Head of Legal

JMC Legal Recruitment; New York (NY); On-site; USD 180,000 - 260,000; Full time

Job summary

JMC Legal Recruitment represents a profitable, high-growth AI-native SaaS business seeking a senior in-house lawyer in New York. You will own the legal, regulatory and compliance function, negotiating major commercial agreements and establishing playbooks to move deals quickly while managing risk.

Based in New York, you will report to the CEO and collaborate with founders across product, security and finance.

Qualifications

• Admitted to a US bar.
• Minimum eight years' experience spanning private practice and in-house roles.
• Substantive in-house experience at a SaaS or data-intensive technology company, ideally at scale-up stage.
• Deep, practical expertise in data privacy: GDPR, UK GDPR, US equivalents, DPA negotiation and sub-processor obligations.
• Demonstrable track record negotiating complex B2B agreements with large institutional buyers.
• Comfortable operating as a sole legal function, with judgement to determine when to handle matters internally or with outside counsel.
• Familiarity with AI tools and data/expert-network arrangements.

Responsibilities

• Lead negotiations on enterprise MSAs, data-processing and data-licensing terms, and security schedules with global banks, advisers and content providers.
• Develop the company's AI-governance and compliance framework across jurisdictions.
• Own data privacy in full (GDPR, UK GDPR, CCPA/CPRA) — DPAs and records of processing.
• Partner with the security function on SOC 2, security questionnaires, DPIAs and contractual commitments.
• Build and protect intellectual property, support governance, board matters, financing rounds and vendor contracting.
• Advise on people-related legal matters, including employment issues and immigration/visa support as the company expands internationally.
• Act as a business-first adviser, credible with founders, customers' general counsel, CISOs and procurement teams.

Skills

US Bar admitted

8+ years experience

SaaS / data tech

Data privacy expert

Executive contract negotiation

Sole legal function

AI tools familiarity

Cross-functional partnering

Job description

New York · Full-time, five days a week in the office · Reporting to the CEO

Our client is a profitable, high-growth AI-native SaaS business. It has built an AI-powered platform that enables investors and consultants to process large volumes of unstructured information — documents, data rooms, calls and filings — and turn it into structured, actionable output for research and due diligence. The platform is used by private equity firms and consulting and advisory firms internationally, with the majority of the client base based in the United States. These are large institutional clients, and engagements are typically six figures, with the largest accounts substantially higher.

The business is scaling and hiring across most functions, including several senior appointments alongside this role. The team includes a number of people with backgrounds in top-tier consulting and banking.

Your role

You will own the legal, regulatory and compliance function, leading negotiations on the company's most significant commercial agreements and establishing the standards, playbooks and processes used across the business. Based in New York, you will work directly with the founders and be involved in commercial, product, security and corporate matters.

The company's clients are investors and consulting firms working on live transactions, so legal questions often need a fast, practical turnaround. As the sole in-house lawyer, you will be the first point of contact for legal matters across the business.

What you will do

• Lead negotiations on the company's most significant commercial agreements — enterprise MSAs, data-processing and data-licensing terms, and security schedules with global banks, advisers and content providers — and establish the playbooks that allow the deal team to move quickly without introducing unnecessary risk.
• Develop the company's AI-governance and compliance framework: consent structures across jurisdictions, model-training and data-use policies, and readiness for evolving AI regulation, including the EU AI Act.
• Own data privacy in full (GDPR, UK GDPR, CCPA/CPRA) — DPAs, records of processing, sub-processor management, and privacy-by-design collaboration with Product and Engineering.
• Partner with the security function on customer trust: SOC 2, security questionnaires, DPIAs and the contractual commitments underpinning them.
• Build and protect intellectual property, and support the corporate and financing side of the business, including governance, board support, financing rounds and vendor contracting.
• Advise on people-related legal matters, including employment issues and immigration/visa support as the company expands internationally.
• Act as a business-first adviser, credible with founders, customers' general counsel, CISOs and procurement teams alike.

Your profile

• Admitted to a US bar. The majority of the company's commercial contracts are US-governed, and this is a firm requirement.
• A minimum of eight years' experience spanning private practice and in-house roles, underpinned by a strong transactional and commercial grounding.
• Substantive in-house experience at a SaaS or data-intensive technology company, ideally at scale-up stage — you understand what it means to advise a business that operates simultaneously as a data processor and a data innovator.
• Deep, practical expertise in data privacy: GDPR, UK GDPR, US equivalents, DPA negotiation and sub-processor obligations. This forms a substantial and recurring part of the role.
• A demonstrable track record negotiating complex B2B agreements with large institutional buyers; experience within financial or professional services would be a strong advantage.
• Comfortable operating as a sole legal function, with the judgement to determine when a matter should be handled internally and when to instruct outside counsel.
• Good business acumen, able to understand client and stakeholder needs, prioritise effectively, and work at pace.
• Able to translate legal considerations into clear, practical recommendations for a non-legal audience.
• Familiarity with AI tools as part of day-to-day practice, together with a solid grasp of data and expert-network arrangements.
• Private equity or M&A experience is advantageous and provides useful context on the client base, though the core focus of the role is commercial SaaS.