Deputy General Counsel, Regulatory & Litigation

About the Company: Tools for Humanity (TFH) designs and builds technology behind World. World is building a real human network designed to accelerate people in the age of AI. As bots and autonomous agents reshape the internet, people, institutions, and applications need a trusted way to confirm who is a real human while preserving privacy. The TFH and World tech stacks make this possible: the Orb verifies real, unique people, World ID proves it privately, and World App puts these capabilities, and more, in people’s hands. Together, they add a human layer to an AI-driven internet. World is already running at a global scale. More than 17 million people across 160 countries have verified with World ID, and more new Orb verifications take place each week. World App is already among the most used wallets globally. Developers are integrating World ID to build safer online experiences and create spaces where real people can participate, earn, and be recognized in ways AI simply can’t replicate. Founded in 2019, TFH has more than 400 people across hardware, software, AI, cryptography, mobile engineering, and global operations. Our teams come from OpenAI, Tesla, SpaceX, Apple, Google, Stripe, Meta, Coinbase, Palantir and MIT Media Lab. We’re backed by leading investors, including a16z, Khosla Ventures, Bain Capital Crypto, Blockchain Capital, Variant, Tiger Global, and Coinbase Ventures, as well as prominent operators and founders across fintech and AI. TFH and World have been featured on the cover of TIME Magazine, highlighted in Fast Company’s Next 5 in Fintech, and explored in a Bloomberg deep dive. The New York Times, Bankless and TechCrunch have all recognized our collective progress in identity, cryptography, AI, and global-scale hardware deployment. Our leadership is also named to the Time AI 100. About the Team: Our Legal team is dedicated to supporting the World Network by managing Tools for Humanity’s legal affairs globally. We collaborate across the company to advance the blockchain project and enhance our products, including the Orb (our hardware device), World ID, World App, and World Chain. We value creativity, curiosity, a sense of humor, and a shared sense of urgency. Key Responsibilities: Regulatory Strategy & Government Engagement: Lead the company’s global regulatory strategy across financial services (including expertise in banking, money transmission, and financial regulatory frameworks), crypto-assets and blockchain, digital identity, consumer protection, payments, platform and technology regulation, and other legal and regulatory frameworks applicable to the company’s products, services, and operations. Advise executive leadership on complex and emerging regulatory issues involving digital assets, token issuance and distribution, blockchain networks, wallets and payments, digital identity, consumer protection, financial services, artificial intelligence, and other emerging technologies. Develop and lead strategies for regulatory engagement, licensing and registration matters, supervisory relationships, regulatory examinations, investigations, enforcement actions, and related government inquiries across multiple jurisdictions. Lead significant regulatory inquiries, examinations, investigations, and enforcement matters, coordinating strategy across Legal, Policy, Communications, Product, Compliance, and Market Operations. Monitor global legislative, regulatory, and enforcement developments, assess their potential impact on the company and the World network, and translate emerging risks and opportunities into practical, business-oriented guidance. Litigation, Investigations & Dispute Resolution: Lead the company's global litigation strategy across commercial, regulatory, employment, privacy, consumer protection, intellectual property, and other disputes. Manage significant litigation, arbitrations, investigations, enforcement actions, and other high-risk matters from strategy through resolution. Direct outside counsel, oversee litigation budgets, and advise executive leadership on legal, business, and reputational risk. Crisis Management & Cross-Functional Advisory: Lead the legal response to significant litigation, regulatory, and enforcement matters. Develop crisis-response frameworks and lead the legal response to high-impact litigation, regulatory, enforcement, and compliance matters. Serve as the primary legal partner for Trust & Safety on non-privacy matters and advise executive leadership on strategic litigation and regulatory issues. Partner closely with Product, Market Operations, Commercial, Privacy, Corporate, Employment, and Policy teams to support product launches, regulatory engagement, and business initiatives. Building the Function: Build, mentor, and lead a high-performing Regulatory and Litigation legal team. Build scalable litigation and, regulatory, and compliance operations, including playbooks, response frameworks, matter management, reporting, litigation holds, knowledge management, and other systems that improve organizational readiness, consistency, responsiveness, and effectiveness. Develop documentation, training, and self-service resources that enable the business to identify, manage, and appropriately escalate legal and compliance risk.

Qualifications

10-15+ years of experience as a regulatory, litigation, investigations, or enforcement attorney at a leading law firm, government agency, or in a senior in-house legal role supporting a technology company or other highly regulated business, Deep expertise in regulatory and/or litigation matters including in financial services, Significant experience managing complex litigation, regulatory inquiries and examinations, government investigations, and/or enforcement matters across multiple jurisdictions, Experience advising executive leadership on high-stakes legal, regulatory, business, and reputational issues, Solid working knowledge of U.S. employment law (including wage-and-hour, discrimination, whistleblower, and termination-related risk), General fluency in data privacy laws and frameworks sufficient to identify privacy-related litigation and regulatory risk and partner effectively with the DPO and Privacy counsel, Exceptional business judgment and the ability to balance legal risk, operational realities, and business objectives, Comfortable operating in ambiguous, fast-moving legal and regulatory environments where clear precedent may not exist, Strong executive presence and sound judgment under pressure, Proven ability to build trusted relationships across legal, product, policy, communications, security, and executive leadership, Excellent communicator capable of translating complex legal and regulatory issues into practical, business-oriented guidance, Experience building or scaling legal teams, processes, and operational frameworks in a fast-growing organization, A collaborative, low-ego working style, Juris Doctor from a top-tier law school, Membership in at least one U.S. state bar, Ability to work in-person from San Francisco, CA