Senior Legal Counsel

CargoX; Abu Dhabi; On-site; AED 420,000 - 600,000; Full time

Job summary

CargoX seeks its first in-house lawyer to advise the CEO and management on a hands-on basis, manage external counsel across the GCC, and build the legal infrastructure for a fast-growing start-up.

You will lead corporate structuring, oversee regulatory approvals, and shape commercial contracts, with strong emphasis on data protection, IP, and cross-border issues. Proactive governance and budget oversight are key.

Qualifications

• Qualified lawyer with 5–8 years' PQE, international or leading regional firm experience, then in-house exposure preferred.
• Strong corporate and commercial background with experience across ventures, M&A and contracts.
• Experience coordinating local counsel across GCC and handling GCC market entry.
• Excellent written and spoken English; Arabic a strong advantage.

Responsibilities

• Lead GCC market entry and structuring workstreams with external counsel and shareholder team.
• Draft, negotiate and manage commercial contracts including licenses, IP, and vendor/partner agreements across jurisdictions.
• Support JV governance: shareholder agreements, board processes, minutes, and filings; oversee company secretary duties.
• Advise on data protection, export controls, sanctions, competition law, and risk management; develop group policies.

Skills

Corporate & commercial

Negotiation

Regulatory compliance

Stakeholder management

English proficiency

Education

Qualified lawyer (common law / mixed jurisdiction)

Job description

CargoX is looking for its first in-house lawyer to its expansion and to act as the day-to-day legal adviser to the CEO and management team. The role is hands-on: you will run matters yourself, instruct and manage external counsel across the GCC, and build the legal infrastructure of a fast-growing business. You will work closely with the legal team and senior internal and external stakeholders, which will provide oversight, precedents and support through a soft reporting line.

Key responsibilities

GCC market entry and structuring

• Lead the legal workstream, supported by external local counsel and the shareholder's legal team, for establishing CargoX and joint venture entities across the region including choice of vehicle, foreign ownership rules, holding structures (onshore, free zone and offshore) and sequencing.
• Manage commercial registration, licensing and regulatory approvals for delivery, logistics, e-commerce and autonomous vehicle operations in each jurisdiction, working with local counsel, corporate service providers and government authorities.
• Prepare constitutional documents, shareholder and board resolutions, powers of attorney and intra-group agreements (services, licensing, subcontracting and cost-sharing).
• Coordinate with finance and tax advisers on transfer pricing, corporate tax and banking (account opening, KYC and UBO requirements).

2. Commercial and platform contracting

• Draft, negotiate and manage CargoX's commercial contracts: merchant and customer terms, subcontracting arrangements with the joint venture, technology and software licenses (including IP ownership, usage rights and liability allocation), fleet, deployment and operations agreements, leases, procurement, supplier and partner agreements, including agreements with government and quasi-government counterparties.
• Adapt the UAE contract suite for each new market, flagging local law requirements (consumer protection, e-commerce, data, language and registration).
• Advise on credit support and security packages (parent guarantees, bank facilities) in conjunction with the shareholder's legal and finance teams.

3. Joint venture and governance

• Support the implementation of joint venture shareholder agreements, reserved matters and board processes across the group, including the interface between CargoX and its joint venture partner.
• Act as company secretary (or oversee the Paralegal in that role) for CargoX entities: board and shareholder meetings, minutes, registers, statutory filings and entity compliance calendar.
• Identify and manage conflicts where CargoX and joint venture interests diverge, escalating to the shareholder's legal team as needed.
• Support corporate transactions as they arise (such as investments, fundraisings, reorganisations or M&A), including due diligence, transaction documents and coordination of external advisers.

4. Regulatory, compliance and risk

• Advise on data protection and cross-border data transfer (including geolocation and mapping data), AI and autonomous technology governance, technology export controls, sanctions and competition law, working with specialist counsel.
• Develop group policies (contract approval and signing authorities, delegations of authority, document retention, anti-bribery) and train the business.
• Manage disputes and pre-litigation matters and oversee intellectual property protection and freedom-to-operate work.

5. External counsel and legal budget

• Select, instruct and manage external counsel in each jurisdiction against agreed scopes and fee estimates, including running competitive panel tenders and agreeing fixed fees for repeatable work.
• Own the CargoX legal budget and report to the CEO and the shareholder's legal team on matters, spend and key risks.

Candidate profile

• Qualified lawyer (common law or mixed-jurisdiction qualification preferred) with 5 to 8 years' PQE, gained at an international or leading regional law firm, ideally followed by time in-house.
• Strong corporate and commercial background, with experience across several of joint ventures, M&A and corporate reorganisations, technology and IP contracts, procurement and supplier agreements, and company formations.
• UAE or wider GCC experience (in private practice or in-house) is essential, ideally including UAE onshore and free zone (ADGM); experience of coordinating local counsel across multiple jurisdictions, and hands-on experience of GCC market entry, are significant advantages.
• Exposure to logistics, mobility, e-commerce, technology (including AI and autonomous systems), real estate or hospitality businesses is desirable.
• Proven negotiation skills, including with government, institutional or large corporate counterparties.
• Commercial, pragmatic and comfortable working directly with senior management in a start-up environment, with the judgement to know when to elevate.
• Excellent written and spoken English. Arabic is a strong advantage given the regional footprint; Mandarin would be a bonus.
• Right to work in the UAE, or able to obtain it.