Head of Legal

Until; San Francisco (CA); On-site; USD 250,000 - 300,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Equity

Full dental/vision/health benefits

On-site gym

Catered lunch and dinner

Job summary

A biotech startup is looking for a Head of Legal to shape their legal strategy as they advance through clinical stages. This senior leadership role involves managing IP strategy, overseeing legal risks, and ensuring regulatory compliance. Ideal candidates will have a JD and extensive experience in a fast-paced startup environment. The position offers a competitive salary ranging from $250,000 to $300,000 along with equity and comprehensive benefits.

Qualifications

• 7+ years of legal experience in law firm, in-house, or hybrid.
• Strong background in shaping IP strategy for novel technologies.
• Experience in negotiating complex commercial agreements.

Responsibilities

• Own IP strategy across hardware, software, and biology.
• Manage outside patent counsel and oversee IP portfolio.
• Advise executive team on legal matters and risk.

Skills

IP strategy development

Legal risk assessment

Negotiation of complex agreements

Technical understanding of systems

Education

JD with 7+ years of relevant legal experience

Job description

About Until

Until is a moonshot company building a “pause button” for biology. Our near-term focus is organ-scale reversible cryopreservation: preserving donated organs at subzero temperatures without ice formation, then rewarming them uniformly for transplant. By solving this challenge, we are laying the foundation for whole-body reversible cryopreservation, giving patients a bridge to future cures.

To achieve our goal, we are assembling an interdisciplinary team to develop perfusion systems, cryoprotectant formulations, and vitrification and rewarming hardware.

We envision a future where no transplantable organ is lost to logistics, and no terminal diagnosis is final because patients can safely wait for future medicine to arrive.

Role Overview

This is a senior leadership role responsible for shaping Until’s legal, IP, and risk posture as the company moves toward the clinic. The Head of Legal will act as a strategic partner to the executive team, influencing core technical, commercial, and regulatory decisions.

Key Responsibilities

• Own Until’s IP strategy across hardware, software, chemistry, and biology.
• Coordinate proactive FTO/Patentability searches with external IP counsel and translate results into clear strategic guidance for leadership.
• Manage outside patent counsel across prosecution, continuation strategy, and portfolio development.
• Partner closely with R&D and engineering to ensure technical iterations are reflected in IP filings and risk assessments.
• Maintain visibility into the competitive IP landscape, including competitor monitoring and potential licensing targets.
• Oversee protection of trade secrets, confidential know-how, and proprietary data across internal teams and external collaborators.
• Serve as the company’s internal legal lead, responsible for identifying, prioritizing, and mitigating legal risk across the organization.
• Own the interface with external corporate counsel on governance, financings, and corporate matters.
• Advise the executive team on legal considerations across product development, regulatory strategy, and commercialization.
• Partner with Regulatory and Clinical teams on legal risk and positioning related to FDA interactions, clinical studies, and labeling.
• Build and maintain lightweight, scalable legal processes appropriate for a fast-growing biotech company.
• Lead or support negotiation of licenses, sponsored research agreements, collaborations, and other types of strategic partnerships.
• Draft, review, and negotiate complex commercial agreements with a strong understanding of technical and IP implications.
• Ensure consistency, risk discipline, and speed across contracts as the company scales.
• Work closely with Strategy, Regulatory, and R&D to ensure legal posture is aligned with the company’s clinical and regulatory roadmap.
• Support diligence for partnerships, financings, and strategic transactions.
• Provide pragmatic, technically grounded legal advice to non-legal stakeholders.
• Support board-level legal matters and investor diligence, including preparation of legal risk summaries and IP positioning.
• Define the long-term legal function, including decisions around in-house versus external support and future hires.

Required Qualifications

• JD with 7+ years of relevant legal experience (law firm, in-house, or hybrid).
• Experience shaping IP strategy in novel or first-in-class technologies.
• Experience with continuation strategy, claim scope negotiation, and portfolio construction.
• Strong technical background with comfort engaging engineers, scientists, and inventors on complex technical systems.
• Experience negotiating and executing complex commercial, licensing, or sponsored research agreements.
• Ability to operate independently as the senior legal owner in a fast-moving startup environment.
• Demonstrated ability to translate ambiguous legal risk into clear strategic options for leadership.
• Comfort making high-stakes decisions with incomplete information.

Strong Preferred

• Experience in biotech, medtech, deep tech, or another highly regulated technical domain.
• Prior in-house experience at a growth-stage company (e.g. as a first or second legal hire at a startup)
• Comfort working across hardware, software, and biological IP.
• Familiarity with legal considerations around clinical studies, investigational use, or regulated product development.

$250,000 - $300,000 a year

Equity, full dental/vision/health benefits, on-site gym, catered lunch and dinner