Legal Counsel (M/F)

Why we are Hiring:

Over the last five years, Supernova Invest has more than tripled its assets under management and more than doubled its team. Transaction volume, portfolio complexity, fundraising and regulatory work have grown accordingly, absorbed so far by the General Counsel without any expansion of the legal function. This recruitment is the first hire of our legal team, designed not only to support a growing volume of legal work, but also to help build the legal function as Supernova Invest continues to scale. As Legal Counsel, you progressively take ownership of the Run (investment transactions, portfolio legal support, corporate housekeeping) while contributing to the Build (fund formation and fundraising, strategic transactions, legal playbooks, legal technology) alongside the General Counsel. Within about twelve months, you manage standard investment transactions autonomously, with the General Counsel available on sensitive or non-standard points; within two to three years, you will have grown into a senior in-house transactional lawyer.

The Role:

As Legal Counsel (M/F), you support the investment teams throughout the legal execution of Supernova Invest’s transactions and on portfolio company legal matters, while helping build the tools and processes of a growing legal function. You report to the General Counsel and work closely with the Investment Directors on a daily basis.

Your main responsibilities will be to:

• Lead the legal execution of investment transactions: primary investments, follow-on rounds and exits, from term sheet to closing; negotiating shareholders’ agreements, investment and sale documentation, coordinating due diligence. You progressively lead standard transactions autonomously, with the General Counsel involved on larger, complex, novel, or strategically sensitive matters.

• Support the portfolio and its governance: day-to-day shareholder and board matters of portfolio companies, together with the Investment Directors; the General Counsel takes over board-level or strategic questions and exit-related matters.

• Own legal operations and corporate matters: NDAs, internal delegation of powers & process, corporate housekeeping, templates and standard documentation, coordination of external counsel.

• Contribute to fund and regulatory work: ad hoc support to the General Counsel on fund formation, AIFMD and tax matters as the next vehicles are raised.

• Build the legal function: playbooks, templates, knowledge management, process improvement and legal technology initiatives, including AI. As the first hire of the team, you shape its ways of working.

The goal is not that you master every aspect of the role from day one. Onboarding is designed as a gradual ramp-up: during the first few months, you will work closely with the General Counsel with regular feedback and increasing ownership as you become familiar with Supernova Invest’s investment practice and portfolio. The objective is for you to lead standard transactions autonomously within approximately twelve months.

This role is for you if:

• You have hands-on transactional experience: you have drafted and negotiated the key documents of a transaction (shareholders’ agreements, SPAs, term sheets).

• You show sound judgment on autonomy and escalation: you know when to handle a matter yourself and when to bring it to the General Counsel, and you can explain why.

• You are commercially pragmatic: you give practical advice that serves the deal and the business, not just a technically correct legal answer.

• You explain legal issues in plain language, in French and in English, to investors and entrepreneurs who are not lawyers.

• You are comfortable building from scratch: as the first hire of Supernova Invest’s legal team, you will help shape templates, processes and ways of working rather than simply apply existing ones. You are receptive to feedback and comfortable learning as the role evolves.

• You are curious beyond pure transactional work: you are interested in how an investment fund operates from a legal and regulatory perspective (AIFMD, taxation), even if these areas are new to you.

Profile sought :

Contract: permanent (CDI), executive status (cadre) under an annual working-days arrangement (forfait jours)

Start date: January 27

Profile: Master’s degree in business law (Master 2 or equivalent), admission to the French bar (avocat) preferred; 4 to 5 years of post-qualification experience in a leading M&A, private equity or venture capital practice, or in-house at an investment firm

Languages: French and English, fluent in both, written and spoken.

Location: Paris (Saint-Lazare)

Proposed compensation: yearly package from 83 up to 104 K€ + intéressement + benefits