At a glance
- Location
- Home based - EMEA · Office Based - London
About Canonical
- Canonical is a pioneering tech firm at the forefront of the global move to open source. Our platform, Ubuntu, is very widely used in breakthrough enterprise initiatives such as public cloud, data science, AI, engineering innovation, and IoT. Our customers include the world's leading public cloud and silicon providers, and industry leaders in many sectors. We are founder-led, profitable, and growing.
- Powered by worldwide distributed collaboration since our inception in 2004, we believe tech and business leadership can emerge anywhere. We have no central headquarters. Most of us work from home, but we are exceptionally disciplined about this. We have very high expectations of all colleagues, and are champions of excellence. Working here is a step into the future and will challenge you to think differently, work smarter, learn new skills, and raise your game.
- Canonical is an equal opportunity employer
- We are proud to foster a workplace free from discrimination. Diversity of experience, perspectives, and background create a better work environment and better products. Whatever your identity, we will give your application fair consideration.
About the role
- We are hiring a General Counsel, reporting to the Chief Operating Officer (COO), to lead Canonical’s global Legal and Compliance function.
- This role owns Canonical's legal, regulatory and governance posture and leads a distributed team across EMEA and the Americas.
- The position advises the CEO, COO, CFO and the Board directly while preparing the company for a public exchange listing.
Responsibilities
- Leading the global Legal and Compliance function by setting its structure, standards and priorities across EMEA and the Americas.
- Building and managing a management capability, hiring and developing managers, setting objectives, reviewing performance, and addressing under-performance directly.
- Setting the operating cadence of the function including intake and prioritization of legal work, service expectations with internal clients, and reporting on workload and risk to the leadership team.
- Owning public-market readiness on the legal side covering corporate governance, group and entity structure, delegated authority, policies, disclosure controls and records.
- Advising the CEO, COO, CFO and the Board, and supporting in Board and committee meetings.
- Owning the commercial contracting framework including standard templates, negotiating positions, and a deviation and escalation process.
- Leading intellectual property and open source licensing strategy, including copyleft, trademark and the terms on which Ubuntu and our products are distributed.
- Owning the global compliance programme covering data protection and privacy, export controls and trade compliance, anti-bribery and corruption, competition and AI regulation.
- Managing litigation, disputes and regulatory engagement, together with the external counsel panel, its budget and its quality.
- Advising on M&A, partnerships, strategic alliances and financing as the company grows.
Requirements
- An exceptional academic track record from both high school and university.
- A degree in law, or equivalent, and an active licence to practice in an EMEA or Americas jurisdiction.
- Substantial senior in-house experience in a global technology or software business.
- Proven experience leading a distributed legal team, including managing managers across regions and time zones.
- A track record of setting and holding a high performance bar including hiring well, developing people, and dealing with under performance directly.
- Experience building or restructuring an in-house legal function, including deciding what is retained, delegated and sent to external counsel.
- Technology related experience of negotiating and owning commercial technology contracts, and advising on open source licensing.
- Experience of, or demonstrable readiness for, public company governance including listing preparation, board and committee support, disclosure and controls.
- Depth in at least two of: data protection and privacy, IP and trademark, export controls and trade, competition, or disputes.
- Professional written and spoken English with excellent drafting, presentation, and interpersonal skills.
Preferred qualifications
- Experience taking a company through an IPO, or practicing as counsel inside a listed company.
- A technical or engineering background, or fluency in how software is built and shipped.
- Experience of a subscription or recurring-revenue business model.
- Experience building or restructuring an in-house legal function.
- A qualification in more than one jurisdiction.
Benefits
- Performance-driven annual bonus or commission
- Personal learning and development budget of USD 2,000 per year
- Bi-annual compensation review
- Company recognition rewards
- 40 days annual leave per annum, including public holidays and All Company holiday periods
- Maternity and paternity leave
- Team Member Assistance Program and Wellness Platform
- Priority Pass for lounge access
Workplace
- Role is based remotely in EMEA time zones with optional office base in London.
- International travel two to four times a year for company events up to two weeks long.
- Distributed work environment with twice-yearly team sprints in person.
Skills
- AI Regulation
- Open Source Licensing
- Commercial Contracts
- Data Protection And Privacy
- Export Controls And Trade Compliance
- Corporate Governance
- Intellectual Property
- Trademark
- M&A
