AQEMIA's drug discovery programs and AI platform increasingly create value through licensing deals and strategic partnerships with pharma and biotech companies.
As our first in-house Legal Counsel, you will lead the legal work on these deals from term sheet to signing. You'll make sure each licensing agreement maximises value creation for Aqemia, protects our IP, and the platform behind every program. Beyond licensing, you will become the trusted legal partner for CEO, founders, leadership and teams across the company, covering IP and patents, operational contracts, data and AI, compliance and corporate matters alongside specialist external counsel. Within a year, you will have shaped how legal works at AQEMIA: issues will be mapped and anticipated, processes will be practical, and leadership will rely on you for well-judged legal advice. Reporting to the Corporate Finance Manager, you’ll have a rare chance to sit at the centre of the deals that bring AI-discovered drug candidates to partners, and to grow well beyond licensing into a broad in-house role.
Responsibilities
- Licensing & partnerships: lead the legal work on licensing and collaboration deals, drafting and negotiating agreements from term sheet to signing.
- Deal strategy: work with BD, Finance and Leadership to turn commercial goals into contract terms, while protecting AQEMIA's platform and other programs.
- IP & patents: support IP protection and patent-related decisions with scientific teams and external patent counsel.
- Operational contracts: draft and negotiate NDAs, MTAs, CRO, vendor, software and data agreements, including contractual questions on data use and AI.
- Corporate & compliance: addresss GDPR, regulatory, compliance and dispute-related matters with specialist support where needed, and support corporate and fundraising matters in coordination with Finance and external advisors.
- Legal processes: own templates and approval workflows, highlight key contract obligations and deadlines to relevant teams, and manage external counsel.
Qualifications
- Law degree or equivalent professional legal qualification.
- 5+ years of legal experience, including time at a law firm in a life sciences practice. In-house experience at a biotech or pharma company is a strong plus.
- Licensing: hands-on experience drafting and negotiating biotech or pharma licensing agreements yourself, not only coordinating external counsel.
- Deal knowledge: strong understanding of licensing mechanics and IP ownership in drug discovery (scope, exclusivity, financials, termination).
- Communication: excellent English drafting and negotiation skills, and you can explain legal points clearly to non-lawyers.
- Mindset: autonomous, pragmatic and eager to learn legal topics beyond your current expertise.
Nice‑to‑Have
- In-house experience at a biotech, pharma or TechBio company, ideally a startup or lean legal team.
- Exposure to AI, data or technology platform agreements (data rights, model training, ownership of outputs).
- Experience building legal processes, templates or contract management from scratch.
- Business development or commercial experience alongside your legal background.
- Professional French.
Our recruitment process
- 1 - Hiring Manager’s interview: you’ll meet directly with your future manager (45 mins)
- 2 - Technical assessment of your skills through a Business Case (60 mins)
- 3 - Cultural fit interview with our co-founder and COO Emmanuelle (45 mins)
- 4 - Final interview with our co-founder and CEO Maximilien (45 mins)
Skills Required
- Law degree or equivalent professional legal qualification
- 5+ years of legal experience
- Experience at a law firm in a life sciences practice
- Hands-on experience drafting and negotiating biotech or pharma licensing agreements
- Strong understanding of licensing mechanics and IP ownership in drug discovery, including scope, exclusivity, financials, and termination
- Excellent English drafting and negotiation skills
- Ability to explain legal points clearly to non-lawyers
- Autonomous, pragmatic, and willing to learn legal topics beyond current expertise
- In-house experience at a biotech, pharma, or TechBio company
- Experience with AI, data, or technology platform agreements
- Experience building legal processes, templates, or contract management from scratch
- Business development or commercial experience alongside legal experience
- Professional French
What We Do
AQEMIA is a next-gen pharmatech company generating one of the world's fastest-growing drug discovery pipeline. Our mission is to design fast innovative drug candidates for dozens of critical diseases, such as immuno-oncology. Our unique approach leverages quantum-inspired physics algorithms to power generative AI in designing novel drug candidates—without relying on experimental data. We already delivered several drug discovery successes within our internal pipeline and through collaborations with pharmaceutical companies. Our most advanced programs are currently in vivo optimization. We are growing and hiring! Check our career website: https://jobs.lever.co/aqemia.com Discover the roles and behind-the-scenes at AQEMIA on our Welcome To The Jungle page: https://www.welcometothejungle.com/fr/companies/aqemia
