Head of Legal

The role

The Head of Legal is Hypervolt's principal legal adviser and the single point of ownership for legal, regulatory and compliance matters across the business. It spans the full range you'd expect at a hardware manufacturer that also sells to consumers and runs a software layer: commercial contracting, product and consumer law, data and IP, corporate and international, and disputes.

This is a hands-on, generalist leadership role. You'll set legal strategy and risk appetite with the executive team, handle the substantive work yourself, and decide when and how to bring in external counsel. You'll build the templates, processes and playbooks that let a fast-moving business move quickly while managing its risk, and you'll grow the function as the company grows.

Key responsibilities

Commercial contracting

• Draft, negotiate and manage the full range of B2B agreements — customer, channel, distribution, partnership, procurement and supplier contracts — including pricing, service levels, warranties, liability, IP and termination.
• Support tenders, RFPs and major commercial negotiations with practical, deal-focused input.

Product, consumer & safety

• Advise on consumer law and fair-trading obligations across direct-to-consumer sales, including consumer rights, warranties, returns and guarantees.
• Own product compliance and product safety, including conformity, standards and product-liability matters.
• Manage the legal aspects of quality, certification and regulatory conformity for connected hardware.

Software, data & IP

• Own software, SaaS and API arrangements — end-user and developer terms, licensing, integration and partner agreements, and service levels.
• Lead data protection and privacy compliance (UK GDPR and equivalents) across connected-device data and customer information, including lawful use, retention, sharing and cross-border transfer.
• Protect and manage the company's intellectual property across hardware, software and brand, and handle open-source and third-party licensing.

Regulatory & compliance

• Advise on the sector and product regulation relevant to the business, and keep the company ahead of regulatory change.
• Own the compliance framework, including policies, training and the legal-risk register.

Corporate, governance & international

• Support corporate governance, board and shareholder matters and corporate transactions.
• Provide legal support to international expansion, overseas entities and cross-border operations.
• Manage the company's insurance programme relationship.

Disputes & risk

• Manage disputes and litigation across corporate and consumer matters, coordinating external counsel and insurers where needed.
• Maintain clear processes for escalation, risk-tracking and record-keeping.

Leading the function

• Establish the company's contract templates, approval workflows, playbooks
• Act as a trusted, plain-speaking adviser who translates legal risk into commercial decisions, and scale the legal function as the business grows.

What we're looking for

Essential

• Qualified solicitor in England & Wales (or equivalent), with a strong post-qualification track record at GC or senior-counsel level.
• Broad, generalist commercial capability, with real strength in commercial contracting plus credible experience across product/consumer, regulatory, data or IP — and the confidence to get up to speed quickly on the rest.
• Comfort operating as a sole or lead legal function: self-directed, decisive and able to prioritise across a wide and shifting workload.
• A commercial, pragmatic approach that finds the protected route to "yes" rather than defaulting to "no".
• Sound judgement in complex, ambiguous situations, balancing commercial, reputational and risk considerations.

Desirable

• In-house experience at a manufacturer, hardware, consumer-tech, energy or mobility business.
• Familiarity with connected/IoT products and the data, liability and IP questions they raise.
• Experience across both B2B and B2C legal environments.
• Exposure to product-safety and product-liability matters.
• Experience establishing or scaling an in-house legal function.