Senior Legal Counsel: IP & Commercial in London

HappyRobot is the AI-native operating system for the real economy—a system that closes the circuit between intelligence and action. By combining real-time truth, specialized AI workers, and an orchestrating intelligence, we help enterprises run complex, mission-critical operations with true autonomy.

Our AI OS compounds knowledge, optimizes at every level, and evolves over time. We’re starting with supply chain and industrial-scale operations, where resilience, speed, and continuous improvement matter most—freeing humans to focus on strategy, creativity, and other high-value tasks.

About the Role: We’re looking for a smart, practical, and business-oriented Legal Counsel to support our growing business with a focus on intellectual property and commercial agreements. This role will work cross-functionally with product, engineering, sales, partnerships, and operations teams to ensure our IP is protected and our commercial arrangements are sound, scalable, and aligned with our strategic goals.

Responsibilities:

• Draft, review, and negotiate a wide range of commercial agreements, including SaaS agreements, MSAs, enterprise agreements, licensing agreements, vendor agreements, reseller agreements, partnership agreements, Order Forms, DPAs, NDAs, and services agreements.
• Advise internal stakeholders on commercial, intellectual property, and data privacy matters related to product development, partnerships, customer relationships, and business operations.
• Review and negotiate data processing agreements (DPAs) and advise on compliance with EU data privacy laws and regulations, including GDPR and other applicable state privacy frameworks.
• Support the company’s intellectual property strategy, including trademark, copyright, patent, trade secret, and IP ownership matters.
• Assist with open-source software compliance, employee and contractor IP assignment matters, and IP diligence processes.
• Build, improve, and maintain legal templates, negotiation playbooks, internal policies, and scalable contracting workflows to increase operational efficiency.
• Provide practical, business-oriented legal advice that balances risk mitigation with commercial objectives and enables business growth.
• Monitor legal and regulatory developments related to commercial law, intellectual property, SaaS businesses, and data privacy, and assess their impact on the company.
• Support fundraising, due diligence, and other strategic corporate initiatives as needed.
• Manage external counsel effectively when specialized legal support is required.

Requirements:

• 6+ years of relevant legal experience, ideally combining experience at a reputable law firm and an in-house legal team at a startup or high-growth technology company.
• Strong experience drafting, reviewing, and negotiating SaaS agreements, MSAs, enterprise agreements, NDAs, DPAs, Order Forms and other commercial contracts.
• Solid understanding of EU data privacy laws and regulations, including GDPR and other state-specific privacy requirements.
• Experience handling intellectual property matters, including trademarks, patents, copyright, licensing, and IP ownership issues.
• Excellent drafting, negotiation, and communication skills with a pragmatic, solution-oriented, and risk-based approach.
• Strong commercial judgment and ability to balance legal risk with business priorities.
• Ability to manage multiple priorities and high contract volume efficiently in a fast-paced, high-growth environment.
• Strong sense of ownership, accountability, and execution with attention to detail and urgency.
• Proven ability to work cross-functionally and build trusted relationships with business stakeholders.

Nice to Have:

• Experience supporting fundraising transactions, due diligence exercises, and broader corporate legal matters.
• Familiarity with employment law and general corporate governance matters.
• Experience creating and implementing legal automation processes, templates, and operational workflows.
• Background in software, AI/ML, digital content, or other technology-driven industries.

Why join us?

• Opportunity to work at a high-growth AI startup, backed by top investors.
• Rapidly growing and backed by top investors including a16z, Y Combinator, and Base10.
• Ownership & Autonomy - Take full ownership of projects and ship fast.
• Top-Tier Compensation - Competitive salary + equity in a high-growth startup.
• Work With the Best - Join a world-class team of engineers and builders.

Our Operating Principles:

• Extreme Ownership: We take full responsibility for our work, outcomes, and team success.
• Craftsmanship: Putting care and intention into every task, striving for excellence.
• We are “majos”: Be friendly & have fun with your coworkers.
• Urgency with Focus: Create the highest impact in the shortest amount of time.
• Talent Density and Meritocracy: Hire only people who can raise the average.
• First-Principles Thinking: Strip a problem to physics-level facts, ignore industry dogma.

The personal data provided in your application and during the selection process will be processed by Happyrobot, Inc., acting as Data Controller.

By sending us your CV, you consent to the processing of your personal data for the purpose of evaluating and selecting you as a candidate for the position. Your personal data will be treated confidentially and will only be used for the recruitment process of the selected job offer.

If you wish to exercise your rights of access, rectification, deletion, portability or opposition in relation to your personal data, you can do so through subject to the GDPR.

For more information, visit https://www.happyrobot.ai/privacy-policy.