Fractional General Counsel / Head of Legal

Norven is an early-stage AI company building a high-trust network of exceptional human expertise for consequential AI work. We are building the company from first principles: combining expert judgement, rigorous operating standards and technology to support organisations working with increasingly capable AI systems. We are now looking for an experienced Fractional General Counsel / Head of Legal to work closely with the founder and help establish the legal foundations of the company. This is not a traditional in-house legal role. We are looking for someone who can help build the legal operating system of the business, personally produce high-quality work and make pragmatic decisions about what needs external specialist counsel — and what does not.

The immediate objective is to create a lean, commercially useful and investor-ready legal framework that allows Norven to:

• Contract with its first customers;
• Engage and deploy specialist experts;
• Protect intellectual property and confidential information;
• Establish appropriate founder, employee and contractor arrangements;
• Build repeatable commercial contracting processes;
• Manage privacy, data and technology risks appropriately;
• Develop scalable legal processes as the expert network grows;
• Remain clean for future institutional investment and due diligence.

You will work directly with the founder and have significant influence over how the company's legal infrastructure is designed.

Initial priorities

• Commercial and customer contracting: Build a practical first-client contracting framework, including where appropriate: Master Services Agreements; Statements of Work and order forms; pilot and design-partner agreements; NDAs; technology and AI-related service schedules; intellectual-property and data-rights provisions; liability, indemnity, reliance and warranty architecture; commercial negotiation positions and fallback terms; and procurement and contracting processes suitable for enterprise customers.
• Expert network: Help build a scalable legal framework for engaging highly experienced external experts and specialist contributors.
• Corporate, founder and team matters: Support the founder with the legal infrastructure around the company's formation and growth.
• Technology, IP and data: Establish sensible early-stage controls around ownership and chain of title for company IP; software and code contributions; contractor and employee-created IP; open-source and third-party software; repositories, cloud services and technical accounts; customer and expert information; privacy and data protection; security obligations; technology-provider contracts; and product and commercial claims.
• Fundraising and investor readiness: Support cap-table and governance hygiene; founder and employee equity; financing documentation; investor due diligence; data-room preparation; IP chain-of-title review; material-contract review; corporate housekeeping; and coordination with specialist external counsel where required.

What we are looking for

You are likely to be a UK-qualified lawyer with substantial experience in one or more of: venture-backed startups and scale-ups; technology companies; venture capital; commercial technology agreements; corporate and shareholder matters; founder arrangements; employment and senior executive contracts; employee equity; intellectual property; privacy and data protection; or enterprise technology procurement.

Previous in-house experience within a startup, scale-up, technology company or venture-backed business would be particularly relevant. We would also welcome applications from experienced lawyers who have moved from leading technology or corporate law firms into fractional practice.

The person

This role is likely to suit someone who is: commercially minded; highly pragmatic; comfortable operating in an early-stage environment; capable of drafting themselves rather than simply managing external advisers; able to distinguish material risk from theoretical risk; comfortable making recommendations where not every fact is settled; organised enough to establish repeatable systems and legal processes; comfortable working directly with a founder; interested in technology and AI; able to move between strategic advice and detailed execution; and motivated by helping build a company rather than servicing one from a distance.

We particularly value lawyers who understand that an early-stage company should be well protected without becoming over-lawyered.

What this role is not

This is not primarily a role for: managing a panel of external law firms; producing long legal memoranda; supervising a large internal legal department; providing purely regulatory or compliance advice; or joining a mature business with an established legal infrastructure. You will be helping create that infrastructure.

Working arrangement

Engagement: Fractional / consultancy
Location: United Kingdom
Commitment: Initially approximately 1–2 days per week
Working model: Primarily remote with occasional meetings where useful

We are deliberately looking for someone operating on a fractional or portfolio basis. You do not need to leave an existing practice or other fractional appointments. The engagement may expand materially as the company grows, begins working with larger customers and raises external capital.

To apply

Please apply with your CV or LinkedIn profile and, ideally, a short note covering:

• Your experience working with startups, scale-ups or venture-backed technology companies.
• Examples of legal infrastructure you have personally built at an early-stage company.
• Your experience drafting commercial technology/customer agreements.
• Your experience with founder, senior hire, employment, IP or equity arrangements.
• Whether you have supported a company through a venture financing or institutional due-diligence process.
• Your current fractional availability.
• Your indicative day rate or preferred monthly-retainer structure.

We are particularly interested in hearing from people who want to become a trusted legal partner to the founder and company from an early stage, rather than simply provide reactive legal advice.