Legal Counsel

fonio; Wien; On-site; EUR 65,000 - 100,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Relocation support

Daily lunch and dinner

Equipment of your choice

Regular team off-sites

On-site in Vienna

Job summary

fonio is hiring a senior in-house legal counsel to build the company’s legal foundations. You will handle disputes, data protection, IP and international corporate law across EU, UK, and US entities, coordinating external firms and providing pragmatic guidance to Sales, Engineering and Ops.

Must be a qualified lawyer with Austria or Germany qualification, 4–8 years’ experience, and fluent English. You will work on-site in Vienna, with relocation support and equity.

Qualifications

• Qualified lawyer with Austria or Germany qualification.
• Top law firm training and at least 2 years in-house at a tech or SaaS company.
• Strong commercial contracting and GDPR experience.
• Fluent English, written and spoken.
• Comfortable working alone with fast, clear decisions.

Responsibilities

• Disputes and litigation strategy; steer external counsel.
• Trademarks and IP: file and defend marks; manage open source/licensing.
• International corporate law and compliance for EU, UK, US entities; support for country incorporations.
• Coordinate external law firms and advisors across countries: selection, briefing, budget, quality.
• Data protection with external experts: GDPR, DPAs, customer requests, voice data handling.
• Be the go-to person for Sales, Engineering and Ops on legal questions, delivering pragmatic, fast answers.

Skills

Legal drafting

GDPR experience

Commercial contracting

Fluent English

Education

Law degree

Job description

About fonio

We grew from $1M to $10M ARR in under 12 months and now serve 10,000+ customers.

Fonio is Europe’s market leader for AI phone agents for SMBs. Now we’re expanding globally and into new products.

We move fast, take ownership, give direct feedback, and avoid politics and unnecessary meetings.

Join one of world´s fastest-growing companies.

The role

You will be the person everyone goes to with a legal question, and you will answer it quickly and practically. One day that is a customer contract, the next a data protection query, a new hire's contract.

You will build Fonio's legal foundations from scratch: templates, processes and the right external law firms. This is a hands-on role, not a manager of outside counsel.

What to Expect

• Disputes and litigation: assessment, strategy, steering external counsel

• Trademarks and IP: file and defend our marks, protect our technology, handle open source and licensing

• International: corporate law and compliance for our entities in the EU, UK and US, support for new country incorporations

• Coordinate external law firms and advisors in every country: selection, briefing, budget, quality

• Data protection together with external experts: GDPR, data processing agreements, customer requests, handling of voice data

• Go-to person for Sales, Engineering and Ops on any legal question – pragmatic, fast, understandable

What You Bring

Must-haves

• Qualified lawyer (Austria or Germany) with 4 to 8 years' experience.

• Mix of top law firm training and at least 2 years in-house at a tech or SaaS company.

• Strong commercial contracting and GDPR experience.

• Fluent English, written and spoken.

• Comfortable working alone, prioritising fast and giving clear yes or no answers.

Nice-to-haves

• Experience with AI, telecoms or voice products.

• Exposure to venture funding rounds, M&A or entity set-up abroad.

• Working knowledge of UK or US commercial law.

• Has been the first legal hire at a scale-up before.

What We Offer

• €65,000 to €100,000 + Equity

• Relocation support

• Daily lunch and dinner

• Equipment of your choice

• Regular team off-sites

• On-site in Vienna, working directly with the core-team

Hiring Process

1. 15 min intro call

2. 30 min skill interview

3. 20 min culture fit