Head of Legal in London

At Ledgy, we’re on a mission to make Europe a powerhouse of entrepreneurship by building a modern, tech‑driven equity management and financial reporting platform for private and public companies. In 2026, we aim to be the leading provider for European IPOs and reporting for share‑based payments. We are a value‑based company with a core focus on being humble, transparent, ambitious and impactful, all in order to deliver the best experience for our customers and end users.

About the Role

As Head of Legal, you will lead and continue to develop our legal team, inheriting a strong, capable group and taking it to the next stage of growth. You'll remain hands‑on across commercial, corporate, compliance and operational legal matters, acting as the senior legal voice in the business and a trusted advisor to the leadership team as we continue to scale across multiple jurisdictions, manage risk, and mature our legal infrastructure, processes and governance.

Key Responsibilities

• Team Leadership
  • Act as a strategic legal advisor to the executive team and board on key business decisions.
  • Lead, manage and continue to develop our existing legal team, building further capability and capacity in line with the company's continued growth.
  • Direct and manage relationships with external counsel and fractional advisers.
• Corporate and governance
  • Lead on corporate governance matters across the group's entities.
  • Act as company secretary (or oversee this function), ensuring the business meets its ongoing corporate compliance obligations in relevant jurisdictions, including Switzerland, the UK and Germany.
  • Support investor relations from a legal perspective, including shareholder communications, corporate actions and any future fundraising activity.
  • Maintain and continuously improve the group's corporate structure, including subsidiary governance and inter‑company arrangements as the business expands.
• Commercial contracting
  • Lead negotiation of high‑value, bespoke commercial agreements with customers, partners and vendors, including enterprise SaaS contracts, MSAs, DPAs and strategic partnership agreements.
  • Continue to refine the existing suite of template agreements and playbooks to enable faster, lower‑risk deal cycles as the business scales.
  • Provide pragmatic, commercially‑minded legal input that balances risk mitigation with deal velocity.
• Legal operations and AI governance
  • Working hand‑in‑hand with our AI and RevOps teams, build on existing legal operations, including contract lifecycle management, legal tech tooling, workflows, knowledge management and budgeting, identifying opportunities for further improvement.
  • Develop and maintain the company's approach to AI governance, including policies and frameworks for the use of AI tools internally and AI‑related features within the product, working closely with product and engineering teams.
  • Drive efficiency and self‑service across the business through clear processes, training and accessible legal resources.
• Risk management and compliance
  • Identify, assess and manage legal and regulatory risk across the business, horizon scanning for upcoming changes in law and regulation across the UK, EU and further afield.
  • Own and maintain the company's compliance frameworks, policies and corporate governance documentation.
  • Strong working knowledge of data privacy law (UK/EU GDPR, Swiss FADP), with the judgement to apply this confidently in collaboration with the information security and data teams.
• Cross‑functional partnership
  • Build strong working relationships with key stakeholders across finance, sales, marketing, product and information security, embedding legal input proactively in business processes.
  • Support the sales team on deal structuring, contract negotiation and escalations to help close revenue efficiently.
  • Partner with finance on corporate matters and governance requirements arising from the company's investor relationships.
• International expansion
  • Lead on the legal aspects of continued international expansion, including new entity set‑up, employment and regulatory considerations, and local law advice coordination across new jurisdictions.
  • Manage relationships with external counsel across multiple jurisdictions, ensuring cost‑effective and high‑quality legal support.

About You

• 8+ years PQE, with significant experience gained in‑house in a fast‑paced, dynamic scale‑up environment.
• Proven experience leading and developing a small legal team in a resourceful way.
• Strong commercial experience in a SaaS business, including negotiating high‑value, bespoke contracts with customers, partners and vendors.
• Demonstrable legal operations experience, with an understanding of how to approach AI governance for both internal tooling and product development.
• A track record of building effective partnerships with stakeholders across finance, sales, marketing, product and infosec.
• Strong risk management skills, with the ability to horizon scan and anticipate emerging legal and regulatory issues.
• Experience supporting international/global expansion, ideally across UK, European and US jurisdictions.
• Excellent judgement, with a pragmatic, solutions‑oriented and commercially astute approach to legal advice.
• Strong and effective communication and influencing skills, comfortable operating at board level.

Nice to Have

• An AI‑first mindset, with experience embedding AI tools into legal workflows to drive efficiency.
• Swiss law experience.
• Experience supporting M&A or other corporate transactions.
• Financial services regulatory experience, in particular familiarity with the regulatory landscape for equity/share plan administration across jurisdictions.
• Experience inheriting an existing legal team.

Being part of Ledgy means: Recharge and re‑energize with flexible working hours, 25 days of vacation, and up to 40 days of remote work from outside your home country. We make space for your own professional development, with a generous yearly learning & development budget. This role will receive a competitive salary + benefits + equity. All salaries are aligned with competitively benchmarked ranges based on work location and levelling. Private health insurance. Enhanced parental leave. Cycle‑to‑work scheme. This is a London‑based role with a hybrid work model of 2 days in the office per week. Ledgy is an equal opportunities employer and welcomes applications from all suitably qualified candidates.