General Counsel

ABOUT NOOKS Nooks is pioneering Classified-Infrastructure-as-a-Service (CIaaS) — designing, building, and operating Sensitive Compartmented Information Facilities (SCIFs) and other secured, classified environments for the defense and national security community. We work with the agencies, contractors, and mission-driven organizations that keep the nation safe, delivering the physical infrastructure that makes classified work possible. We’re growing fast, operating across multiple markets, and building a company that takes both the mission and the business seriously.ABOUT THE ROLE Nooks is seeking a General Counsel (GC) to serve as a core strategic leader as we scale the world's first nationwide network of classified infrastructure. Reporting directly to the CEO and seated at the executive table, you will build our legal function from the ground up — from strategy through systems. This is a greenfield builder role: there is no existing in-house team, no inherited playbook, and no margin for a compliance-first, risk-averse mindset. You will own the legal architecture that enables Nooks to move fast across a genuinely complex regulatory environment — one where the frameworks are often antiquated, the gray areas are wide, and the stakes are high. Your job is not to default to 'no.' It is to find the path forward. You will know when to execute in-house, when to deploy outside counsel, and why — and you will build the internal infrastructure, workflows, and team to deliver legal as a function the business wants to engage with, not route around. If you are a hungry, growth-oriented legal leader who sees early-stage equity and exponential scale as the opportunity of a career — and you are ready to build something consequential — this is your seat. KEY RESPONSIBILITIES: Serve as primary legal advisor to the CEO and Executive Team; translate complex, often ambiguous regulatory landscapes into clear, actionable business guidance that advances growth rather than constraining it. Design and own the strategy for in-house versus outside counsel execution — determining which competencies to build internally, which to retain externally, and managing outside counsel relationships for cost, quality, and outcomes. Build the legal function from the ground up: hire and develop in-house legal talent; design workflows, tools, and intake processes that allow Operations and Sales to engage with legal efficiently and without friction. Own proactive risk identification and mitigation across Nooks' operational and commercial exposure — particularly product liability and litigation risk stemming from classified infrastructure failure — before claims arise, not after. Develop and implement a novel, company-specific risk management framework; the application at Nooks will not mirror existing industry models and requires original design thinking. Architect and continuously refine compliance programs across CMMC, ITAR, FAR/DFARS, and applicable federal and commercial regulator...