Sole Counsel — R3

About R3

We’re building the on-ramp for the next trillion dollars of assets to move on-chain. R3 bridges TradFi and DeFi through institutional-grade RWA yield vaults, fully composable and integrated into Solana DeFi.

The Role

This is an exciting opportunity for a mid-level in-house lawyer ready to step into a sole counsel position. You’ll be R3’s day-to-day legal partner – owning commercial contracting end-to-end, advising on go-to-market activity, and helping to shape the legal framework for products at the cutting edge of tokenisation, digital assets and Web3.

High-visibility, high-autonomy. You’ll work close to product and revenue in a fast-moving environment, developing expertise in one of the most exciting areas of the financial technology landscape.

What You’ll Do

• Draft, negotiate and manage the full spectrum of commercial agreements: SaaS licences, MSAs, partnership and reseller arrangements, NDAs, DPAs and DORA addendums.

• Represent R3 in discussions and negotiations with the independent Foundation which governs the Protocol we are building, being highly collaborative day-to-day whilst ensuring R3’s interests are protected.

• Be the trusted legal partner to sales, business development and marketing, moving at commercial pace, structuring deals creatively, and giving commercial advice that moves things forward.

• Review product, marketing and GTM collateral for legal and regulatory risk.

• Support strategic projects in tokenisation, DeFi and Web3, bringing in external counsel where needed.

• Build the infrastructure – templates, playbooks, internal guidance – that enables the business to move faster within sensible risk tolerance.

• Manage external counsel where instructed, keeping it focused and cost-effective.

What You’ll Bring

Essential:

• You are a qualified solicitor in England & Wales (or equivalent common law jurisdiction with the right to practice in the UK), with 5+ years PQE.

• Prior in-house experience at a tech, fintech or financial services business.

• Solid general commercial law experience, with a proven track record of drafting technology contracts, ideally in a financial environment.

• Working knowledge of digital assets, DeFi and Web3, including familiarity with on-chain product structures such as yield vaults, token frameworks, and SPV/fund-wrapper arrangements used in RWA tokenisation.

• Sharp commercial instincts; you find solutions, not blockers.

• Proven ability to support fast-moving sales and marketing teams: prioritising hard, pushing back when needed, delivering under pressure.

• Confident operating as the only lawyer in the room, while knowing when to escalate.

• Clear communicator who can translate legal complexity into plain guidance.

Desirable:

• Background in traditional financial services or financial market infrastructure (TradFi) in either private practice or in-house.

• Experience advising on token generation events (TGEs) or utility token structures, and familiarity with relevant UK, EU or US regulatory frameworks (e.g. UK financial promotions regime, MiCA, MAS, MAR, AML/CTF).

• Experience with UK GDPR, IP licensing or open-source software issues.

Why R3

• Real autonomy from day one – your work will directly shape how we operate and go to market.

• A front-row seat on the tokenisation and digital assets space, working with leading institutional clients and partners.

• A culture that values pragmatism and ownership over process.

• Competitive salary, equity, and benefits.

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