General Counsel - Global Software Company at Canonical

• We are hiring a Global General Counsel to lead our in house legal, ESG, regulatory compliance and reporting team. We focus on customer, partner, supplier, contractor and employee contracts, predominantly under US and English law. We are growing our compliance and ESG reporting capacity as part of our program to list the business on a US or UK exchange.
• This is an opportunity to work in an exciting and dynamic technology company in the software sector. The successful candidate will lead work across a very wide variety of commercial contracts, counterparts and jurisdictions. The candidate must demonstrate excellent commercial and legal judgment, leadership, and teamwork at a global executive level. The sector is competitive and demanding, our GC will lead by example on work ethic, attention to detail, innovative use of technology and problem solving.

The role entails

• Establish policy and default positions on commercial, regulatory and strategic matters
• Represent Canonical on complex regulatory matters including privacy, security, technology policy and employment in multiple jurisdictions
• Draft, review and negotiate commercial contracts, including complex agreements with large global customers
• Accountability for software licensing, technology service agreements, commercial contracts, real estate agreements, IP, tax and employment matters
• Coordination and communication with legal counsel, executives, managers, specialists and the open source or Ubuntu Community
• Legal research and independent work to produce industry- or jurisdiction-specific analysis or position statements

Required Skills & Experience

• An exceptional academic track record from both high school and university
• An undergraduate degree in law, JD or equivalent, and active license to practice law
• Demonstrated leadership and management skill in a high profile, consequential role
• Experience in corporate, commercial, and intellectual property law with a software or technology focus
• Understanding of digital privacy, and the challenges in defending privacy, in a complex geopolitical environment
• Able to organise, prioritise and coordinate projects with end-to-end responsibility
• Confidence to respectfully speak up, exchange feedback, and share ideas without hesitation
• Track record of going above-and-beyond expectations to achieve outstanding results
• Passion for technology evidenced by personal projects and initiatives
• Professional written and spoken English with excellent presentation and interpersonal skills
• Appreciative of diversity, polite and effective in a multi-cultural, multi-national organisation
• Curiosity, flexibility, and accountability
• Thoughtfulness and self-motivation
• Result-oriented, with a personal drive to meet commitments
• Ability to travel twice a year, for company events up to two weeks long

Nice to have

• Understanding of free and open source software, and open culture, legal and philosophical principles
• Technical experience preferred, including experience of open source software
• Previous experience of in-house legal work
• Private practice legal experience