Head of Legal - Corporate

Founders Law; England; Hybrid; GBP 120.000 - 190.000; Vollzeit

Benefits dieser Stelle

Private healthcare

Hybrid working

Generous holiday entitlement

Birthday and life events leave

Education budget

Private dental care

Travel insurance

Home office setup allowance

Gym membership discounts

Cycle to work scheme

Zusammenfassung

Founders Law is seeking a Legal Director - Corporate and Fundraising to lead the Corporate team and own a portfolio of client relationships. This senior role combines practice with leadership, overseeing performance, culture and profitability while continuing to deliver excellent legal work.

You will manage a team of corporate lawyers, drive business development, and oversee end-to-end transactions including M&A, financing rounds and governance matters for tech and growth‑stage clients at scale.

Qualifikationen

• 8+ years PQE in corporate law.
• Experience leading M&A, equity fundraisings and complex transactions.
• Strong track record in managing client relationships and generating business.

Aufgaben

• Lead and develop the Corporate team, ensuring high quality legal work.
• Own a portfolio of client relationships as primary adviser on complex matters.
• Take commercial ownership of team metrics: billing, utilisation, and profitability.
• Drive business development, pitches and cross-selling across the firm.
• Mentor and develop juniors, while setting tone for culture and performance.

Kenntnisse

M&A experience

Corporate governance

Fundraising exposure

Senior leadership

Contract drafting

Ausbildung

Solicitors qualification

Jobbeschreibung

Legal Director - Corporate and Fundraising

This role is listed for a qualified lawyer.

We're super proud to have recently been named one of the ''Best Places to Work'' in 2026, as well as listed in the ''Top 50 Places To Work For People Development'' in 2026.

The role

This is a senior leadership hire. As Head of Corporate, you'll hold the title of Legal Director and sit at the firm's senior legal management tier. You'll lead and grow our Corporate team, own a portfolio of client relationships, and take genuine commercial ownership of your team's performance, all while continuing to do excellent legal work yourself.

It's a dual role. You're a practising senior lawyer and a team leader at the same time, accountable both for the quality of your own matters and for the performance, culture and profitability of the team around you.

This is a management and business leadership role, for someone who wants to build something.

What you'll actually be doing

Leading and developing a team of Corporate lawyers, with direct accountability for team performance, culture and people development.

Owning and growing a portfolio of client relationships as the primary relationship owner and trusted adviser on complex matters.

Taking commercial ownership of your team's numbers, including billing, recoveries, utilisation, write-offs and contribution margin.

Supporting the recruitment, onboarding and development of lawyers in your team.

Being the escalation point for complex or sensitive matters in your practice area.

Getting stuck into business development, pitches and cross-selling across the firm.

Being a genuine role model for how we do things.

What we're looking for

A qualified lawyer (any jurisdiction) with 8+ years PQE. This is a guide rather than a hard line, so if you're close and the experience is there, talk to us.

A strong corporate generalist with substantial M&A experience: running share and asset acquisitions and disposals, investments and group transactions.

Experience advising on equity fundraisings and venture rounds, including priced rounds and convertible instruments (SAFES, ASAs and convertible loan notes).

A demonstrable track record of running deals end-to-end with minimal supervision, from instruction through negotiation to completion.

Comfortable advising tech companies and working with venture-backed and high-growth clients.

A skilled drafter and negotiator across the full corporate suite: SPAs, investment and shareholder agreements, articles of association and ancillary transaction documents, drafting and negotiating directly opposite institutional and VC counsel.

Experience leading due diligence and disclosure exercises and managing data rooms.

Sound corporate governance, company secretarial and statutory compliance experience, including directors' duties and Companies House filings.

Confident handling general corporate and commercial advisory work between transactions.

Experience with corporate reorganisations and restructurings.

A bonus (but not a requirement) if you have experience with management incentive plans and equity incentive arrangements (MIPs, EMI and other option schemes).

A track record of leading people. You've managed and developed a team, and they'd speak well of you.

Someone who has run client relationships independently and end-to-end: onboarding, leading calls, invoicing, budgets and the occasional difficult conversation.

Commercial instinct. You understand that a great team is also a profitable one, and you're comfortable owning a P&L.

Someone who has brought work into a firm, cross-sold across a business, or grown an account, and wants to keep doing it.

Excellent written and verbal communication and interpersonal skills.

A great sense of humour and a genuine team player.

Someone who is entrepreneurial to their core, ferociously champions their clients' interests, and wants to help build a firm that is growing extremely quickly.

Who are we?

We are absolutely not your traditional law firm; we're a fusion of the traditional private practice and in-house legal roles, combining top-tier law firm expertise with a business-savvy in-house look.

Our clients view us as 'their lawyer' and trust us to form part of their teams. Each lawyer sits as in-house legal counsel for a range of clients, offering you a superb and diverse experience working with businesses at the cutting edge of different industries.

Our client base spans the full breadth of the UK, European, Middle Eastern, and US tech scene, from Fintechs to Edtechs, AI to Fashion, FMCG to EV, and VCs, accelerators, and incubators.

What you want to know

We're working to continue to build an environment of talented individuals with lots of energy to thrive.

We have a beautiful, shiny office with a terrace overlooking Temple Park, Big Ben*, & The Shard. In the office, the team currently offers a free corporate chair massage once a month, weekly yoga sessions, free bike servicing once a quarter and various other events.

However, we're hybrid, so you can work from the office, home or Narnia; it's your choice. We just need you to be on the UK tax system. We'll set you up on a MacBook Pro or Surface Business (again your choice) with a home office allowance, so you have everything you need.

Not only do we have a team of ever-growing entrepreneurial lawyers, but we have some pretty good perks too:

• Competitive salary
• Discretionary profit share bonus and annual bonus opportunities.
• 25 days annual leave, don't worry, bank holidays are on top.
• Day off on your birthday and other significant life events.
• 5 days leave for education a year, plus a dedicated annual education budget.
• Private healthcare with Vitality.
• Private Dental care plus hearing and discounts with Vision Express.
• £350 home setup allowance.
• Worldwide travel insurance, including Winter Sports.
• Annual emergency childcare allowance.
• Half-price gym membership at Virgin Active, PureGym and Nuffield Health.
• Electric car leasing salary sacrifice scheme saving up to 40% on electric cars.
• Cycle to work scheme saving up to 32% on a bike and splitting your payments over 12 months.
• Access to a tech and home scheme with discounts and 12-month interest‑free payment options through partners including Currys PC World, IKEA and John Lewis.
• There are socials every four weeks if you want to join us, from bars and restaurants to experiences at the F1 Arcade, Gamebox, Fairgame, and many more.

*In Autumn/Winter when the leaves fall off the trees