General Counsel

Looking for a new adventure? You’ve come to the right place.

We're an Amsterdam-based team of 85+ (and counting) with 25+ nationalities amongst us! A varied bunch of “Citizens of The World” with a wide range of skills and hundreds of thousands of kilometers under our travel belts. And we have something important in common (other than our very well-worn passports): We want to change the way people travel. 

And that's exactly what we're doing, with the travel app to plan, track, and relive trips in a smart and beautiful way.

Polarsteps has over 18 million users already, but for us, this is just the beginning. We have big plans for the future, and so we need even more talented and enthusiastic people to help us on our journey.

Want to know more about us? Here you go.

We’re a small team, doing big things.

At Polarsteps, 18 million travelers (and counting) use our app to capture and share their journeys. We’re expanding fast across Europe and the US, on a mission to build a global brand with 100 million+ monthly adventurers.

As we scale, we’re looking for an outstanding General Counsel to guide us through the legal, privacy, and compliance side of this adventure. Someone who thrives in motion: balancing legal rigour with commercial pragmatism, structure with speed, and principles with curiosity.

This is a part-time / fractional role (2–3 days per week), perfect for someone excited to build the legal function of a fast-growing scaleup from the ground up. We’re flexible on setup (employment or freelance) and open to growing this role into a full-time position over time.

What your journey at Polarsteps will look like on a typical day.

• Lead all legal and compliance matters across product, operations, and commercials.

• Advise management and leadership on strategic, regulatory, and risk issues.

• Draft, review, and negotiate key commercial contracts (partnerships, licensing) and build lightweight compliance checks and licence processes.

• Ensure GDPR and consumer protection compliance across all markets.

• Manage IP, data, privacy, competition, and marketing law issues (in collaboration with local and external counsel).

• Develop scalable legal processes and templates to support rapid product and market expansion.

• Own and continuously improve company policies and governance (privacy, terms, internal compliance).

• Act as a trusted partner, balancing legal soundness with business sense, helping us move fast and smart.

What we’re hoping you’ll bring with you.

✅ Dutch or EU-qualified lawyer with 5+ years of experience (in-house preferred).
✅ Background in consumer tech, digital platforms, or startups/scaleups.
✅ Strong commercial mindset and fluent in both English and Dutch (written and spoken).
✅ Comfortable operating independently, at pace, in a high-growth and sometimes ambiguous environment.
✅ A creative, problem-solving, pragmatic mindset, someone who loves finding smart, simple ways to get things done right.

Some cool things to make the journey extra sweet. (only for employees, not freelance)

• A yearly free flight or train ride to a random location! Give our Teleporter a spin here.

• A shiny new laptop of your choice, like a MacBook, to work your magic on.

• Hybrid working. Split your time between the office and your home as you see fit.

• An extensive home office set-up, everything from noise-canceling headphones to a standing desk.

• 30 days of vacation (for adventures or sitting on the couch, it's up to you)

• Two paid Culture Days for days that are important to you but not recognized by the official Dutch calendar.

• The option to switch up your video background by working from another country for up to 8 weeks a year.

• A personal development budget for that curious mind of yours!

• A pension plan to help you save for those around-the-world retirement trips.

• Delicious daily team lunches.

• Awesome monthly parties, as well as team trips away.

• A lively office in downtown Amsterdam, with travel costs reimbursed.

• Free Polarsteps Travel Books to contain all your far-flung adventures.

At Polarsteps, we believe the best products are built by people as diverse as the travelers using our apps! That's why we specifically encourage people underrepresented in the tech industry to apply for a role with us. Because we believe that diversity, be it age, race, sexual orientation, physical ability, ethnicity, or gender identity, makes both the world and the workplace better.

Think this is the path for you? Find out more about how we hire.