The former top lawyer at online retailer Zulily has become the inaugural general counsel at an  on-demand warehousing startup.

Deirdre Runnette also will serve as chief people officer at Seattle-based FLEXE, where her retail skills are likely to come in handy. Founded in 2013, FLEXE, à la an Airbnb network, links retailers and brands that need space with more than 1,000 warehouses nationwide to help resolve capacity issues.

In its announcement about Runnette, FLEXE said in addition to leading the company's legal operations, she also will help the business grow by attracting and retaining world-class talent.

“On the HR side, I'm focused on helping to make our [human resource information] systems more efficient and reinforce our innovative culture as we scale and bring on more talented employees,” Runnette told Corporate Counsel. “On the legal side, I'm focused on helping our sales and client teams with contract support to speed contract completion while also putting processes in place to help identify and mitigate risk, more broadly, within our growing company.”

Runnette said she was attracted to the opportunity since she will be responsible in building a legal department.

“FLEXE's mission of creating the open logistics network to optimize the global movement of goods was incredibly compelling, particularly given my experience in retail and e-commerce,” she said. “Having developed the legal function at Zulily, I was eager for the chance to do so again. The opportunity to develop the legal team in such an innovative culture and space, at this early stage, was something I couldn't pass up, especially because I have a chance to support the HR team as well.”

Runnette joined Zulily as GC in 2012. During her time there—she left last December—she oversaw the company's venture capital deals, initial public offering and sale to home-shopping giant QVC. Prior to Zulily, she was managing corporate counsel for legal affairs and litigation at T-Mobile for five years, according to her LinkedIn profile.

“Our technology and our people are the two ingredients essential to FLEXE's momentum and success,” FLEXE CEO and co-founder Karl Siebrecht said in the company statement. “Deirdre and David's new roles with us represent our continued, relentless commitment to investing in both. As on-demand warehousing reaches a critical tipping point, I am inspired and humbled that two individuals at the top of their respective fields share our team's passion to pursue the massive market opportunity in front of us.”

FLEXE also announced the hiring of former Amazon.com executive David Glick as chief technology officer.

Runnette earned her J.D. from the University of Montana and was in private practice at Graham & Dunn, Dorsey & Whitney and Stoel Rives, where she was a commercial litigator. She began her legal career as a law clerk to now-Senior Judge Deborah Batts of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York and had a one-year in-house stint at Safeco Insurance, LinkedIn said.