Opportunity is not evenly distributed. Shopify puts independence within reach for anyone with a dream to start a business. Since 2006, we’ve grown to over 10,000 employees and generated over $496 billion in sales for millions of merchants in 175 countries.
This is life-defining work that directly impacts people’s lives as much as it transforms your own. This is putting the power of the few in the hands of the many, is a future with more voices rather than fewer, and is creating more choices instead of an elite option.
Moving at our pace brings a lot of change, complexity, and ambiguity—and a little bit of chaos. Shopifolk thrive on that and are comfortable being uncomfortable. That means Shopify is not the right place for everyone.
Before you apply, consider if you can:
- Care deeply about what you do and about making commerce better for everyone
- Excel by seeking professional and personal hypergrowth
- Keep up with an unrelenting pace (the week, not the quarter)
- Be resilient and resourceful in face of ambiguity and thrive on (rather than endure) change
- Bring critical thought and opinion
- Embrace differences and disagreement to get shit done and move forward
- Work digital-first for your daily work
It takes a whole team of dedicated legal professionals working behind the scenes to help Shopify create a platform that makes commerce better for everyone. Our Legal Team must be able to apply their knowledge and experience to novel scenarios and provide the best possible advice on sometimes unprecedented legal issues, in ways that allow Shopify’s business to stay agile and competitive. Every person on our team is committed to making commerce better for everyone, and it shows.
About the team:
Within the Shopify Legal Team, the Regulatory Affairs Team works closely with internal and external stakeholders to ensure that Shopify’s platform makes commerce better and safer for everyone. We do that in a number of different ways. First, the team is responsible for engaging, proactively and reactively, with regulatory and law enforcement entities worldwide. Second, we help to set internal and external facing policies so everyone knows the rules of the road and abides by them. And third, the team works internally to develop and deploy strategies to help Shopify’s business achieve its ambitious goals within existing (and future) regulatory frameworks. These aren’t copy and paste legal issues – often we find ourselves working with products that didn’t exist 6 months ago, in jurisdictions we’ve never practiced in. Creative problem solving is a must.
About you:
We’re looking for an Associate General Counsel/Legal Counsel, Regulatory. This lawyer will be lead counsel or part of a small team on inquiries and investigations, represent Shopify before regulators, and provide legal counsel to Shopify on regulatory issues and related matters. You must have a passion for cutting-edge platform regulation issues affecting tech companies. We don’t do silos: this job is for you if you’re excited about the opportunity to be responsible for a broad spectrum (both by subject matter and geography) of regulatory issues affecting Shopify’s interests. You must also be a team player with strong legal analytical and communication skills; have strong judgment and instincts; be effective at building relationships and driving toward consensus internally; and be skilled at representing your client before external entities. You must also be adept at using business acumen, creativity, and collegiality (both internally and in dealing with external parties) to explain and address legal risks, while providing strong strategic counsel.
Qualifications:
- A J.D. or LL.B., with a license to practice in the United States and/or Canada
- We are hiring for multiple positions with varying levels of seniority and experience. We are looking for candidates with 4-6 years of experience all way the through to 8+ years of experience.
- To be considered for the junior most role available, you must have 4+ years of experience in house, in private practice, and/or in government with a focus on regulatory law.
- Significant experience counseling clients on legal risks, ideally regulatory risks
- Experience with platform regulatory matters, including interactions with government regulatory agencies, and with analyzing statutory and regulatory requirements directed at platforms such as the Digital Services Act, Digital Markets Act, FTC Act, US INFORM Consumers Act, and UDAP/consumer protection laws.
- Top-notch oral and written communication skills
- Exceptional business judgment, relationship-building skills, and experience thinking outside the box to identify creative solutions
- A keen interest in creative legal problem solving, including researching novel and ambiguous areas of law