Overview
A fast-growing technology organization is seeking a Legal Counsel to lead legal, compliance, and contractual matters across multiple entities within the group. This role involves full ownership of the end-to-end legal function, serving as the primary contact for all legal issues including commercial contracts, IT law, employment law, data protection, and regulatory compliance.
Responsibilities
- Draft, review, and negotiate a variety of commercial contracts such as client agreements, master service agreements (MSAs), statements of work (SOWs), non-disclosure agreements (NDAs), vendor agreements, and subcontracting arrangements.
- Maintain and update the company’s contract template library and standard legal documentation.
- Ensure compliance with GDPR and act as the internal point of contact for data protection matters; coordinate with external Data Protection Officers as necessary.
- Advise on public sector and defense-related regulatory requirements, including export control and security-related contractual obligations.
- Manage relationships with external legal counsel, including scoping, briefing, and quality control of outside advice.
- Support corporate governance across group entities, including shareholder issues, intercompany agreements, and subsidiary structuring.
Requirements
- Fully qualified lawyer in Germany with successfully completed First and Second State Examinations (Erstes und Zweites Staatsexamen).
- Admission to the German bar (zugelassene/r Rechtsanwalt / Rechtsanwältin).
- Minimum of 4 years post-qualification legal experience, ideally combining in-house and private practice environments.
- Strong expertise in drafting, reviewing, and negotiating commercial B2B contracts, especially in IT and software law, including software licensing, SaaS agreements, and intellectual property clauses.
- Solid knowledge of German employment law with experience advising on day-to-day employment matters.
- Practical experience with GDPR and data protection compliance, including drafting and negotiating data processing agreements and managing data subject requests.
- Prior experience working at a large law firm.
- Pragmatic, business-oriented mindset with excellent communication and stakeholder management skills.
- Comfortable working in a technology environment and quick to learn digital tools.
- Full professional fluency in German (native or equivalent) and English, with the ability to draft contracts and provide legal advice in both languages.
Preferred Qualifications
- Experience advising on public sector contracts or framework agreements such as EVB-IT, VOL/A, or equivalents.
- Familiarity with export control law (AWG, AWV, Dual-Use Regulation) or security clearance-related requirements under SÜG.
- Previous in-house experience at a technology startup or scale-up.
Compensation & Benefits
- Opportunity to build and lead the legal function within a fast-growing deep-tech company.
- High autonomy and direct collaboration with founders and leadership.
- Broad exposure to commercial, technology, data protection, employment, and regulatory legal matters.
- Remote-first work arrangement within Germany, with occasional team events in Berlin.
- Home office budget and high-quality equipment provided.
- 30 days of vacation annually.
- Opportunity to have a direct impact on critical missions serving both private and public sector clients.
Location
Remote-first within Germany, with occasional in-person events in Berlin.