Corporate, Founder & Team Matters

• Support founder and senior leadership arrangements.
• Draft employment and consultancy agreements.
• Establish technical founder and senior-hire documentation.
• Manage IP assignments, inventions, confidentiality provisions, and background IP schedules.
• Support share and option arrangements, vesting, and leaver provisions.
• Establish employee equity and incentive structures.
• Support Board and shareholder governance, corporate approvals, and records.
• Prepare the company for future financing and investor due diligence.

Technology, IP & Data

• Establish controls around ownership and chain of title for company IP.
• Address software and code contributions and IP created by employees and contractors.
• Manage open-source and third-party software considerations.
• Support legal frameworks around repositories, cloud services, and technical accounts.
• Advise on customer and expert information, privacy, and data protection.
• Establish security obligations and technology-provider contracts.
• Review product and commercial claims.
• Build legal infrastructure appropriate for a rapidly developing technology business.

Fundraising & Investor Readiness

• Maintain cap-table and governance hygiene.
• Support founder and employee equity matters.
• Assist with financing documentation.
• Prepare for investor due diligence and data-room requirements.
• Review IP chain of title and material contracts.
• Maintain corporate housekeeping.
• Coordinate with specialist external counsel where required.

Qualifications

• UK-qualified lawyer.
• Substantial experience in one or more of:
  • Venture-backed startups and scale-ups.
  • Technology companies.
  • Venture capital.
  • Commercial technology agreements.
  • Corporate and shareholder matters.
  • Founder arrangements.
  • Employment and senior executive contracts.
  • Employee equity.
  • Intellectual property.
  • Privacy and data protection.
  • Enterprise technology procurement.
• Previous in-house experience within a startup, scale-up, technology company, or venture-backed business is particularly relevant.
• Experience drafting commercial technology and customer agreements.
• Experience with founder, senior hire, employment, IP, or equity arrangements.
• Experience supporting venture financing or institutional due diligence is particularly valuable.

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience working with angel, pre-seed, seed, or institutional venture financing.
• Experience supporting AI or technology companies.
• Previous experience transitioning from a leading technology or corporate law firm into fractional practice.

Key Attributes

• Commercially minded and highly pragmatic.
• Comfortable operating in an early-stage environment.
• Capable of personally drafting legal documents rather than simply managing external advisers.
• Able to distinguish material risk from theoretical risk.
• Comfortable making recommendations where not every fact is settled.
• Organized and capable of establishing repeatable legal systems and processes.
• Comfortable working directly with a founder.
• Interested in technology and AI.
• Able to move between strategic advice and detailed execution.
• Motivated by helping build a company rather than servicing one from a distance.
• Focused on protecting an early-stage company without creating unnecessary legal complexity.

Time Commitment

• Initially approximately 1–2 days per week.
• Fractional / portfolio engagement.
• The engagement may expand as the company grows, begins working with larger customers, and raises external capital.

Work Arrangement

• United Kingdom.
• Primarily remote.
• Occasional meetings where useful.
• Candidates do not need to leave existing practices or other fractional appointments.