Remote General Counsel, Global Legal & Compliance

Canonical; España; Remote; EUR 180,000 - 240,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Bonus/annual incentive

Remote work across EMEA time zones

Generous leave (40 days)

Maternity and paternity leave

Wellness platform

Travel opportunities

Learning & development budget

Job summary

Canonical is seeking a General Counsel reporting to the COO to lead Canonical’s global Legal & Compliance function. The role oversees licensing, IP strategy, governance, and open source licensing across EMEA and the Americas, partnering with product, security and the Board for strategic guidance and risk management.

The successful candidate will scale the in-house function, drive public-market readiness, and align legal risk with a fast-growing technology company.

Qualifications

• Exceptional academic track record and a law degree with an active licence to practise.
• Senior in-house experience leading a distributed global legal team.
• Experience setting and managing a high-performance legal function across multiple regions.
• Proven ability to oversee licensing, open source licensing strategies, and IP matters.
• Experience with governance, disclosure controls, and public-company requirements.
• Fluency in English with strong drafting and presentation skills.
• Willingness to travel internationally (2–4 times per year).

Responsibilities

• Lead the global Legal and Compliance function across EMEA and the Americas.
• Build and manage a distributed leadership team of managers in multiple regions.
• Own corporate governance, policies, and regulatory controls in partnership with Finance.
• Drive commercial contracting framework and licensing strategy for products.
• Oversee IP and open source licensing strategy including copyleft/trademarks.
• Manage data protection, export controls, anti-bribery and competition compliance.
• Advise the CEO, COO, CFO and the Board; support in Board meetings.

Skills

In-house legal leadership

Open source licensing

IP strategy

Contract negotiation

Regulatory compliance

Data protection and privacy

Board advisory

Leadership across regions

Education

Law degree

Active license to practice

Job description

Canonical is seeking a General Counsel reporting to the COO to lead Canonical’s global Legal & Compliance function. The role oversees licensing, IP strategy, governance, and open source licensing across EMEA and the Americas, partnering with product, security and the Board for strategic guidance and risk management.

The successful candidate will scale the in-house function, drive public-market readiness, and align legal risk with a fast-growing technology company.