup Employer in America](http://google.com/search?q=%231+forbes+startup+employer&oq=%231+forbes+startup+employer&gs_lcrp=EgZjaHJvbWUyBggAEEUYOTIGCAEQRRg9MgYIAhBFGD0yBggDEEUYQDIGCAQQRRhAMgYIBRBFGEDSAQg1NzM0ajBqMagCALACAA&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8) by Forbes. Check out the latest Whatnot updates on our [news](https://blog.teamwhatnot.com/) and [engineering blogs](https://medium.com/whatnot-engineering) and join us as we enable anyone to turn their passion into a business and bring people together through commerce.

## 💻 Role

We are looking for an exceptional Corporate Counsel to support Whatnot’s rapidly scaling business operations. As a key member of our growing legal team, you will advise on a broad range of commercial and corporate matters, from negotiating high-impact contracts to supporting strategic transactions and governance initiatives.

This person will partner closely with teams across the company—including Partnerships, Product, Finance, and Operations—to build and manage scalable legal programs that empower innovation while managing risk. The ideal candidate has strong experience with both commercial agreements and general corporate work, thrives in a fast-paced, collaborative environment, and brings a proactive, business-minded approach to problem solving.

• Support general corporate matters, including entity management, corporate governance, and capitalization administration.

• Assist with financing transactions, mergers and acquisitions, and other strategic initiatives.

• Advise business teams on contract structure, risk allocation, and negotiation strategies.

• Work closely with outside counsel on specialized corporate, tax, or M&A matters as needed.

• Draft, review, and negotiate a wide range of commercial agreements, including vendor, customer, creator, influencer, marketing, SaaS, and technology contracts.

• Collaborate with cross-functional teams to develop scalable templates, playbooks, and contracting processes.

• Partner with Finance and Business Operations on compliance, risk management, and deal execution.

• Support internal education and training around contract processes and legal best practices.

• Help strengthen and scale Whatnot’s legal operations and infrastructure to support continued growth.

## 👋 You

People who do well at Whatnot tend to be comfortable figuring things out as they go, biased toward action, and genuinely curious about what they're building. They care more about outcomes than credit and stay close to the product and the people using it. You should have:

• A law degree and active membership in at least one U.S. jurisdiction (preferably NY or CA).

• 7+ years of combined experience at a top law firm and/or in-house legal department, with a focus on commercial contracting and corporate law.

• Experience drafting and negotiating a broad range of contracts, including technology and SaaS agreements.

• Solid understanding of general corporate principles, including governance, financings, and M&A transactions.

• Strong business judgment and ability to translate legal advice into actionable business guidance.

• Excellent written, verbal, and interpersonal communication skills.

• Ability to work independently, handle multiple projects simultaneously, and meet deadlines in a fast-moving environment.

• A proactive, collaborative, and solutions-oriented mindset—with a sense of humor and curiosity.

• Generous Holiday and Time off Policy

• Health Insurance options including Medical, Dental, Vision

• Work From Home Support

• Home office setup allowance

• Monthly allowance for cell phone and internet

• Care benefits

• Monthly allowance for wellness

• Annual allowance towards Childcare

• Lifetime benefit for family planning, such as adoption or fertility expenses

• Retirement; 401k offering for Traditional and Roth accounts in the US (employer match up to 4% of base salary) and Pension plans internationally

• Monthly allowance to dogfood the app

• All Whatnauts are expected to develop a deep understanding of our product. We're passionate about building the best user experience, and all employees are expected to use Whatnot as both a buyer and a seller as part of their job (our dogfooding budget makes this fun and easy!).

• Parental Leave

• 16 weeks of paid parental leave + one month gradual return to work *company leave allowances run concurrently with country leave requirements which take precedence.

Whatnot is proud to be an Equal Opportunity Employer. We value diversity, and we do not discriminate on the basis of race, religion, color, national origin, gender, sexual orientation, age, marital status, veteran status, parental status, disability status, or any other status protected by local law. We believe that our work is better and our company culture is improved when we encourage, support, and respect the different skills and experiences represented within our workforce.

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