Head of Legal

Taktile•New York, NY

4d•Hybrid

About The Position

Taktile is seeking a Head of Legal to lead its legal function. This role offers the opportunity to build upon an existing foundation of contract templates, an in-progress CLM rollout (Ironclad), and established fractional GC coverage. The Head of Legal will be the first dedicated in-house legal leader, responsible for shaping the future of the legal team and function to match Taktile's growth trajectory. This strategic partner will work closely with the CEO and leadership team on critical decisions including deal structure, new market entry, and product risk, while also handling day-to-day legal tasks such as drafting NDAs and reviewing vendor contracts.

Requirements

8+ years of relevant legal experience, including meaningful time in-house.
Ideally, some exposure to AI, fintech, financial services, SaaS, or another regulated/high-growth environment.
Direct experience building or significantly scaling a legal function and team.
Strong commercial contract drafting and negotiation skills; comfortable being the primary negotiator on customer and vendor paper.
Working knowledge of, or genuine excitement to quickly build, expertise in financial services regulatory considerations relevant to AI-driven decisioning (credit, lending, model risk, fair lending concepts).
Experience supporting employment matters across multiple jurisdictions or entities, or a track record of picking up new jurisdictions quickly and knowing when to bring in local counsel.
JD and active bar membership in at least one US state.
An entrepreneurial, high-ownership mindset, energized by taking a function with a real foundation and building it into the next thing, including hiring and leading a team.
Sound judgment about when to solve something yourself versus when to route it to outside counsel, and confidence managing that outside counsel relationship as a true business owner would.

Nice To Haves

Exposure to AI, fintech, financial services, SaaS, or another regulated/high-growth environment.

Responsibilities

Design the function's next chapter, building on existing foundations and determining what evolves, gets automated, and what stays with outside counsel.
Set the roadmap for the future of the legal function at Taktile.
Build and lead the legal team, making decisions on hiring and team structure.
Own commercial contracting, including drafting, reviewing, and negotiating customer agreements, vendor contracts, partnership agreements, and NDAs.
Refine existing templates and playbooks to enable business self-service on lower-risk agreements.
Work with the compliance function and outside regulatory counsel on the intersection of banking, lending, AI/model-risk regulations, and the product.
Support a growing global team by partnering with HR on employment matters across multiple entities (US, Germany, UK, Romania, LATAM contractors).
Advise leadership on legal risk and strategy, including deal structure and the legal implications of new products, partnerships, and markets.
Own the company's baseline data privacy program, including GDPR, and coordinate with specialized privacy counsel.
Answer day-to-day legal questions from sales, HR, and product teams.