Legal Counsel

Fonio; Osterreich; On-site; PEN 251,000 - 386,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Relocation support

Daily lunch and dinner

Equipment of your choice

Regular team off-sites

On-site in Vienna

Equity

Job summary

Fonio, Europe’s market leader for AI phone agents, seeks a qualified lawyer to be the go-to legal resource across Sales, Engineering and Operations. You will build Fonio's legal foundations from scratch—templates, processes and a network of external law firms—and handle contracts, data protection and IP matters globally.

Based on-site in Vienna, you will report to the core team, influence strategic decisions, and move quickly with pragmatic, clear yes-or-no guidance.

Qualifications

• Qualified lawyer (Austria or Germany) with 4–8 years' experience.
• Mix of top law firm training and at least 2 years in-house at a tech or SaaS company.
• Strong commercial contracting and GDPR experience.
• Fluent English, written and spoken.
• Comfortable working alone, providing fast, clear yes/no guidance.

Responsibilities

• Serve as the primary legal advisor across Sales, Engineering and Ops.
• Build legal foundations: templates, processes and external counsel network.
• Handle disputes, IP/trademarks, data protection for EU/UK/US, and vendor agreements.
• Coordinate external law firms and advisors; manage budgets and quality.

Skills

Commercial contracting

GDPR experience

English fluency

Legal advisory

Independent work

Education

Bar admission in Austria or Germany

Job description

About fonio

We grew from $1M to $10M ARR in under 12 months and now serve 10,000+ customers.

Fonio is Europe’s market leader for AI phone agents for SMBs. Now we’re expanding globally and into new products.

We move fast, take ownership, give direct feedback, and avoid politics and unnecessary meetings.

Join one of world´s fastest-growing companies.

The role

You will be the person everyone goes to with a legal question, and you will answer it quickly and practically. One day that is a customer contract, the next a data protection query, a new hire's contract.

You will build Fonio's legal foundations from scratch: templates, processes and the right external law firms. This is a hands-on role, not a manager of outside counsel.

What to Expect

• Disputes and litigation: assessment, strategy, steering external counsel

• Trademarks and IP: file and defend our marks, protect our technology, handle open source and licensing

• International: corporate law and compliance for our entities in the EU, UK and US, support for new country incorporations

• Coordinate external law firms and advisors in every country: selection, briefing, budget, quality

• Data protection together with external experts: GDPR, data processing agreements, customer requests, handling of voice data

• Go-to person for Sales, Engineering and Ops on any legal question – pragmatic, fast, understandable

What You Bring

Must-haves

• Qualified lawyer (Austria or Germany) with 4 to 8 years' experience.

• Mix of top law firm training and at least 2 years in-house at a tech or SaaS company.

• Strong commercial contracting and GDPR experience.

• Fluent English, written and spoken.

• Comfortable working alone, prioritising fast and giving clear yes or no answers.

Nice-to-haves

• Experience with AI, telecoms or voice products.

• Exposure to venture funding rounds, M&A or entity set-up abroad.

• Working knowledge of UK or US commercial law.

• Has been the first legal hire at a scale-up before.

What We Offer

• €65,000 to €100,000 + Equity

• Relocation support

• Daily lunch and dinner

• Equipment of your choice

• Regular team off-sites

• On-site in Vienna, working directly with the core-team

Hiring Process

1. 15 min intro call

2. 30 min skill interview

3. 20 min culture fit