The Role
Lead and build the UK & Europe legal function, advise on commercial, employment, data protection and regulatory matters, manage disputes and external counsel, develop compliance/governance frameworks, and partner with regional leadership to enable growth.
Summary Generated by Built In
AHEAD builds platforms for digital business. By weaving together advances in cloud infrastructure, automation and analytics, and software delivery, we help enterprises deliver on the promise of digital transformation.
At AHEAD, we prioritize creating a culture of belonging, where all perspectives and voices are represented, valued, respected, and heard. We create spaces to empower everyone to speak up, make change, and drive the culture at AHEAD.
We are an equal opportunity employer, and do not discriminate based on an individual's age, disability, gender reassignment, marriage & civil partnership, pregnancy & maternity, race, religion or belief, sex, and sexual orientation, or any other protected characteristic under applicable law, whether actual or perceived.
We embrace all candidates that will contribute to the diversification and enrichment of ideas and perspectives at AHEAD.
As AHEAD continues its global expansion, we are seeking to appoint AHEAD’s first in-house Director of Legal, UK & Europe. Reporting to the Vice President, Legal (US), this role will establish, develop and lead the regional legal function, as the principal legal adviser across the region. You will provide commercially focused legal advice, establish appropriate governance, legal risk and compliance frameworks, enable business growth, and partner with executive stakeholders to support strategic initiatives across the region while ensuring legal and regulatory compliance.
Key Responsibilities
- Lead all commercial legal matters across the UK & Europe, including drafting, reviewing, negotiating and advising on complex customer, supplier, technology, cloud, software, hardware, professional services, procurement, subcontractor, confidentiality, and strategic partnership agreements.
- Develop and lead the regional legal and compliance framework, ensuring alignment with applicable UK, EU and local regulatory requirements.
- Provide strategic employment law advice across UK & Europe, working closely with People & Culture and external legal advisers where appropriate, supporting organisational change, acquisitions, restructures, executive matters and complex employee relations issues.
- Lead the management of UK & Europe disputes, litigation and external legal advisers, managing external legal spend and the performance of external legal advisers.
- Act as a trusted adviser to the UK & Europe Leadership team, and partner with People and Culture, Sales, Finance, Operations and Procurement to develop commercially effective governance and decision-making frameworks and enable commercially sound business decisions.
- Provide strategic legal risk assessments, balancing commercial objectives with appropriate governance and advising senior leadership on risk appetite and mitigation, escalating as appropriate.
- Sponsor continuous improvement of legal operations, technology and processes.
- Work collaboratively with global Legal to drive consistency while accommodating local legal requirements.
- Undertake other responsibilities consistent with the seniority of the role and contribute to the ongoing development of the global Legal function.
Educations and Experience
- Qualified Solicitor (England & Wales) or Barrister holding a current practising certificate.
- Significant post-qualification experience (PQE), gained in private practice and/or in-house legal roles, including advising senior executives within and international commercial environment.
- Extensive experience in a senior in-house legal role within an international or technology-focused organisation.
- Demonstrable experience supporting multinational organisations and cross-border legal matters.
- Proficient in legal research methodologies and legal information resources.
- Exceptional commercial judgement with the ability to deliver pragmatic, risk-based legal advice.
- Excellent time management, with the ability to prioritise conflicting priorities, meet critical deadlines, and operate in a fast-paced environment while maintaining productivity.
- Excellent communication, influencing and executive stakeholder management skills, with the confidence to challenge constructively where appropriate.
- Knowledge of litigation disclosure, document preservation and e-disclosure processes.
- Knowledge of UK GDPR, the Data Protection Act 2018 and applicable EU data protection legislation.
- Demonstrates absolute discretion, integrity and sound professional judgement when handling confidential and commercially sensitive matters.
Essential
Desired
Knowledge, Skills and Leadership
Physical Requirements
- This is a hybrid role based in the UK with an expectation of approximately three days per week in the office (Reading, UK).
- Occasional travel throughout the UK, Europe and internationally will be required.
Hybrid
Travel
The compensation range indicated in this posting reflects the On-Target Earnings (“OTE”) for this role, which includes a base salary and any applicable target bonus amount. This OTE range may vary based on the candidate’s relevant experience, qualifications, and geographic location.
Why AHEAD:
Through our daily work and internal groups like Moving Women AHEAD and RISE AHEAD, we value and benefit from diversity of people, ideas, experience, and everything in between.
We fuel growth by stacking our office with top-notch technologies in a multi-million-dollar lab, by encouraging cross department training and development, sponsoring certifications and credentials for continued learning.
Use of AI:
We may use artificial intelligence (AI) tools to support parts of the hiring process, such as reviewing applications, analyzing resumes, assessing responses, or to capture recordings and create transcriptions or summaries during interviews. These tools assist our recruitment team but do not replace human judgment. Final hiring decisions are ultimately made by humans.
If you would like more information about how your data is processed, please refer to the Candidate Privacy Notice or contact us at [email protected].
You may opt-out of the review or analysis of your application and resume by AI tools by using the General Application. Please include the role you wish to apply for in the Additional Information field. You may also choose to opt-out of recording and transcription at any time, including after joining an interview. Candidates will not be penalized for choosing to opt-out.
Skills Required
- Qualified Solicitor (England & Wales) or Barrister holding a current practising certificate
- Significant post-qualification experience (PQE) in private practice and/or in-house, advising senior executives in an international commercial environment
- Experience leading commercial legal matters including drafting, reviewing, negotiating complex customer, supplier, technology, cloud, software, hardware and services agreements
- Knowledge of UK GDPR, Data Protection Act 2018 and applicable EU data protection legislation
- Knowledge of litigation disclosure, document preservation and e-disclosure processes
- Proficiency in legal research methodologies and legal information resources
- Experience providing strategic employment law advice across UK & Europe, including restructures and complex employee relations
- Experience managing disputes, litigation, external legal advisers and external legal spend
- Excellent communication, influencing and executive stakeholder management skills
- Ability to work hybrid from the UK office (approximately three days per week in Reading, UK)
- Occasional travel throughout the UK, Europe and internationally
- Extensive senior in-house legal experience within an international or technology-focused organisation
- Demonstrable experience supporting multinational organisations and cross-border legal matters
AHEAD Compensation & Benefits Highlights
The following summarizes recurring compensation and benefits themes identified from responses generated by popular LLMs to common candidate questions about AHEAD and has not been reviewed or approved by AHEAD.
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Retirement Support — 401(k) contributions are matched dollar-for-dollar on the first $5,000 each year, with matching made each pay period and immediate 100% vesting. This structure signals above-standard employer support for retirement savings.
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Affordable Benefits — Medical options include low employee premiums for PPO and HDHP plans, and the HDHP adds employer HSA funding plus a dollar-for-dollar HSA match up to stated amounts. Dental and vision plans list very low per-paycheck costs, helping keep overall healthcare spend manageable.
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Wellbeing & Lifestyle Benefits — No-cost telemedicine (including virtual mental health when enrolled), free Calm access for the employee and dependents, and an EAP with counseling are included. Company-paid life and disability plus voluntary protections (legal/ID, pet insurance) and other extras round out a comprehensive set of supports.
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The Company
What We Do
AHEAD builds platforms for digital business. By weaving together cloud infrastructure, intelligent operations, and modern applications, we help enterprises deliver on the promise of digital transformation.
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