General Counsel

UpGuard Inc.•Los Angeles, CA

2d•Remote

About The Position

UpGuard is seeking a hands-on General Counsel (GC) to lead its in-house legal function and support its evolving needs as the company scales toward long-term operational maturity and category leadership. Reporting to the COO, the GC will serve as a strategic legal advisor to executive leadership while remaining deeply connected to the day-to-day work of the business. This role requires an ambitious lawyer who can fluidly move between board-level counsel and day-to-day operations, and who wants to lead a function at a rapidly scaling company that is defining how the world manages cyber risk. The Legal team's mission is to preempt, identify, and resolve legal risks to accelerate business goals, ensuring compliance with all current laws and regulations. The team works closely with global sales teams and supports various legal matters within the high-growth cybersecurity SaaS business.

Requirements

10+ years of legal experience (with 4+ years in a leadership role), with a strong in-house background at an international, B2B SaaS company.
Law degree and admission to, and in good standing with, the local governing body.
Proven experience building a compliance program at a scaling company — including assessing current posture, defining improvement targets, sequencing priorities, and executing change.
Demonstrated ability to drive compliance and legal improvements across functions with competing priorities: communicating risk in business terms, building cross-functional buy-in, and moving organisations through change with practical, actionable guidance aligned with business and technology objectives.
Deep understanding with sell-side SaaS contracting and experience navigating complicated deals across various deal sizes and buyer types.
Strong interpersonal and cross-functional collaboration skills, with experience providing responsive, business-oriented legal support across global teams, time zones, cultures, and distributed (hybrid/remote) environments.
Experience implementing AI tools and workflow automation to enhance legal operations, drive efficiency, and scale support for business needs.

Nice To Haves

Prior experience as General Counsel or Deputy General Counsel at a B2B SaaS company at a comparable growth stage (post-Series B or C, approximately 200–600 employees).
A track record of building compliance programs from the ground up at a company navigating rapid scale.
Background in cybersecurity, data privacy, or another regulated technology sector, with related certifications (CIPP/US, CIPP/E, etc.) a plus.
Experience building real alignment with go-to-market, product, and marketing teams on legal and compliance priorities, and driving meaningful, lasting change through incremental steps that scale with the business.

Responsibilities

Act as a strategic legal advisor to executive leadership, proactively identifying risks and opportunities to support informed, high-impact decisions.
Assess UpGuard's current legal and compliance posture across key areas; identify gaps against applicable standards; and develop a sequenced, prioritised roadmap that reflects business risk, organisational capacity, and realistic timelines — then lead the company through the change required to close those gaps.
Lead and develop the in-house legal team, implementing scalable processes and metrics-driven practices to accelerate deals and reduce risk.
Build and execute a scalable compliance program covering data privacy (GDPR, CCPA), OFAC/trade compliance, anti-bribery, AI governance, and ethics — with particular emphasis on driving organisational alignment and adoption beyond policy creation.
Identify and mitigate legal and regulatory risks across the business, working cross-functionally to embed compliance awareness into day-to-day decision-making.
Manage corporate legal activities, including governance, equity administration, and any M&A or financing activity as it arises.
Advise People and Finance teams on employment law matters across UpGuard's global workforce, including hiring, employee relations, equity programs, and local labor law compliance.
Support board governance functions, including preparation of board materials, maintenance of corporate records, and management of director obligations across jurisdictions.
Provide strategic product counselling to product, engineering, and go-to-market teams, addressing legal issues and enabling compliant, successful product launches.
Direct intellectual property strategy, proactively protecting and managing UpGuard's trademarks, copyrights, patents, and trade secrets.
Advise on the legal and regulatory implications of AI-driven features, data handling practices, and cybersecurity product capabilities as the platform evolves.

Benefits

Monthly Lifestyle subsidy: Use this for financial, physical, and mental well-being
WFH set-up allowance: To ensure you have the right environment to work in, we will help you get set up within your first 3 months at UpGuard
$1500 USD annual Learning & Development allowance: To support your career development, all team members will be able to expense development opportunities against this allowance
Annual leave: PTO plus two additional UpGuardian leave days to give you time to recharge your batteries.
18 weeks paid Parental Leave: Irrespective of parenting role
Personal Leave Allowance: This includes sick & carer’s leave
Fully remote working environment
Top-spec hardware: All team members will be provided with top-spec laptops for their role
Generative AI subsidy: UpGuard provides paid subscriptions for all team members to access generative AI tools to support their work
Health Insurance: Health, dental, and vision insurance
Stock Options