Counsel - Institutional

As Counsel, Commercial on the Institutional Legal team at Coinbase, you provide hands-on legal support for institutional products across UK and international markets. You'll cover prime brokerage, exchange, trading, custody, derivatives, and financing, working with banks, brokers, hedge funds, market makers, and other professional trading clients. You own the commercial legal work that enables Coinbase to build and scale first-of-a-kind institutional products at the intersection of crypto and traditional global markets.

What you'll do

• Negotiate highly tailored agreements with strategic partners and sophisticated counterparties in the finance, payments, and digital asset space, including prime brokerage, lending, and derivatives documentation
• Own the full product life-cycle negotiation for institutional products, advising on legal issues, risks, complex agreement structures, and company policies in a compliance-oriented environment
• Lead cross-functional efforts across Institutional Sales, Business Development, Product/Engineering, Finance/Tax, and Compliance to drive alignment and close deals
• Build scalable commercial processes and risk frameworks that give the business flexibility to execute on an aggressive global growth plan

What you bring

• Qualified solicitor or barrister (England & Wales) or licensed attorney with 5+ years of experience at a financial services institution such as a bank, e-money issuer, broker-dealer, or asset manager, or at a law firm advising such clients
• A proven track record negotiating and drafting institutional financial agreements, including prime brokerage, securities financing, and/or derivatives documentation such as ISDA, GMSLA, or futures agreements
• Experience providing full life-cycle negotiation for trading, custody, or financing products, including advising on legal risk and commercial structuring
• Familiarity with UK and/or EU regulatory regimes applicable to financial instruments, with the ability to navigate cross-border legal and regulatory considerations
• Experience leading legal workstreams across globally distributed, cross-functional teams involving Sales, Product, Engineering, and Compliance stakeholders
• Ability to utilise generative AI responsibly, maintaining human oversight to deliver business-ready outputs and drive measurable improvements in workflow efficiency, cost, and quality

What we offer

• Base salary of £110,400 GBP
• Equity and bonus eligibility
• Medical, dental, and vision benefits
• Quarterly in-person working sessions called surges

About Coinbase

Coinbase is building infrastructure for economic freedom at the intersection of crypto and traditional finance. The company is remote-first and works with institutional clients including banks, brokers, hedge funds, and market makers globally.