Head of Legal

LeadVenture

1d

About The Position

The Head of Legal is the company’s senior legal executive and a member of the Executive Leadership Team, reporting to the Chief Financial Officer. This role supports a high‑growth, PE‑backed vertical software company executing strategic acquisitions and enabling the organization to execute efficiently and effectively operational. The role has enterprise-wide responsibility for legal strategy, execution, risk management with oversight and partnership with Procurement, Privacy, and Security. The ideal candidate is a commercial, pragmatic legal leader experienced in managing complex legal matters through outside counsel, operating across multiple jurisdictions, and acting as a trusted partner to executive leadership and private equity sponsors.

Requirements

• Juris Doctor (JD) from an accredited law school.
• Active license to practice law in at least one U.S. jurisdiction.
• 10+ years of progressive legal experience with significant in‑house responsibility.
• Demonstrated experience managing outside counsel on M&A purchase agreements, lender and financing agreements, and ongoing litigation and disputes.
• Strong commercial judgment and ability to operate at executive leadership level.
• Experience supporting multi‑jurisdictional operations and global workforces.

Nice To Haves

• Experience in private equity–backed companies, particularly with active acquisition strategies.
• Background in vertical software, SaaS, or technology‑enabled businesses.
• Direct experience preparing companies for sell‑side diligence and exit.
• Familiarity with data privacy and security governance in software environments.
• Experience working with middle‑market PE sponsors and their operating cadence.

Responsibilities

• Serve as a core member of the Executive Leadership Team, contributing to enterprise strategy, value creation, and risk management.
• Act as trusted legal and business advisor to the CEO, CFO, and private equity sponsors.
• Support PE governance requirements, including board materials / minutes, approvals, delegated authority frameworks, and portfolio reporting.
• Provide legal perspective on acquisitions, capital structure, operational scaling, and exit planning.
• Own legal readiness for exit, ensuring the company is prepared for buyer diligence across commercial and customer contracts, intellectual property and software ownership, corporate governance and entity structure, privacy, data protection, and security programs, and employment, equity, and contractor arrangements.
• Proactively identify, prioritize, and remediate legal risks that could impact valuation, deal certainty, or transaction timelines.
• Partner closely with finance, operations, and external advisors during sell-side diligence and transaction execution.
• Lead legal execution for strategic acquisitions, including LOI review and structuring, legal due diligence across domestic and international targets, drafting and negotiation of purchase agreements, and structuring and negotiation of representations, warranties, indemnities, escrows, earnouts, and post‑closing covenants.
• Establish repeatable M&A playbooks, templates, and diligence processes to support deal velocity.
• Manage and coordinate outside counsel efficiently to maintain pace and cost discipline.
• Support post‑acquisition legal integration, including entity consolidation, contract harmonization, and compliance alignment.
• Work closely with outside counsel on lender agreements, credit facilities, amendments, and related financings.
• Support refinancing, covenant compliance, and lender diligence activities.
• Partner with the CFO on legal matters impacting capital structure, liquidity, and sponsor requirements.
• Oversee negotiation and management of all material commercial agreements, including customer, vendor, reseller, cloud, data, and technology agreements.
• Provide partnership with the Global Controller for Procurement, advising on vendor evaluation, defining and implementing signatory levels of authority, ensuring best practice vendor contracting, risk allocation, and cost discipline aligned with company and PE expectations.
• Develop scalable contract standards that balance revenue growth with buyer‑acceptable risk profiles.
• Enable enterprise sales execution while maintaining disciplined positions on liability, indemnification, IP, and data protection.
• Provide executive oversight and co‑ownership of Privacy and Security, partnering with functional leaders to ensure compliance with applicable data protection laws, establish and maintain policies, incident response protocols, and governance structures, support customer, partner, and buyer diligence regarding security and privacy practices, and advise the ELT on material privacy and security risks and mitigation strategies.
• Advise on employment and labor matters across a global workforce, including the U.S., Canada, Netherlands, Mexico, and Belize.
• Support integration and standardization of employment practices across acquired entities.
• Handle executive compensation, sales compensation, equity plans, retention programs, and change‑in‑control matters.
• Ensure corporate governance, entity management, and statutory compliance across entities in the U.S., UK, Canada, and the Netherlands.
• Manage all litigation, claims, and disputes, working closely with outside counsel.
• Oversee litigation strategy, risk assessment, and cost control.
• Resolve disputes efficiently with an eye toward minimizing operational disruption and transaction risk.
• Build and lead a lean, scalable legal function appropriate for a PE‑backed organization.
• Select, manage, and oversee outside counsel across M&A, financing, employment, litigation, and regulatory matters.
• Establish legal budgets, KPIs, and workflows aligned with CFO oversight and sponsor expectations.
• Leverage technology and alternative resourcing where appropriate.

Benefits

• Equal employment opportunities (EEO) to all employees and applicants for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, national origin, age, disability or genetics.
• Compliance with applicable state and local laws governing nondiscrimination in employment in every location in which the company has facilities.
• Prohibition of any form of workplace harassment based on race, color, religion, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, national origin, age, genetic information, disability, or veteran status.

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Executive
• Education Level: Ph.D. or professional degree