Head of Legal

Role overview

Advanced Navigation is seeking a strategic and hands-on Head of Legal to lead our global legal function. In this role, you will be the primary legal architect for a company scaling at the frontier of autonomous technology. You won't just be managing risk; you will be a business partner helping us navigate the complexities of international expansion, cutting-edge R&D, and sophisticated government and defence partnerships.

Key responsibilities:

Commercial Transactions: Draft, review, and negotiate high-value contracts, including SaaS agreements, hardware manufacturing contracts, and complex licensing deals.

Intellectual Property Strategy: Partner with the engineering teams to safeguard our "secret sauce." Manage a global portfolio of patents, trademarks, and trade secrets.

Regulatory & Compliance: Ensure compliance with international trade laws, export controls (such as ITAR/EAR equivalents), and data privacy regulations (GDPR/APP).

Corporate Governance: Support the Company Secretary (with a path to transitioning into this role), managing board materials, equity incentive plans, and future funding rounds or M&A activity.

External Counsel Management: Be the gatekeeper. Select and manage specialized outside counsel efficiently to ensure we get maximum value for spend.

Your profile:

Experience: 10+ years of post-qualification experience (PQE), ideally with a mix of top-tier law firm training and in-house experience at a hardware or deep-tech company.

The "Generalist" Mindset: you enjoy the variety of shifting from an employment law issue in the morning to a subsea sensor distribution agreement in the afternoon.

Tech-Fluent: you understand the difference between "off-the-shelf" software and proprietary AI algorithms. You can speak the language of engineers. Experience in deep-tech companies is a big advantage.

Pragmatism over Perfection: you know when to fight for a clause and when to accept "market standard" to get a deal across the finish line.