Chief Legal Officer

# Chief Legal Officer Own the securities-law posture of a live Regulation D 506(c) offering, and serve as the terminal legal gate on everything we say publicly about it.

Legal Full time

Kansas

Apply for this role About the role

We are looking for a seasoned securities lawyer who wants to build a legal department from the ground up at a company whose platform is already live, and who is willing to accept early-stage risk in exchange for a founding-level opportunity.### Where we are today (please read first)
We want to be direct about our stage:
* Pre-revenue.
* Pre-token sale. Our token offering is built, but the sale is paused and no tokens have been sold.
* Pre-equity financing. We have not yet raised a priced equity round.
* Token trading is not enabled.
* Several foundational legal documents are drafted and waiting for a lawyer's review and approval.

You will not inherit a legal department. You will be the legal department, and every one of those milestones runs through your desk.### About USSEUSSE is a Delaware corporation building a compliance-first, privacy-centric blockchain platform. A user's wallet is their account and their identity: there is no email or password to create, and users sign every action with their own wallet.

The platform went live on Ethereum mainnet and Base, an Ethereum Layer 2 network, on July 4, 2026. More than 80 smart contracts are deployed across the two networks, and 7 billion USSE tokens were minted  platform includes:
* The Wall: an on-chain social feed, chronological by default, with no ads and no hidden ranking algorithm, governed by published Community Standards with on-chain reporting.
* DEEP Mail: end-to-end encrypted, wallet-to-wallet messaging and group chats, secured with zero-knowledge proofs, able to carry a file and a payment in the same transaction.
* Media Marketplace: digital media and limited editions, with creator royalties credited automatically on every resale.
* Ticketing (private beta): on-chain event tickets with seat selection, resale price caps, and door check-in.
* Identity and organizations: .usse names, profiles, contacts, and on-chain organization structures with member roles.
* Gasless actions: users pay in ETH on Ethereum, and a relayer completes the action on Base.
* Compliance infrastructure: KYC and accreditation through third-party verifiers, with status recorded on chain and documents kept off chain. Investors clear five gates before purchase approval: KYC, accreditation, NDA, data room access, and a signed Token Purchase Agreement.
* Built but not yet activated: a built-in token exchange, staking, liquidity programs, and on-chain governance. Token-holder governance is scheduled to activate at the end of token sales.
* An internal company operating system with a Legal office already built: compliance registry, investor onboarding review, contract register, IP portfolio, takedown queue, and a review gate that every public communication about the offering must pass. It is waiting for its officer.### The role

As a founding executive and the company's senior legal authority, you will advise a securities issuer, a social and messaging platform, a digital marketplace, and a payments-adjacent service at the same time. You set legal strategy, make the calls, and bring in outside counsel where specialist depth is needed.### What you will own
* Securities and capital formation, including our planned private token offering and the company's equity financings.
* Financial regulation and compliance, including payments, licensing, KYC and AML, and sanctions.
* Platform, content, and privacy law, including community standards, content removal obligations, data protection, and consumer terms.
* Corporate governance and intellectual property, including board matters and protection of our brands.
* Building the legal function: contracts, policies, outside counsel, and representing the company with regulators, partners, and investors.

We will go through the specifics of each area with candidates during the interview process.### Qualifications### Required
* J.D. and active bar admission in good standing in at least one U.S. jurisdiction.
* 10+ years of practice, with substantial hands-on experience in private securities offerings, including Regulation D, Form D, and venture financings.
* Working knowledge of how U.S. securities law applies to digital assets, including the Howey analysis and broker-dealer questions.
* Experience as the senior or sole lawyer at an early-stage company, or as outside…