Responsibilities
- Deliver daily product legal support for the international product roadmap, guiding product and engineering teams from concept through post-launch on legal risks in the UK, EU, and new markets.
- Lead global reviews of new products, features, and product-related matters to ensure compliance with digital, consumer protection, and platform regulations before features are released.
- Advise on the DSA, UK Online Safety Act, GDPR/UK GDPR, e-commerce rules, consumer protection frameworks, platform liability regimes, and emerging AI-related legal obligations.
- Collaborate with regional counsel and subject matter expert legal teams to consolidate and globalize legal feedback for product teams, maintaining a consistent global legal approach across markets.
- Support the creation of scalable legal playbooks, review processes, and self-serve tools that enable the product team to move quickly with confidence.
- Act as product privacy counsel for international markets, advising on privacy-by-design principles and data protection obligations throughout the product development lifecycle.
- Review new products and features for GDPR, UK GDPR, and ePrivacy compliance, including legal basis analysis, transparency obligations, data subject rights, and DPIAs.
- Monitor and respond to regulatory developments in data protection law across the EU, UK, and key growth markets, briefing cross-functional stakeholders on practical impacts.
- Work closely with privacy counsel to ensure a coordinated approach to international privacy compliance across product initiatives.
- Draft and maintain internal and external privacy policies, notices, and standards relevant to the international product and seller ecosystem.
- Actively monitor global regulatory developments, including the EU AI Act, DSA, DMA, and emerging frameworks in key growth markets, and advise the business on practical implications for the product roadmap.
- Serve as the primary legal resource for international market entry workstreams, coordinating with local counsel as needed and maintaining a coherent global legal posture.
- Engage with regulators and support regulatory responses related to new product features and international initiatives, collaborating closely with policy and government relations teams.
- Partner with trust and safety, employment, and privacy counsel to ensure a coordinated approach to international compliance across the legal function.
- Contribute to team OKRs and legal operations initiatives, helping the product legal function scale through process, tooling, and documentation.
Requirements
- 8+ years of legal experience
- Qualified to practice law in the US, UK, or an EU jurisdiction, with direct experience advising on product and technology legal matters (in-house experience preferred)
- Based in Dublin or London
- Significant in-house product counsel experience at a high-growth technology company, startup, or marketplace, with involvement in product development from the start
- Deep familiarity with UK and EU digital regulation: DSA, GDPR/UK GDPR, e-commerce rules, consumer protection frameworks, platform liability regimes, and the EU AI Act
- Demonstrated ability to lead global reviews of new products and features, coordinating across legal and business teams to consolidate feedback and drive compliance across multiple jurisdictions simultaneously
- Proven track record of translating complex regulatory requirements into practical, actionable guidance for non-legal teams, providing clear answers rather than hedging
- Strong privacy and data protection experience, including hands-on work with GDPR, UK GDPR, ePrivacy, and DPIAs in the context of consumer-facing product features
- Sound business judgment and a solution-oriented mindset, assessing risk against business goals and making confident, informed decisions
- Comfort operating with autonomy on a lean team in a fast-moving, ambiguous environment, with a scrappy approach and willingness to handle any task
Nice to Have
- Experience at a high-growth startup or scale-up that has expanded internationally, particularly into European markets
- Background in marketplace, fintech, live commerce, or consumer platform legal work
- Experience interfacing with EU or UK regulators and data protection authorities on product matters
- Prior in-house experience within an international, matrixed organization with demonstrated ability to navigate complex stakeholder environments
- Exposure to AI product legal issues, EU AI Act implementation, and generative AI governance
- Familiarity with payments regulation or financial promotions in the context of consumer product features
Benefits
- Generous holiday and time off policy
- Health insurance options including medical, dental, and vision
- Work from home support
- Home office setup allowance
- Monthly allowance for cell phone and internet
- Care benefits
- Monthly allowance for wellness
- Annual allowance towards childcare
- Lifetime benefit for family planning, such as adoption or fertility expenses
- Retirement: 401k offering for Traditional and Roth accounts in the US (employer match up to 4% of base salary) and pension plans internationally
- Monthly allowance to dogfood the app
- 16 weeks of paid parental leave plus one month gradual return to work
Compensation
Not specified
Work Arrangement
Hybrid — London, Dublin
Other
- All Whatnauts are expected to develop a deep understanding of our product. We're passionate about building the best user experience, and all employees are expected to use Whatnot as both a buyer and a seller as part of their job (our dogfooding budget makes this fun and easy!).
- Company leave allowances run concurrently with country leave requirements which take precedence.
- Whatnot will only contact you through official @whatnot.com email addresses. If you see an email impersonating a Whatnot recruiter, please disregard and report it as spam.
- Whatnot is proud to be an Equal Opportunity Employer. We value diversity, and we do not discriminate on the basis of race, religion, color, national origin, gender, sexual orientation, age, marital status, veteran status, parental status, disability status, or any other status protected by local law.
