General Counsel New London (London)

Prolific is not just another player in the AI space—we are the architects of the human data infrastructure that’s reshaping the landscape of AI development. In a world where foundational AI technologies are increasingly commoditized, it’s the quality and diversity of human-generated data that truly differentiates products and models.

The role:

As General Counsel, you will play a pivotal role at Prolific. You will lead Prolific’s in-house Legal team, overseeing Legal, Risk and Compliance. You will have the opportunity to make a real impact, ensuring the delivery of sound, commercially-focused legal and compliance advice across all areas of the business.

What you will do:

• Be part of the Leadership Team at Prolific, building strong relationships with our Exco, and supporting Prolific’s growth, whilst ensuring the business remains compliant and manages risk.
• Legal & Compliance Strategy: Define and execute a forward-looking legal and compliance roadmap aligned with Prolific’s growth objectives. Act as a strategic advisor to leadership and a key voice on the exec team, delivering proactive, commercially-focused legal and compliance guidance.
• Manager and Develop Our Legal & Information Security Team: Lead and develop our internal Legal team of 4.
• Legal & Regulatory Compliance: Ensure Prolific stays ahead of continuously evolving regulations. Anticipate legal and regulatory shifts, advising the business on implications and action. Lead the development and maintenance of scalable compliance frameworks and policies.
• Data protection: Ensure Prolific remains compliant with data protection laws and regulations, with particular focus on the UK, EU and US. Ensure the delivery of timely, commercially-focused advice and guidance in supporting multiple data initiatives.
• Risk Management: Own our enterprise risk framework, including the risk management process. Collaborate closely with the business to support risk assessments, mitigation strategies, and reporting.
• Information Security: Lead the legal and compliance aspects of Prolific’s information security programme, including ISO 27001 and SOC2 standards. Maintain Prolific's information security certifications. Closely collaborate with the tech team to ensure robust information and cyber security.
• Corporate Governance: Manage corporate governance, including board and shareholders approvals, company records and filings, investor ESG requests, and secretarial duties.
• Corporate Development: Lead legal workstreams on fundraising and M&A activity. Act as a trusted partner to the finance and exec teams on strategic transactions.
• Employee Share Option Scheme: Support the finance team with Prolific’s share option scheme.
• Contracting: Own the full lifecycle of commercial contracts—drafting, negotiating, and advising at pace. Support teams across the business with pragmatic, business-first legal input. Manage customer and other agreements and implement scalable contracting processes. Lead updates and negotiations of customer-facing terms in close partnership with sales. Ensure our terms remain market-aligned, clear, and compliant.
• Legal Budget & External Counsel: Manage the legal budget with a sharp focus on ROI. Build strong, efficient relationships with external firms to maximize value and expertise.
• Team Efficiency & Business Enablement: Continuously improve how Legal partners with the business—accelerating decision-making and simplifying legal processes. Build scalable internal workflows and playbooks.
• Legal Tech & AI: Champion legal tech adoption, including AI-powered tools, to streamline legal operations and enable faster, smarter support at scale.

What you’ll bring:

You’re an experienced legal leader with 10 years + PQE, ideally including time in a fast-paced startup or scale-up environment as General Counsel. You think strategically and deliver clear, actionable legal advice that aligns with business goals. Commercially minded and pragmatic, you know how to apply the right legal lens without losing sight of the bigger picture. You thrive in fast-moving environments, juggling multiple priorities with speed and precision. You’re proactive in gathering information across the business and can drive multiple workstreams to high-quality outcomes—fast. You’re a strong communicator who simplifies complex legal concepts, builds trust across teams, and collaborates effectively to shape and influence decisions. Even better if you have experience with US law.

Why Prolific is a great place to work:

We’ve built a unique platform that connects researchers and companies with a global pool of participants, enabling the collection of high-quality, ethically sourced human behavioral data and feedback. This data is the cornerstone of developing more accurate, nuanced, and aligned AI systems. We believe that the next leap in AI capabilities won’t come solely from scaling existing models but from integrating diverse human perspectives and behaviors into AI development. By providing this crucial human data infrastructure, Prolific is positioning itself at the forefront of the next wave of AI innovation—one that reflects the breadth and the best of humanity. Working for us will place you at the forefront of AI innovation, providing access to our unique human data platform and opportunities for groundbreaking research. Join us to enjoy a competitive salary, benefits, and remote working within our impactful, mission-driven culture.