Deputy General Counsel

<h3>Maximize mission impact through expert legal guidance </h3> <p>The Good Food Institute (GFI) is a nonprofit think tank working to make the global food system better for the planet, people, and animals. Alongside scientists, businesses, and policymakers, GFI’s teams focus on making plant-based, fermentation-enabled, and cultivated meat delicious, affordable, and accessible. Powered by philanthropy, GFI is an international network of organizations advancing alternative proteins as an essential solution needed to meet the world’s climate, global health, food security, and biodiversity goals.</p> <h4>How you will make a difference </h4> <p>In this position, you will provide broad in-house legal counsel across the organization to enable programmatic and operational effectiveness while ensuring compliance with applicable legal and regulatory frameworks. The Deputy General Counsel will serve as a legal advisor to GFI employees on a broad range of legal matters, serving as the primary point of contact and primary lead for many day-to-day legal inquiries. You will be responsible for triaging, prioritizing, and independently resolving the majority of routine legal requests, while working in close collaboration with the General Counsel, and you will also play a key role in maintaining the continuity and integrity of legal operations in response to evolving organizational needs or capacity shifts. The <strong>Deputy General Counsel</strong> will be responsible for: </p> <ul> <li>Providing legal counsel across a wide range of issues, including but not limited to: contract negotiation and review, nonprofit and tax-exempt law, legal risk management, intellectual property law, charitable registrations and fundraising, antitrust law, lobbying and election law compliance, employment law, and SEC regulations.</li> <li>Maintaining a deep understanding of GFI’s programs and initiatives in order to assess and communicate legal risk, partnering with relevant teams to implement appropriate risk mitigation strategies and internal controls, and providing clear, practical recommendations that balance mission impact, compliance, and risk tolerance.</li> <li>Serving as a strategic partner to the General Counsel, with independent ownership over day-to-day legal guidance and support on low/moderate-risk issues, and executing additional responsibilities as delegated by the General Counsel, including when needed to ensure continuity of legal operations.</li> <li>Exercising strong judgment regarding attorney-client privilege, confidentiality, and sensitivity, and recognizing when matters require heightened discretion or escalation to the General Counsel.</li> <li>Proactively identifying recurring legal issues, operational friction points, and compliance risks, and collaborating with the General Counsel to develop and implement practical solutions and improvements. This includes enhancing the Legal department’s intake, triage, and workflow processes; streamlining contract review; developing playbooks and standardized templates; and, improving responsiveness, consistency, and predictability for internal clients.</li> <li>Overseeing the full contract lifecycle for GFI’s U.S.-based teams, including intake, prioritization, drafting, review, negotiation, and risk assessment, with attention to mission impact, strategic alignment, efficiency, and risk management.</li> <li>Drafting, reviewing, and revising policies, legal memoranda, and formal correspondence to support consistent, efficient, and compliant organizational practices.</li> <li>Partnering with the General Counsel to develop and deliver employee trainings on compliance topics, organizational policies, and legal best practices, as well as to conduct legal onboarding sessions for new team members.</li> <li>Conducting legal research on federal, state, and local laws, cross-border compliance requirements, and various other issues related to GFI’s ongoing nonprofit operations and future strategic initiatives. ... (truncated, view full listing at source)