Overview
Founding Legal Counsel — Healthcare & Benefits Law Jobs in Austin, Texas Metropolitan Area at The Oati
Title: Founding Legal Counsel — Healthcare & Benefits Law
Company: The Oati
Location: Austin, Texas Metropolitan Area
CHIC · United States · Founding equity role · Remote with travel
Sweat equity Retainer at funding Healthcare regulatory ERISA & benefits law Founding team
CHIC is building the first B2B marketplace enabling large self-insured employers to pre-purchase standardised clinical capacity from elite US hospital systems at locked-in prices. We are a pre-revenue founding team with institutional healthcare, technology, and clinical leadership already in place — now looking for a founding legal counsel who wants to build something genuinely novel, not bill hours on someone else's vision.
This is a founding equity role. You will shape the legal architecture of a new commercial product category from day one, work directly with the founding team, and transition onto a retained basis at SAFE close.
What you will own
Lead the legal opinion on Capacity Reservations classification — the single most important legal question in the business, sitting at the intersection of commercial contract law, insurance regulation, and securities law
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Structure and negotiate commercial agreements with hospital systems and self-insured employer clients
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Advise on ERISA implications of our employer-facing product and ensure regulatory readiness before market entry
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Support investor and fundraising legal processes including SAFE documentation, term sheet review, and due diligence
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Build and maintain the company's legal infrastructure — entity governance, IP, employment, equity, and compliance frameworks as we grow
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Sit at the founding table and contribute commercially, not just legally — we want a lawyer who thinks like an entrepreneur
What we are looking for
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JD with 8+ years in healthcare regulatory, employee benefits, or provider contracting law — ideally across at least two of these three areas
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Deep working knowledge of ERISA, self-insured employer health plan structures, and how large employers procure healthcare services
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Experience advising on novel healthcare commercial product classification — you have navigated ambiguous regulatory territory before and found a path forward, not a reason to stop
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Prior in-house experience at a hospital system, health plan, or self-insured employer is a strong advantage
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Comfortable operating with founder-level autonomy and ambiguity — this is not a role for someone who needs a defined brief before they engage
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Entrepreneurial instinct — you want equity in something you help build, not just a fee for services rendered
Compensation structure
Founding equity
3.5% (negotiable to 4% for exceptional profile)
Vesting
4-year reverse vest, 12-month cliff
Acceleration
Double-trigger on change of control
Pre-funding
Sweat equity — deferred cash compensation
At SAFE close
$8,000–$12,000/month retainer (scoped)
Exclusivity
No advising of direct competitors during tenure
The founding team you are joining
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CEO with healthcare SaaS founding and exit experience, KKR advisory relationship
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CTO with Stanford Executive Program pedigree, regulated fintech and healthtech platform delivery at scale, US citizen
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Chief Medical Officer — Tenured Professor and Vice Chair at NYU Langone Health, Harvard MD, Wharton MBA, NIH-funded researcher
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Chief Science Officer with documented relationships at Mayo Clinic, Cleveland Clinic, Walmart, and Visa
If you are a healthcare lawyer who has spent years thinking there has to be a better way to structure this — this is your opportunity to build it. Applications and introductions welcome via LinkedIn message or direct outreach to the founding team.
If you are a healthcare lawyer who has spent years thinking there has to be a better way to structure this — this is your opportunity to build it. Applications and introductions welcome via LinkedIn message or direct outreach to the founding team.
