Founding Legal Counsel

Deeploy; Amsterdam; Hybrid; EUR 110,000 - 170,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Stock options

Pension plan

Hybrid environment

Job summary

Deeploy seeks a seasoned in-house lawyer to build the legal function from the ground up. You will interpret EU AI Act and related laws, shape product implications, and own commercial contracts while partnering with the COO and C-level executives.

This role blends regulatory judgment with enterprise contracting in a fast-paced startup setting. You'll lead data privacy, risk management, and compliance programs, including ISO audits, and contribute to external communications for legal audiences.

Qualifications

• 4–8 years of legal experience, ideally gained in or alongside tech.
• Experience in the tech sector, startups, scaleups, or similar tech environments.
• Genuine interest in AI risk landscape (privacy, cyber, AI governance).
• Strong ability to read novel regulation and form defensible positions.
• Willingness to own multiple workstreams as the first in-house lawyer.
• Entrepreneurial, ownership-driven, and results-focused.

Responsibilities

• Track and interpret the EU AI Act and related regimes, translating obligations into product implications.
• Form clear, defensible positions where guidance is thin, with external partners when helpful.
• Feed regulatory interpretation into the product roadmap.
• Own enterprise contracts with sales: master agreements, SaaS terms, SLAs, DPAs, NDAs.
• Support deal velocity with large, regulated customers while maintaining rigor.
• Own data, privacy, and AI policy; manage associated risks.
• Lead ISO 42001 and ISO 27001 audits and maintain management-system documentation.
• Shape thought leadership: posts, talks, and materials for legal/compliance audiences.
• Collaborate with C-level on strategic topics; coordinate with outside counsel as needed.

Skills

Legal experience

Tech industry

AI governance

Regulatory interpretation

Entrepreneurial mindset

English proficiency

Job description

At Deeploy, we help organisations roll out AI they can trust. The rules for trustworthy AI are being written right now, and most of them are still ambiguous. As our first legal hire, you'll be the person who reads the regulation, decides what it means in practice, and builds that judgment into both our product and our company.

This is a back-office contracts seat. At an AI governance company, legal judgment sits close to the product and to every enterprise deal. You'll report to the COO and work closely with the wider c-level, who stay actively involved and hold end responsibility in their areas. You drive the legal function day to day, you're not left to carry it alone.

AI is being rolled out everywhere, but most of it is a black box. Deeploy exists to change that. We build the technical foundation that makes AI responsible: helping companies detect, understand, and prevent the harms caused by misaligned AI systems before they impact the real world.

We're an AI-native team. That means we don't just build for AI, we aim to be a frontrunner in our own work. We're constantly rethinking how we operate, and we expect everyone on the team to be part of that evolution.

What You Will Do

Regulation into practice (the core of the role)

• Track and interpret the EU AI Act and the regimes around it (GDPR, DORA, sectoral rules, ISO standards, NIST frameworks), and turn obligations into concrete product and process implications.
• Form clear, defensible positions where official guidance is thin, working with external partners where it helps.
• Feed that interpretation into the roadmap, so our product reflects how the regulation actually lands.

Commercial contracts

• Own enterprise contracting together with sales: master agreements, SaaS terms, SLAs, data processing agreements, partner and referral agreements, and NDAs.
• Support deal velocity with large, regulated customers without dropping rigour.

Risk, privacy and certifications

• Own our data, privacy and AI policy and the compliance behind it.
• Identify, mitigate and document our own cyber, AI and privacy risks.
• Lead the annual ISO 42001 and ISO 27001 audits and own the management-system documentation, partnering with security and engineering on the technical controls.

Thought leadership and go-to-market

• Help shape posts, talks and material aimed at legal and compliance audiences, strengthening our standing with that crowd.
• Act as a credible domain voice for prospects' and customers' legal teams, explaining how the regulation works and how Deeploy fits, supporting their decision without becoming their counsel.

Strategic matters

• Work alongside C-level as in-house counsel on the bigger annual topics: funding, EU programmes and grants, investor and board matters, drawing on outside counsel where it's warranted.

Who We're Looking For

This role sits at an unusual intersection: sharp enough to form a defensible view on regulation that barely has precedent, practical enough to get an enterprise contract over the line, together with the team, in a startup environment.

Must-haves

• 4-8 years of legal experience, ideally gained in or alongside tech.
• Experience in the tech sector, working with startups, scaleups or in another way working in a tech environment. Technically literate and comfortable working directly with product and engineering, to shape our product and it supports our customers.
• A genuine interest in AI and its risk landscape (privacy, cyber, AI governance), beyond "just" using the AI tools.
• Strong on novel regulation: able to read something ambiguous and form a clear, defensible position, also without every standard yet published.
• Comfortable owning several workstreams at once as the first and only lawyer, with C-level actively involved and backing you.
• Ready to step into a startup, trading structure and certainty for ownership and pace. You're enterpreneurial, take ownership and focus on results.
• A solid legal background; the exact qualification matters less than the capability.
• Working proficiency in English, Dutch is a plus.

Nice-to-haves

• Experience in a startup or fast-paced scale-up.
• Familiarity with the EU AI Act and adjecent regulation.
• Experience running ISO 42001 / 27001 or comparable certification programmes.

What This Role Is, And What It Is Not

• It is a builder role. You create the legal function, you don't maintain one that already exists. Legal currently sits with founders and some external support from law firms.
• It is broad and hands-on, with regulatory interpretation first and commercial contracts a close second.
• It is not a pure contracts seat, and not a compliance-checklist role.
• It is not outside counsel for our customers. You support our product and go-to-market as a domain expert.
• You report to the COO and sit close to every part of the business, with C-level holding end responsibility in their domains (commercial with the CEO, product with the CTO, certification with the CTO and COO, risk with the CEO and COO).

What To Expect From Us

Shape the future of AI:

Work at the forefront of AI governance, transparency and compliance, helping organisations innovate responsibly and create meaningful impact.

Collaborative culture:

Be part of a team that values openness, inclusivity and collaboration. At Deeploy, every voice matters, and diverse perspectives drive our work.

Growth opportunities:

Build a function from scratch and grow with it, in a company set on changing how AI is governed.

Competitive benefits:

A competitive salary, stock options, and a comprehensive benefits package including a pension plan.

Flexibility and balance:

A flexible, hybrid environment that supports your personal and professional well-being.

Our hiring process

We value efficiency and transparency. Here's what to expect:

• Application: Share your LinkedIn/CV and anything you've worked on that you're proud of
• Introductory call: A 20-minute chat to introduce our team and learn more about you
• Personal and team fit: A 60-minute conversation with two people you'd work with closely
• Case study: A timeboxed case (3 hours) presented in a follow-up meeting with two team members
• Offer: If we're a fit, we'll extend an offer and welcome you aboard

Got questions? Reach out anytime at [e-mail].