Legal Counsel

Hello Group Inc.; Singapore; Hybrid; SGD 108,000 - 132,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Hybrid work model

AI tools for legal automation

Job summary

Hello Group Inc. in Singapore seeks a Legal Counsel to own the regional legal function, advising leadership on cross-border matters and handling NDA, contracts, and regulatory issues with minimal supervision.

The role sits in a lean, startup-like Singapore office and reports to the Regional Director. This solo position requires strong commercial judgment, regional experience, and the ability to automate routine tasks with AI tools.

Qualifications

• Admitted to practice law in Singapore or other common law jurisdiction.
• 1–3 years post-qualification experience in commercial/corporate/tech with drafting/negotiation.
• Cross-border exposure in SEA/Middle East is a plus.
• In-house experience at multinational tech/internet business preferred; privacy/data protection exposure advantageous.
• Strong commercial judgement; ability to translate complex issues into practical recommendations.
• Comfortable operating as sole counsel while collaborating across functions, countries and time zones.
• Business-level Mandarin; reading/writing Chinese required.

Responsibilities

• Draft, review and negotiate commercial agreements across vendor, procurement, technology, licensing, partnerships and intercompany.
• Lead privacy, regulatory and governance reviews; develop policies and controls.
• Oversee corporate secretarial and entity governance for international entities.
• Coordinate with international legal team; manage external counsel for local or specialist advice.

Skills

Contract drafting

Negotiation

Cross-border experience

AI tools adoption

Sole counsel capability

Mandarin business proficiency

Education

Advocate & Solicitor (Singapore)

Admission in common law jurisdictions (UK/Australia)

Tools

AI-assisted contract review

Job description

Hello Group Inc. (NASDAQ: MOMO) is a social and dating technology company. Our Singapore Regional Headquarters supports a team of approximately 50 people and serves as the base for the group's international operations across Asia and the Middle East. We are looking for a Legal Counsel to own the legal function for the region — a high-ownership role for someone who can set the legal agenda and run it hands-on, with minimal day-to-day oversight.

About the Role

This is a solo legal function reporting directly to the Regional Director, with real visibility to regional leadership rather than a seat several layers down in a large legal department. You will be the first point of contact for legal questions arising from the group's international operations, working closely with Hello Group's international legal team. We are a Nasdaq-listed company, but our Singapore office runs like a start-up. We operate deliberately lean, scopes are not rigidly bounded, and everyone carries a share of the operational load. The person who succeeds here will move comfortably in both directions on the same day — advising the leadership team on a cross-border market entry in the morning, then turning around an NDA or chasing a statutory filing with our corporate secretary in the afternoon — and will treat neither as beneath them.

We also expect this person to work with modern AI tools to automate and compress the routine parts of the job. A great deal of contract review, legal research and document management is now automatable, and we would rather hire someone who reclaims that time for higher-value work than someone who absorbs it manually.

This role will be based in Singapore and report directly to the Head of Product.

Hybrid working: 3 days in office, 2 days from home.

Office Location: VisionCrest Orchard

Key Responsibilities

Commercial & Contracts

• Draft, review and negotiate the full range of commercial agreements — vendor, procurement, technology, licensing, partnership, marketing, leasing and intercompany
• Advise and train business teams on contractual risk, commercial disputes and intellectual property licensing
• Build and maintain contract templates and approval workflows for regional operations
• Support M&A, investment, restructuring and market entry initiatives as required

Privacy, Regulatory & Governance

• Lead the legal review of new products and features for privacy and data protection compliance, working with product, engineering and data security teams
• Advise regional leadership on legal, regulatory and consumer protection risk, and develop the company policies and controls that follow from it
• Monitor developments in privacy, online safety, digital platform regulation and AI across the group's markets, and flag what requires action
• Oversee corporate secretarial and entity governance across the group's international entities, managing our outsourced corporate secretary and local counsel

Cross-Border & Business Support

• Work with Hello Group's international legal team on multi-jurisdictional legal assessments
• Conduct periodic compliance reviews across the group's markets, and manage external counsel where local or specialist advice is required
• Advise on employment matters, manage commercial disputes, and support KYC and regulatory submissions

Qualifications

• Admitted to practice law — for example as an Advocate & Solicitor of the Supreme Court of Singapore, or the equivalent admission in the UK, Australia, Malaysia, Hong Kong, the US or another common law jurisdiction. Admission is essential for this role; Singapore or another common law jurisdiction is preferred. Lawyers admitted in a civil law jurisdiction will be considered where they can demonstrate strong common law commercial contract experience.
• 1 to 3 years of post-qualification experience in a commercial, corporate or technology practice, with hands-on drafting and negotiation of commercial contracts. We value judgement and ownership over years served — this role suits a lawyer who wants to run a legal function early in their career, with the support to do it well.
• Exposure to cross-border work (ideally Southeast Asia and/or the Middle East) and to working with an outsourced corporate secretary are advantages, not prerequisites
• In-house experience in a multinational technology, internet or consumer digital business is strongly preferred; exposure to privacy, data protection or digital platform regulation is highly advantageous
• Strong commercial judgement, with the ability to translate complex legal issues into clear, practical recommendations for business teams
• Comfortable operating independently as a sole counsel while collaborating across functions, countries and time zones; experience in a start-up or lean-team environment is an advantage
• Demonstrated use of AI tools to automate or streamline contract review, legal research or legal operations
• Business-level spoken Mandarin and the ability to read and write Chinese are required, given the need to work closely with Chinese-speaking stakeholders and colleagues at Beijing HQ