Founding Legal Counsel & Strategic Operations

Posted Yesterday
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New York City, NY, USA
In-Office
200K-275K Annually
Mid level
eCommerce • Retail • Software
The Role
Serve as Garage’s first in-house legal hire and primary advisor on commercial, corporate, regulatory, and operational matters. Draft and negotiate customer, vendor, and strategic partnership agreements; establish marketplace legal frameworks; manage corporate governance, board matters, equity administration, and compliance; and oversee outside counsel on litigation, employment, intellectual property, regulatory, and corporate transactions. The role also supports financing, acquisitions, and scalable legal processes.
Summary Generated by Built In
About Us

Our vision is to become the marketplace for everything expensive, specialized, and difficult to move. We’re building the infrastructure that powers the procurement and disposition of assets across America’s essential industries, automating everything from discovery and payments to freight, warranty, and financing. Today, Garage operates in cities and towns across all 50 states and has surpassed $100M+ in annualized transaction volume on the platform.

Our mission is to save local governments and essential services businesses time and money. We started with fire departments two years ago and have since expanded into EMS and heavy-duty, launching new verticals while growing revenue >10x last year.

If you move fast, hold a high bar, and want meaningful ownership in building a category-defining company, Garage is the place to do it.

About the Role

We're looking for an exceptional lawyer to join Garage as our first in-house legal hire, partnering with leadership on commercial, corporate, regulatory, and operational matters.

You'll be involved in some of the most consequential decisions at Garage—from structuring financing transactions and evaluating acquisitions to negotiating strategic partnerships and significant agreements. You’ll shape the legal frameworks and policies governing our marketplace and oversee corporate governance, board matters, equity administration, and compliance, while building the legal infrastructure to support our growth.

What You’ll Do
  • Serve as Garage's primary internal legal advisor, partnering with leadership across commercial, corporate, regulatory, and operational matters.

  • Draft, negotiate, and manage commercial agreements, including customer, vendor, and strategic partnership contracts.

  • Own the legal frameworks governing our marketplace.

  • Manage corporate governance, board matters, equity administration, and compliance.

  • Advise and oversee outside counsel across specialized legal matters, including litigation, regulatory issues, employment, intellectual property, and complex corporate transactions.

  • Structure and negotiate significant commercial partnership agreements

Who You Are
  • Must be licensed to practice law in at least one jurisdiction.

  • A JD from a top law school and a minimum of 4 years of legal experience, ideally with top-tier law firm training and/or in-house experience at a high-growth company.

  • Demonstrated experience independently managing and closing commercial agreements, with strong legal and business judgment.

  • Ability to navigate a broad range of legal matters, work through ambiguity, and balance legal considerations with business objectives.

  • Strong organizational skills and the ability to build scalable processes and systems from the ground up.

Our Values
  • Take Big Swings. We are here to transform an overlooked industry—not make small improvements around the edges. We set ambitious goals, take calculated risks, and push through setbacks. We never trade lasting impact for short-term comfort.

  • Customers Come First. Our customers operate in an industry burdened by slow, expensive, and outdated processes. We attack the problems that cost them the most and measure our success by the time and money we give back to them.

  • Play For the Front of the Jersey. We put the mission ahead of ourselves. We challenge each other directly, support each other relentlessly, and step up whenever the team needs us. We win together, and we have fun doing it.

  • All Gas, No Ego. Building something that matters takes relentless effort. We move fast, take ownership, and see hard problems through. When we fall short, we own it, learn quickly, and come back stronger.

Why Join Garage?
  • Do work that matters. Our platform helps people buy the assets that local communities rely on to keep their communities safe, clean, and operating every day.

  • Help shape the company. Join as one of our first 50 employees and work directly alongside the founders.

  • Make an outsized impact. You’ll join a talent-dense, high-performance team where every person moves the company forward.

  • Build from a strong foundation. We’ve raised $18M, including a $13.5M Series A, from Y Combinator, Initialized Capital, Infinity Ventures, FJ Labs, and other leading investors.

What we offer
  • Competitive salary and stock options

  • 100% medical, dental and vision insurance coverage

  • Unlimited PTO (in addition to company observed holidays)

  • Daily lunch & dinner (for employees based in NYC)

  • $100/month wellness stipend

  • 401(k) w/ employer match

  • Pre-tax commuter benefits

  • Annual team offsite

  • Relocation assistance

We realize applying for jobs can feel daunting at times. We don’t expect you to check all the qualification boxes and encourage you to apply if you have experience in some of the areas.

Equal Opportunity

As an equal-opportunity employer, we are committed to building an inclusive environment where you can be you. We work hard to evaluate all employees and job applicants consistently, without regard to race, color, religion, gender, natural origin, age, disability, pregnancy, gender expression or identity, sexual orientation, or any other legally protected class.

Skills Required

  • Licensed to practice law in at least one jurisdiction
  • Juris Doctor degree from a top law school
  • Minimum of 4 years of legal experience
  • Experience with top-tier law firm training and/or in-house experience at a high-growth company
  • Experience independently managing and closing commercial agreements
  • Strong legal and business judgment
  • Ability to handle a broad range of legal matters and work through ambiguity
  • Ability to balance legal considerations with business objectives
  • Strong organizational skills
  • Ability to build scalable processes and systems from the ground up

Garage Compensation & Benefits Highlights

The following summarizes recurring compensation and benefits themes identified from responses generated by popular LLMs to common candidate questions about Garage and has not been reviewed or approved by Garage.

  • Wellbeing & Lifestyle Benefits — The employee merchandise discount is consistently highlighted as a standout perk for store staff, and some roles advertise daily meals and a monthly wellness stipend. These lifestyle benefits add tangible value alongside base pay.
  • Healthcare Strength — Corporate and U.S. tech job listings describe employer-paid medical, dental, and vision coverage with clear summaries in postings. This indicates robust healthcare support for those tracks.
  • Retirement Support — Retirement programs with employer matching are called out for eligible roles. This includes 401(k) support in U.S. postings and matched plans noted in corporate materials.

Garage Insights

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The Company
HQ: New York, NY
38 Employees
Year Founded: 2023

What We Do

Garage powers the exchange of critical assets across America’s essential industries. We started with fire departments, where purchasing mission-critical vehicles and equipment used to take months of paperwork, phone calls, and delays. Our agentic platform automates the entire transaction: discovery, payments, freight, paperwork, warranty, and financing. What once took months now takes minutes. In under a year, we’ve expanded to cities and towns in all 50 states and grown revenue more than 10x. Based in New York, we’ve raised $18M from Y Combinator, Initialized Capital, Infinity Ventures, FJ Labs, and other leading investors. We’re moving fast, growing quickly, and just getting started.

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