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Oyster is a global employment platform that enables companies to hire, pay, and manage talent across 60+ countries. The company is fully distributed, B Corp-certified, and ranked among America's top WorkTech companies.
As Senior Counsel, Governance, you will be the dedicated governance and entity-formation counsel supporting Oyster's Global Expansion program. This is a 12-month, fixed-term engagement offering outsized ownership over a fast-moving, high-visibility initiative.
You will work directly with the Global Expansion team to make structuring and licensing decisions for new legal entities, then personally execute the hands-on work of formation, filing, and audit-readiness. Your responsibilities include:
- Leading governance and structuring decisions for each new direct entity launch, determining the appropriate corporate form, ownership structure, and licensing pathway for each jurisdiction
- Personally driving the practical work of standing up new entities: coordinating filings, managing registered agents and local service providers, handling director and officer appointments, managing bank account and licensing paperwork, and completing other setup tasks to get entities live and compliant
- Conducting jurisdiction-specific legal and regulatory research to identify entity, licensing, and governance requirements
- Drafting, reviewing, and maintaining foundational corporate documentation (formation documents, board minutes, governance policies, powers of attorney) to ensure clean, audit-ready governance frameworks from day one
- Partnering closely with cross-functional teams (Legal, Finance, Operations, People, Payroll, Treasury) to sequence and de-risk entity launches against aggressive timelines
- Identifying governance, licensing, and regulatory risks early and building practical, business-first solutions to keep launches on track
- Documenting repeatable processes and playbooks for entity formation and governance to enable clean knowledge transfer to the ongoing entity maintenance team
You will operate with significant autonomy on a fast-moving, ambiguous, high-stakes project, translating legal and regulatory requirements into practical execution plans for non-legal audiences.
REQUIREMENTS:
- Qualified lawyer with 7+ years' experience in corporate governance, entity formation, and multi-jurisdictional entity management, ideally in SaaS, tech, or EOR/HR-tech environments
- Demonstrated experience personally establishing and maintaining corporate entities across multiple jurisdictions—hands-on execution work including filings, registered agents, licensing applications, and similar tasks (not just advising)
- Demonstrated experience interacting directly with external counsel, corporate secretarial providers, regulators, and registered agents across multiple jurisdictions
- Comfortable holding a power of attorney to represent company directors/officers where needed
- Ability to operate with significant autonomy on a fast-moving, ambiguous, high-stakes project with minimal ramp-up time and availability for an 11-month fixed-term engagement
- Strong judgment translating legal and regulatory requirements into practical, sequenced execution plans for non-legal, cross-functional audiences
- Experience thriving in fast-paced, high-growth, or startup environments
- Reliable home internet connection
- Fluency in both written and spoken English
- Must be based within +3/-3 UTC
BONUS EXPERIENCE:
- Prior experience with an EOR/PEO or global HR platform
- Experience building governance playbooks or processes designed to be handed off to others
- Project management experience setting up entities in multiple jurisdictions
- Familiarity with corporate governance tools (Klea or similar), Notion, and Asana
- Experience with e-signature platforms (DocuSign, HelloSign, local qualified e-sign providers) and wet signature flows
- Experience managing jurisdiction-specific signing formalities (notarization, legalization/apostille, witness requirements)
- Familiarity with D&O insurance coverage and director indemnification agreements
