Associate General Counsel

About Orchard

Orchard is radically simplifying the way people buy and sell their homes. For the average American, the home purchase and sale process takes months, creates anxiety, and is filled with uncertainty and hassle. Orchard has reimagined the end-to-end experience of buying and selling, from innovative home search tools to find the perfect home to the ability to buy a new home before selling your current one. Orchard customers manage the entire experience through a personalized online dashboard, while also getting the support of best-in-class Orchard real estate agents. 

Headquartered in New York City with teammates across the US, Orchard boasts over 150+ employees. We have financing from top-tier investors including Revolution, Firstmark, Accomplice, Navitas and Juxtapose, who have also backed the likes of Pinterest, Airbnb, Shopify and Sweetgreen. We're proud to be recognized by Crain's, Inc. 5000, Glassdoor, Parity.org and Built In on their lists of best places to work.

About the Role 

Orchard is looking for an Associate General Counsel to join our dynamic and expanding team. As a member of the small but highly productive Legal & Regulatory team, you are ready to roll up your sleeves and make an  immediate impact. You will play a key role in our growing business, partnering with teams across the company to help build and evolve our product offerings, expand to new jurisdictions, and further develop and mature our business lines, all while balancing business objectives and legal risk across the multiple highly-regulated sectors in which we operate. As the company continues to grow, there is significant opportunity to take on additional responsibilities and leadership roles. 

The ideal candidate is a highly self-motivated, business-minded attorney who enjoys operating  autonomously, successfully navigates ambiguity, and can manage multiple projects and competing priorities comfortably. This person brings extraordinary judgment and interpersonal skills to the role.  While highly effective and an innovative thinker, you take a humble approach to your job, allowing your work to speak for itself. By building a track record of sound advice and success, you will become a trusted advisor to executive leadership and teams across the company. We are looking for candidates who are excited about the opportunity to help grow Orchard’s business in an entrepreneurial yet compliant manner, while working with diverse groups of stakeholders to get things done in a complex and fast moving environment. 

This is a full-time role that will report to the General Counsel. The preferred location is New York City where we are on a hybrid schedule, 2-days a week in office. However, we are open to fully remote candidates in any of these hiring locations: Washington DC, CA, CO, FL, GA, MA, MI, MS, NC, NJ, NY, PA, SC, TN, TX, VA, WA.

What You’ll Do Here

• Act as a legal swiss-army knife, working independently across several different legal practice areas, but with a particular focus on commercial and regulatory issues and building out Orchard’s products and services in compliance with the legal and regulatory frameworks governing residential real estate.
• Act as the go-to person for negotiation and structuring of complex commercial contracts, partnerships, and joint ventures
• Work with our real estate brokerage, mortgage, title, and closing services business lines to continue to build out their respective product and service offerings, as well as policies, controls, and structures to be compliant with applicable federal and state legal frameworks, while also taking a leadership role in expanding the reach of those business lines into additional states. 
• Work with our companies to help innovate, streamline and create customer delight in the delivery of each company’s services, all while maintaining compliance with applicable state laws and regulations. 
• Partner with our Product & Engineering Teams to design and iterate how our products and services are provided to customers, helping to intelligently balance innovation and growth with legal and regulatory risk. 
• Engage with and build relationships with state regulators, in particular in connection with  expansion of our businesses into new states, our ongoing operational compliance, and any regulatory inquiries or examinations that may arise. 
• Manage outside law firms across a variety of practice areas, while balancing cost and  effectiveness in the delivery of legal services to our stakeholders. 
• Take a leadership role in the continued development and improvement of our Data Privacy and Information Security policies, practices and procedures.  
• You also may have the opportunity to be involved in both equity and debt financings, and strategic M&A transactions. 

We’d Love to Hear From You if You

• Are a broad-based attorney with 7-12 years of experience in the commercial and/or regulatory space, gained ideally through a combination of law firm and in-house roles of increasing visibility  and responsibility.
• Have solid experience with commercial contracts, negotiating from a commercial perspective and reviewing from a regulatory perspective where necessary, including leading negotiations or discussions with large companies.
• Have experience negotiating and structuring partnerships and joint ventures.
• Have experience with Data Privacy regimes and implementation of the related policies and procedures. 
• Have experience with the laws and regulatory framework related to real estate brokerage and/or mortgage lending, though this is a plus and is not required.
• Have prior experience with a real estate brokerage or mortgage company, in particular a tech-focused real estate brokerage or mortgage company, though this is a plus and is not required.
• Have experience navigating the application of evolving and sometimes overlapping regulations in a business context. 
• Are an entrepreneur who sees ambiguity as opportunity, and obstacles as chances to build new solutions. 
• Can successfully work independently with little guidance, but also use good judgment and escalate issues when needed. 
• Eager to collaborate and comfortable and effective at building strong relationships with people across a variety of functional teams, skill sets and levels of professional experience.
• Have a demonstrated drive for results, work ethic and ability to prioritize risks and projects to focus on what’s important, get things done, and seize opportunities. 
• Have meticulous attention to detail and excellent planning and organizational skills.
• Have a state bar admission in good standing.

Compensation for this role in New York City includes a base salary between $225k-$260k and equity participation. This position does not include an annual bonus.. The actual base pay offered may vary within the range provided depending on job-related knowledge, skills, and experience. We also offer a full range of medical, and/or other benefits, depending on the position offered. This information is provided per the New York City Human Rights Law. Please note that the range provided is applicable only to New York City-based applicants. Base compensation may vary if the work location is outside of New York City.