Legal Counsel, Corporate & Business Affairs

About GiveDirectly

GiveDirectly has delivered more than $1B in cash directly to 2+ million people living in poverty across 15 countries since 2011. We believe cash transfers are one of the most scalable, cost-effective, and dignified forms of aid. Our culture is candid, analytical, and non-hierarchical. We support high ownership and real professional growth.

About this role

GiveDirectly is seeking a Legal Counsel, Corporate & Business Affairs to build our Business Affairs capability and serve as a primary legal partner to our global functions. You will help GiveDirectly structure complex corporate, commercial, funding, and charitable relationships and navigate the legal and regulatory questions that arise as the organization grows.

You will advise teams including Partnerships and Fundraising, People, Finance, Communications, Technology, Product, Grants Management, and public affairs. Your portfolio will include complex partnerships and transactions, non-standard gifts and fundraising arrangements, nonprofit regulatory matters, and organization-wide strategic initiatives.

A major initial priority will be building the legal and regulatory foundation for Data Partnerships and remote enablement. Working with Global Data Partnerships, Product, Technology, and program teams, you will develop workable approaches to data privacy and MNO data that can be used across GiveDirectly and adapted by program-facing Counsel to local contexts.

This is a broad role for a corporate and commercial lawyer with strong data-privacy expertise who can understand what teams are trying to accomplish, structure a practical path forward, and bring in specialist expertise when needed.

Reports to: Head of Legal

Level: Senior Manager

Location: Remote, with a requirement to overlap with an East Africa timezone by at least 3 hours.

Travel Requirement: ~1–2 trips per year, with additional travel as needed for significant partnerships or regulatory engagement

What you’ll do:

Build Business Affairs and advise global functions

• Serve as a primary legal partner to Partnerships and Fundraising, People, Finance, Communications, Technology, Product, Grants Management, and public affairs teams.
• Structure, draft, and negotiate complex corporate partnerships, funding arrangements, technology and vendor agreements, and other strategic transactions.
• Advise on corporate, commercial, employment, privacy, nonprofit, and operational matters arising within the teams you support.
• Partner with teams early to understand their objectives, develop workable structures, and provide practical advice on legal and business risk.
• Build templates, playbooks, and repeatable approaches that allow GiveDirectly to handle recurring work more consistently as the organization grows.

Support fundraising, charitable giving, and public affairs

• Advise on the structure, acceptance, and administration of significant or non-standard gifts, including bequests and other planned gifts, donor-advised fund grants, restricted gifts, securities, cryptocurrency, and other non-cash contributions.
• Draft and review gift agreements, donor restrictions, planned-giving documentation, and other funding arrangements, coordinating with tax or trusts-and-estates counsel where needed.
• Advise on charitable solicitation, fundraising disclosures, sponsorships, cause-marketing arrangements, commercial co-ventures, and related nonprofit regulatory requirements.
• Support public affairs, Communications, and other teams on lobbying, advocacy, public-policy engagement, and political-activity restrictions, including applicable registration, tracking, and reporting requirements.
• Develop practical guidance and escalation pathways so teams can identify when fundraising or external-engagement activities require Legal review.

Lead legal strategy for Data Partnerships and other strategic initiatives

• Lead legal strategy for new products, partnerships, and operating models that affect multiple programs, countries, or teams.
• As a major initial priority, develop GiveDirectly’s legal and regulatory approach to Data Partnerships, MNO data, and remote enablement.
• Serve as legal partner to Global Data Partnerships, leading the legal work required to establish relationships with MNOs, governments, and other data holders.
• Advise on data privacy, consent, data sharing, telecommunications regulation, and responsible data use, directing specialist analysis where needed.
• Draft and negotiate NDAs, data-sharing agreements, MoUs, and related arrangements, and support engagement with regulators and government partners.
• Work with Product, Technology, Programs, and program-facing Counsel to translate organization-wide approaches into workable models for particular countries and programs.

Contribute across Legal

• Partner with other Counsel on matters that cross portfolios or require shared expertise.
• Coordinate external and local counsel where specialist or jurisdiction-specific support is needed.
• Take ownership of other priority legal matters as team and organizational needs evolve.
• Help strengthen the standards, tools, and ways of working used across our small, global Legal team.

What you’ll bring:

• Qualification as an attorney in at least one jurisdiction, with relevant post-qualification legal experience.
• Strong corporate, commercial, and transactional experience, including structuring and negotiating complex partnerships and agreements.
• Experience advising on complex funding arrangements, external partnerships, or other transactions involving significant legal and business considerations.
• Demonstrated expertise in data privacy and data protection, including data sharing, consent, and the use of personal or regulated data.
• Ability to understand unfamiliar legal and regulatory frameworks—including nonprofit and fundraising requirements—and develop practical approaches to novel questions.
• Strong legal and business judgment, with the ability to assess risk in context and recommend a clear path forward.
• Experience advising multiple functions and building trusted relationships with colleagues, counterparties, and senior stakeholders.
• Ability to build new legal capabilities, manage a varied portfolio independently, and direct external or specialist advisors when needed.
• Excellent written, verbal, and negotiation skills; English fluency.

Preferred:

• Experience engaging with data-protection authorities, telecom regulators, governments, or other public authorities.
• Experience negotiating data-sharing arrangements with MNOs or other holders of sensitive or regulated data.
• Experience advising on technology-enabled products or data-intensive operating models.
• Experience working across multiple jurisdictions, particularly in emerging markets.
• Privacy or data-protection certification.
• Experience advising charitable organizations on fundraising, planned giving, bequests, donor restrictions, or non-cash gifts.
• Experience with tax-exempt organization law, charitable solicitation, cause marketing, lobbying, advocacy, or political-activity rules.
• Experience in international development, humanitarian response, or another mission-driven organization.

Why work at GiveDirectly?

• A supportive team that works hard and cares hard
• A robust health benefits plan (exact details will vary by country)
• Flexible paid time off that staff is encouraged to take
• Allowances for desk set-up and learning and development