Legal Counsel in London

A week in the life of our Legal Counsel:

• Monday: A new enterprise customer wants to redline our MSA. You review their playbook and respond within hours, flagging blockers to the FD before they become deal delays.
• Tuesday: ISO 27001 surveillance audit is six weeks out. You work through the evidence pack with our vCISO, reviewing updated policies and closing out open action items from the last cycle, ensuring the audit trail is clean.
• Wednesday: In the office on Oxford Street. You review a new vendor DPA – the subprocessor list needs updating and the standard terms don't meet our UK GDPR obligations. You redraft, send back, and move on.
• Thursday: Employment matter. A new AE offer letter needs non‐compete language tightened. You deliver the revised letter the same day, flag the IP assignment clause to the FD, and update the standard template so it doesn't happen again.
• Friday: Board prep support. The FD needs a one‐pager on a contract's liability position ahead of next week's investor call. You draft it in an hour – clear, commercial, no unnecessary hedging.

This is legal at Fifth Dimension. You're not a gatekeeper – you're an enabler who moves fast and manages risk without slowing the business down.

What you'll do:

• As our Legal Counsel, you'll build 5D's legal function from scratch – the contractual infrastructure, compliance posture, and risk framework that supports every major commercial and operational decision between now and Series B.

Commercial (50%):

• Own the full lifecycle of customer contracts – NDAs, MSAs, order forms, DPAs, and amendments – negotiating directly with procurement and legal counterparts at enterprise customers.
• Draft and negotiate vendor, partner, and employment agreements.
• Maintain and continuously improve our contract templates and negotiation playbooks.
• Manage a contract tracker; own the pipeline of open legal matters and keep deals moving.
• Brief and manage external counsel on matters beyond your scope.

Compliance (30%):

• Own our data protection function day‐to‐day: UK GDPR, US state privacy law, and cross‐border transfer mechanisms (UK/EU/US/SG).
• Work closely with our vCISO to maintain ISO 27001 and SOC 2 compliance – owning the legal and policy layer, supporting audit cycles, and closing out action items.
• Draft and maintain privacy notices, DPAs, and internal data governance policies.
• Advise product and engineering teams on privacy‐by‐design as we ship new features.
• Monitor the regulatory environment and flag material changes to the business.

Corporate, Employment & IP (20%):

• Handle UK employment matters: offer letters, contracts, IP assignments, restrictive covenants.
• Coordinate US and Singapore employment matters alongside external counsel.
• Support board consents, subsidiary maintenance, and cap‐table‐adjacent matters.
• Maintain our IP register and advise on licensing and ownership questions as the product evolves.

What we're looking for:

• You've spent a few years in‐house at a SaaS or tech business – or trained at a commercial firm and spent enough time on tech clients that you know exactly how enterprise software contracts work and how to close them.
• You have a clear, low‐ego risk profile: you know when to hold a position and when to move on, and you never let perfect be the enemy of progress.
• You bring Qualified solicitor (England & Wales), 3–6 PQE with US experience.
• SaaS or B2B tech experience – either in‐house or with a significant tech client base in private practice.
• Strong commercial drafter: fast, clean, and position‐led – you improve contracts, not just mark them up.
• Working knowledge of UK GDPR and practical experience managing compliance programmes or certification cycles (ISO 27001 / SOC 2 exposure strongly preferred).
• Genuine AI literacy – you use Claude or equivalent tools in your workflow; drafting without them would feel like leaving performance on the table.
• Pragmatic risk profile – you give clear answers, not endless caveats, and you understand that a 90% answer delivered today beats a perfect answer delivered next week.
• Project management instincts – you track your matters, close your actions, and keep stakeholders informed without being chased.
• Excellent communication skills – you have the ability to interact effectively when negotiating with customers, and communicating to the business internally.

Bonus points if you have:

• Experience with multi‐jurisdictional structures (UK parent, US / Singapore subsidiaries).
• Exposure to EIS/SEIS, investor rights agreements, or post‐Series A governance.
• Proptech, real estate, or financial services sector experience.
• Previous experience supporting a fundraise or regulatory due diligence process.

What we offer:

• £100–120k salary per annum + bonus + meaningful equity (on a standard vesting schedule).
• Enhanced pension contributions (5%).
• Unlimited annual leave.
• £100 monthly wellbeing budget.
• £1,000 annual training budget.
• Electric car scheme (salary sacrifice).
• Tailored support for exceptional challenges, which may include contributions to: gender‐affirming care, private specialists and diagnostic scans, ADHD / Autism diagnosis, IVF / fertility care, therapy.
• Enhanced parental leave: 14 weeks full pay for primary caregiver (followed by statutory pay); 6 weeks full pay for secondary caregiver.
• Flexible working – hybrid (Wednesdays in our Oxford Street office), judged on output not hours. Quarterly team weeks in London, regular travel to New York and Singapore as the business grows.

Department: Legal; Location: London; Remote status: Hybrid.