General Counsel

Lever, Inc.; Deutschland; Remote; EUR 180,000 - 260,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Executive ownership of global legal &

Remote work within EMEA time zones

Travel for company events

Annual learning budget

Job summary

Lever, Inc. is seeking a General Counsel based in Germany to lead the global Legal and Compliance function. You will shape strategy across EMEA and the Americas, manage a distributed team, and partner with executives to align legal risk with growth, product, and strategy.

The role emphasizes open-source licensing, enterprise contracts, governance, and preparation for future public-market readiness, with remote work within EMEA and periodic travel.

Qualifications

• Law degree and active license to practice in an EMEA or Americas jurisdiction.
• Substantial senior in-house legal experience in global tech/software.
• Experience leading distributed teams across regions/time zones.
• Proven ability to build or scale an in-house function and manage external counsel.

Responsibilities

• Lead global Legal and Compliance across EMEA and the Americas.
• Build and manage a distributed leadership team and governance routines.
• Own legal readiness for a potential future public-market environment and corporate governance.
• Advise executives and the Board on significant legal and risk matters.
• Own commercial contracting framework and IP/open-source licensing strategy.
• Oversee global compliance (data protection, export controls, anti-bribery, competition, AI regulation).
• Manage litigation, disputes, and external counsel; supervise M&A and strategic partnerships.

Skills

Executive leadership

Commercial acumen

Negotiation

Legal drafting

Open-source licensing

Regulatory compliance

Board governance

Multi-region leadership

Education

Law degree

Active license to practice

Tools

Contract management systems

Open-source tooling

Legal research tools

Job description

This position is listed on behalf of a partner company, who manages all applications and next steps. Our partner is looking for a General Counsel based in Germany.

This is a senior leadership opportunity to shape the global legal and compliance function of a profitable, fast-growing technology business preparing for its next stage of growth.
Reporting to the Chief Operating Officer, you will own the organization’s legal, regulatory, governance, and risk posture across EMEA and the Americas.
You will lead a distributed legal team while building the management structures, processes, and controls required for an increasingly sophisticated global organization.
The role combines strategic counsel with hands-on execution across commercial contracting, intellectual property, open-source licensing, compliance, disputes, and corporate governance.
You will work closely with executive leadership, the Board, product and engineering teams, finance, security, and external counsel.
This position is particularly suited to a commercially minded lawyer who understands software, open-source ecosystems, and the complexities of operating internationally.
The role is remote within EMEA time zones, with periodic international travel for company-wide events.

Accountabilities

• Lead the global Legal and Compliance function across EMEA and the Americas, establishing its structure, priorities, standards, service expectations, and operating model.
• Build and manage a strong distributed leadership capability by hiring and developing managers, setting clear objectives, maintaining high performance standards, and addressing underperformance directly.
• Establish an effective operating cadence for legal work, including intake and prioritization, internal service expectations, workload management, risk reporting, and executive visibility.
• Own legal readiness for a future public-market environment, including corporate governance, group and entity structures, delegated authorities, policies, disclosure controls, records, and related processes in partnership with Finance.
• Advise senior executives and the Board on significant legal, regulatory, commercial, governance, and risk matters, including participation in Board and committee meetings.
• Own the commercial contracting framework, including standard agreements, negotiation positions, escalation processes, and controls that ensure material commitments are understood before execution.
• Lead intellectual property and open-source licensing strategy, covering areas such as copyleft and permissive licensing, trademarks, software distribution, and the legal considerations surrounding open-source communities.
• Own the global compliance program across data protection and privacy, export controls and trade compliance, anti-bribery and corruption, competition law, and emerging AI regulation.
• Manage litigation, disputes, and regulatory engagements while overseeing the external counsel network, including its quality, scope, and budget.
• Provide legal guidance on M&A, partnerships, strategic alliances, financing activities, and other major corporate initiatives as the organization expands.
• Partner closely with product, engineering, security, finance, and other functions to translate complex legal considerations into commercially practical and actionable decisions.

Requirements:

• Exceptional academic performance at both secondary-school and university levels, demonstrating strong intellectual ability and analytical discipline.
• A law degree or equivalent qualification together with an active license to practice in an EMEA or Americas jurisdiction.
• Substantial senior in-house legal experience within a global technology or software business, with strong exposure to complex international operations.
• Proven experience leading distributed legal teams, including managing managers across multiple regions and time zones.
• Demonstrated ability to establish and maintain high performance standards through effective hiring, coaching, development, accountability, and performance management.
• Experience building, scaling, or restructuring an in-house legal function, including determining which matters should be handled internally, delegated, or managed through external counsel.
• Strong experience negotiating and managing commercial technology agreements, including enterprise software and subscription contracts, channel and reseller agreements, hardware manufacturer arrangements, cloud services, and related technology agreements.
• Deep understanding of open-source licensing, including permissive and copyleft licenses, together with practical familiarity with open-source communities and operating models.
• Experience with, or strong demonstrable readiness for, public-company governance, including listing preparation, Board and committee support, disclosure requirements, and internal controls.
• Significant expertise in at least two areas among data protection and privacy, intellectual property and trademarks, export controls and trade compliance, competition law, or disputes.
• Excellent judgment and the confidence to challenge constructively, exchange feedback, hold colleagues accountable, and communicate difficult positions when necessary.
• Outstanding written and verbal English skills, with strong legal drafting, presentation, and executive communication capabilities.
• Excellent interpersonal skills, curiosity, flexibility, commercial awareness, and a strong sense of personal accountability.
• Willingness and ability to travel internationally approximately two to four times per year for company events lasting up to two weeks.
• Experience taking a business through an IPO or working as counsel within a publicly listed company is a strong advantage.
• A technical or engineering background, or strong fluency in how software is developed, delivered, and operated, is beneficial.
• Experience with subscription or recurring-revenue business models and qualifications in multiple jurisdictions would be advantageous.

Benefits:

• Remote working opportunity within EMEA time zones.
• Significant executive-level ownership over the global Legal and Compliance function.
• Opportunity to shape legal, governance, compliance, and contracting infrastructure in preparation for future public-market requirements.
• Distributed working environment with twice-yearly in-person team sprints.
• Annual personal learning and development budget of USD 2,000.
• Bi-annual compensation reviews.
• Performance-driven annual bonus or commission opportunities.
• Company recognition and reward programs.
• 40 days of annual leave per year, including public holidays and company-wide holiday periods.
• Maternity and paternity leave.
• Team Member Assistance Program and wellness platform.
• Opportunities to travel internationally and meet colleagues at company events, with Priority Pass lounge access.
• Global environment with opportunities to work alongside colleagues and stakeholders across multiple regions.