General Counsel

MATS finds and trains talented individuals for what we see as the world's most urgent and talent-constrained problem: reducing risks from unaligned artificial intelligence. We believe ambitious researchers from a variety of backgrounds have the potential to meaningfully contribute to alignment, control, security, and governance research. Through our research fellowship, we provide mentorship, training, professional network, and financial support to accelerate their careers and increase their impact.

Since 2021, we have trained over 630 researchers. 75% of pre-2026 fellows continue to work in AI alignment. 10% have co-founded organizations. Our fellows have produced 215+ research papers with 17,000+ citations. And we are just getting started: in the coming year we will expand our program to support even more researchers.

MATS is hiring its first General Counsel to build and run the legal function for a growing, multinational nonprofit. Reporting to the COO, you'll be the organization's primary legal advisor: owning contracts and grant agreements, nonprofit governance and compliance, employment law across the US and UK, IP and data privacy, and risk management, while working closely with the CEO, and board on higher-stakes matters.

This is a hands-on, generalist legal role at an organization that doesn't yet have in-house counsel, so you'll be building processes and templates as much as advising on individual matters.

• Contracts & agreements: Draft, review, and negotiate grant agreements, donor agreements, vendor contracts, fellowship agreements, and partnership MOUs.
• Nonprofit governance & compliance: Maintain MATS' 501(c)(3) compliance, advise on board governance, conflicts of interest, and lobbying/political activity limits, and support annual filings alongside Finance.
• Employment law (US & UK): Advise on hiring, contractor classification, and employment matters across US and UK entities, including offer letters, policies, and terminations.
• IP & data privacy: Manage intellectual property questions around research outputs and publications, and oversee data privacy practices (GDPR/CCPA) for participant and donor data.
• Risk management: Identify and mitigate legal and reputational risk across programs, events, and international operations; maintain appropriate insurance coverage in partnership with Finance.
• Board & leadership support: Serve as a resource to the CEO and COO on sensitive matters, and prepare materials for board review on legal and compliance topics.
• Process building: Build templates, playbooks, and lightweight processes so the organization can self-serve on routine legal questions as it scales.
• Outside counsel management: Engage and manage outside counsel for specialized matters (immigration, international tax, litigation) where in-house expertise isn't the right fit.
• Immigration Assistance: Help navigate immigration situations for our fellows and employees.

• Credentials: J.D. and active California Bar membership; 5-7 years of relevant legal experience as in-house corporate counsel or as General Counsel at a nonprofit.
• Nonprofit fluency: Experience with nonprofit or tax-exempt organizations, ideally including 501(c)(3) compliance and governance; strong in-house corporate legal experience also considered.
• Generalist orientation: Comfortable advising across contracts, employment, IP, and compliance rather than specializing narrowly; willing to research areas outside your core expertise.
• Cross-border exposure: Experience with or willingness to quickly get up to speed on UK employment and entity considerations, given MATS' London…