Head of Legal at DFNS

Europe or United States, remote first with offices available - Full-time - People - Reports to CEO

About DFNS

Finance is moving onchain. Stablecoins, tokenized deposits, securities and funds are changing how money and assets are issued, held and transferred. The destination is a financial system where any asset can be issued, moved and governed onchain with the controls regulated institutions require. That shift needs a new foundation. Just as core banking systems manage accounts and ledgers today, financial institutions need a platform to manage digital assets. DFNS is that platform. Today, we secure hundreds of billions of dollars in assets every month for more than 500 clients worldwide.

Why this role

We operate where fintech meets digital assets in a regulatory landscape that changes every quarter across EMEA, Americas and APAC. We sell to institutions whose own lawyers read every clause. You will be the legal leader of the company, owning commercial contracts, IP, employment, disputes and regulatory affairs and turning regulation into product requirements with our CPO rather than into reasons to say no. In year one you will put playbooks in place that let Sales close without a lawyer on every call, build the living regulatory map of the markets we serve and become the person regulators and partners expect to see across the table.

Key Responsibilities

Draft, negotiate and close commercial contracts (SaaS agreements, MSAs, NDAs, DPAs, partnership and vendor deals) with the playbooks and templates that let Sales move without you in every call.
Own regulatory affairs end to end, from MiCA, DORA, GDPR and AML to US state and federal frameworks, UK FCA, MAS and VARA, and maintain a living regulatory map of the markets we serve.
Translate regulatory requirements into product specifications with the CPO and product team, turning obligations into features and, where it fits, into advantage.
Lead engagement with regulators, industry bodies and policy stakeholders.
Build and run the IP strategy (trademarks, copyright, patents) with external IP counsel.
Advise the People team on employment contracts, policies and labor law in every country we hire in, sensitive matters and investigations included.
Manage disputes, claims and litigation, from pre-litigation strategy to settlement.
Run external counsel across jurisdictions for expertise, speed and cost.

Candidate Profile & Mindset

Must-haves

Admitted to practice law in France and the US
Substantial in-house experience at a growing technology company, across commercial contracts, regulatory, IP and employment matters.
Deep, hands-on regulatory affairs experience in fintech, digital assets, payments or financial services, with a real appetite for regulatory deep dives.
A record of drafting and negotiating complex B2B agreements with regulated counterparties.
Proven ability to turn legal and regulatory requirements into product and business inputs people can act on.
Employment law in France and at least one other jurisdiction where we hire, plus working knowledge of IP strategy and litigation management.
Fluent English and French, with the gravitas to sit across from regulators and operate at the executive level.

Nice-to-haves

Experience with GENIUS, MiCA, DORA or digital asset licensing processes.
Another major jurisdiction in depth (UK, Hong Kong, Singapore, UAE).
Other languages.

How we work

We are a distributed company headquartered in Paris. Our teams work from Europe, the US and Asia, with offices in New York, Geneva, Dubai, Singapore, Hong Kong and São Paulo. We write decisions down so they survive time zones. We hold our own work to the standards our clients are held to. We hire people who can own an outcome end to end and we give them the room to do it.

Perks & Compensation

A competitive base salary set by role and location, a bonus or variable plan where the role carries one and stock options vesting over four years. Healthcare, flexible vacation, parental leave and a one-time home technology allowance, with travel expenses covered. A MacBook and the equipment you need to do your best work. Remote first, with an office if you want one.

Base salary range: $200,000-300,000

Hiring process

We aim to complete the process in 2 weeks and we tell you where you stand after every step.

Intro call with Co-CEO (30 minutes).
Personality and cognitive assessments, completed on your own time (45 minutes).
Focus interviews with the hiring panel in role-specific sessions (about 3 hours in total).
Reference calls and background checks.

If you need an accommodation at any point in the process, tell us and we will arrange it.