Legal Counsel - Compliance in London

Before the detail, here's the challenge you'd help us solve. We build the embodied intelligence that moves real vehicles safely, and the ecosystem a billion machines will run on in the future.

About our Legal Team: Wayve's Legal Team enables the business to achieve its goals while appropriately identifying and managing legal risk. This role sits within our Commercial Legal team, reports to the Managing Counsel, and will play an important role as Wayve scales globally and brings embodied AI technology into real-world deployment.

Based in London, you'll work closely with commercial, procurement, engineering, product, privacy, People and Fleet Operations teams on a broad range of commercial and cross-border matters. You'll have significant ownership and autonomy, helping stakeholders understand legal and commercial risks and finding practical paths forward in areas where precedent and market practice may still be developing.

Your day-to-day: You'll independently manage a broad range of day-to-day commercial legal matters while partnering closely with colleagues across the business. You'll draft and negotiate agreements, advise on IP, AI, data, privacy and employment matters, and support strategic initiatives, international expansion and new product deployments. This is an opportunity for a commercially minded lawyer who enjoys working at the intersection of law, AI, product innovation and operational scale. You'll need to be comfortable exercising judgement in a fast-moving environment, clearly communicating risk and helping the business find solutions rather than simply identifying obstacles.

What you'll be working on:

• Drafting, reviewing and negotiating a broad range of commercial agreements, from supplier, software/SaaS, services and other operational contracts through to bespoke agreements with OEM customers and Tier 1 suppliers involving significant IP, data, privacy and other technology-related issues.
• Advising on intellectual property, AI and data usage, including data used for AI development and training, alongside other members of the Legal team and external counsel where required.
• Working through novel and emerging legal questions at the intersection of law and AI, including areas where legal frameworks, precedent and market practice are still developing.
• Advising the People team on employment and HR matters relating to Wayve's global workforce, working with local counsel where specialist jurisdictional advice is required.
• Advising on data protection and privacy, including the use and sharing of data in connection with Wayve's products, commercial relationships, and AI development and training.
• Supporting strategic initiatives, international expansion and new product deployments from a commercial legal perspective.
• Supporting Fleet Operations and other operational teams in connection with the operation, testing and deployment of Wayve's vehicle fleet across international markets.
• Building and improving scalable legal processes, templates, playbooks and governance structures to support Wayve's growth and increasing contracting volume.
• Educating and enabling stakeholders on commercial risk, contracting best practices and legal processes, while supporting other members of the Legal team.

You trained at a leading law firm and have approximately 2–4 years of relevant post-qualification experience, although we are open to candidates with more or less experience. You have strong experience drafting and negotiating complex commercial agreements, including procurement, supply chain, technology and vendor contracts. You are comfortable negotiating directly with commercial counterparties and can communicate legal positions clearly and pragmatically. You have excellent communication and stakeholder management skills and can distil complex legal issues into clear explanations of legal and commercial risk for non-legal stakeholders. You have experience supporting strategic commercial transactions and working closely with business stakeholders in fast-moving, technology-driven environments. You exercise strong commercial judgement, assessing legal risk in the context of broader business objectives and providing practical, solutions-oriented advice. You have experience partnering cross-functionally and can communicate effectively with both legal and non-legal experts. You're enthusiastic about getting stuck into a broad range of legal matters, including areas outside your existing experience, and are comfortable tackling novel questions where precedent may be limited. Experience within automotive, mobility or the broader technology sector is a major plus, particularly at an OEM, Tier 1 supplier or similarly complex engineering-led organisation. Experience supporting OEM, strategic partnership or other large-scale B2B transactions involving hardware, software, data or integrated technology solutions is a plus. Exposure to AI, data or autonomous vehicle-related legal issues is a plus. Cross-border commercial advisory experience across the UK, US, Europe and Japan is a plus. Experience supporting commercial or employment matters in Germany, including familiarity with the German legal and regulatory environment and working with German stakeholders and local counsel, is a plus. Experience helping automate and scale legal processes, templates or commercial legal functions is a plus. We are most interested in strong foundational commercial skills, sound judgement and a proven ability to navigate complex legal landscapes in a fast-moving environment.

More about Wayve: Wayve is building the leading AI platform for autonomous driving. The result is technology that navigates complex urban environments with intelligence, precision and natural flow, unlocking meaningful advances in both safety and efficiency. We believe autonomy represents a once in a generation transformation in how people and goods move, comparable to the shift from horses to cars, and from human driven vehicles to intelligent machines. Wayve's mapless and hardware agnostic AI platform integrates with global OEM partners, enabling continuous software evolution and unlocking advanced levels of automation from L2 plus through to L4 as our core AI model scales. In a race increasingly defined by intelligence and real world learning, Wayve is taking a distinct approach, building a generalisable driving intelligence that can power any vehicle, anywhere. By combining embodied AI with scalable deployment, we are creating technology that can be shaped to each OEM brand and driver experience, accelerating the transition to a safer, more intelligent future of mobility.

How we work: This is a full-time role based in our London office. Our main hubs are in London, Sunnyvale, Yokohama, Herzliya, Vancouver and Leonberg. We operate a hybrid working model that combines in-person collaboration in our dedicated office spaces with focused time working remotely. This gives our teams the connection and energy of working together, alongside the flexibility to do their best work in a way that fits their lives. Some international travel may be required.

Salaries benchmarked against the market annually. Meaningful equity, sharing in the ownership and long term success of Wayve. Relocation support and visa sponsorship where applicable. Hybrid working, core hours and the chance to work hands-on in vehicle workshops and labs. Learning and development budgets with support for training, conferences and growth. Comprehensive benefits including health insurance, dental, enhanced maternity and paternity leave, retirement or pension where applicable, access to therapists, wellbeing partnerships, team socials and more.

A quick, honest note before you apply: Much of how we work is still being written, and if you join, you'll help write it. At Wayve we're committed to creating a diverse, fair and respectful culture that is inclusive of everyone based on their unique skills and perspectives, and regardless of sex, race, religion or belief, ethnic or national origin, disability, age, citizenship, marital, domestic or civil partnership status, sexual orientation, gender identity, veteran status, pregnancy or related condition (including breastfeeding) or any other basis as protected by applicable law.