General Counsel

CUR8; Greater London; On-site; GBP 90,000 - 120,000; Full time

Job summary

A climate-focused startup is seeking a General Counsel in Greater London to oversee legal operations that enable the swift execution of contracts. The ideal candidate will transform intricate legal agreements into simplified, executable terms that support rapid business scaling. Applicants should have 8-12 years of experience, ideally in both private practice and in-house roles. Successful candidates will be instrumental in accelerating deal closures while maintaining rigorous compliance standards. This role offers a meaningful opportunity to impact carbon removal efforts.

Qualifications

• Proven ability to simplify complex agreements for business needs.
• Experience in scaling legal structures in a rapidly growing company.
• Proficiency in drafting plain English contracts.

Responsibilities

• Oversee high-value contract negotiations with major clients.
• Create standardized legal agreements to expedite sales.
• Ensure compliance with evolving regulations in the carbon market.

Skills

Contract negotiation

Financial engineering

Regulatory compliance

Project finance

Commercial drafting

Cross-border law

Voluntary carbon markets knowledge

Education

8–12+ years of experience in law

Tier 1 Private Practice background

Job description

Carbon removal is a new industrial revolution, and the "laws" of this market are being written right now. At CUR8, we aren't just navigating regulations; we are helping to define them.

We are looking for a General Counsel who operates less like a lawyer and more like a "Legal Engineer." You will join a 20-person, VC-backed team (GV, Airbus Ventures) to build the legal infrastructure for a trillion-dollar market. You will protect the business, but your primary job is to enable speed—turning complex scientific and financial concepts into clear, executable commercial agreements.

The Mission

To turn "Legal" from a bottleneck into a competitive advantage. Currently, our deals are bespoke, complex, and high-touch. Your mission is to standardise our legal stack so we can scale from £1M to £100M revenue without breaking.

Key Responsibilities

1. Commercial Velocity (The Deal Desk)

• Own the Contract Lifecycle: You will take over contract negotiations for high-value client offtakes (e.g., British Airways, Standard Chartered) and supplier procurement.
• Standardisation: Stop the "bespoke" madness. Work with Sales and Product to build standard Terms of Business, Master Services Agreements (MSAs), and Playbooks that allow the Sales team to close 80% of deals without your direct intervention.
• Risk vs. Speed: You will be the commercial referee. You must distinguish between "existential risk" (which we block) and "commercial friction" (which we manage), helping the team close deals faster.

2. Carbon Finance Structuring

• Financial Engineering: Partner with our Carbon Finance Director to structure complex financial products (e.g., prepayments, debt facilities, SPVs, and insurance wrappers). You need to be comfortable with the mechanics of structured finance.
• Regulatory Watch: Monitor the evolving landscape of Carbon/Financial regulation (FCA, VCM, Article 6) to ensure our business model remains compliant yet aggressive.

3. Corporate & Strategic

• Series A Readiness: Ensure our data room (IP assignments, cap table, employment contracts, compliance) is "due diligence ready" 24/7/365.
• Board & Fundraising: Manage corporate governance and support the CEO during fundraising rounds.
• Outside Counsel: Manage our external law firms. You are the gatekeeper—your job is to reduce our external legal spend by doing the heavy lifting in-house.

Who You Are

• The "Scale-Up" Lawyer: 8–12+ years of experience, ideally a mix of Tier 1 Private Practice (Corporate/Commercial) and in-house leadership at a Series A/B fintech or marketplace.
• Commercial First: You understand that a perfect contract that never gets signed is a failure. You write in plain English, not "Legalese."
• Comfortable with Complexity: You aren't scared of a deal that involves physical supply chain risk, financial derivatives, and software licensing all at once.
• Radical Realist: You speak truth to power. If a deal structure is illegal or dangerous, you kill it. If a forecast relies on a contract that hasn't been drafted, you flag it.
• Low Ego: You are the General Counsel, but you are also the only lawyer. You are happy to draft a hurried NDA on a Friday afternoon if it unblocks a deal.
• Experience in Project Finance or Structured Finance.
• Experience with US/UK/EU cross-border commercial law.
• Knowledge of voluntary carbon markets (VCM) or environmental law.

Success Metrics (Year 1)

• Cycle Time: Reduce the time from "Term Sheet" to "Signature" by 30%.
• External Spend: Reduce external legal fees by 50% by bringing core work in-house.
• Template Adoption: 90% of standard deals are closed using your new templates without redlines.

About our process:

Our process aims to give all of us the chance to get to know each other, our aspirations, and whether this is an exciting fit. It starts with an initial chat to tell you more about CUR8, what we’re looking for, and understand more about your goals. Next is a skills focused interview, which leads to an ideally in person final stage split over two parts: a working session with team and a 1:1 founder meeting.

Every deal you deliver helps remove carbon from the atmosphere—and our work really matters, every single day. If you’re passionate about reversing climate change, love collaborating with true experts, and want to have real impact—apply now! If you’re not a perfect match but will make CUR8 stronger, we want to hear from you.