General Counsel

🔥 5 minutes ago

🇪🇺 Europe – Remote

⏰ Full Time

🟡 Mid-level

🟠 Senior

⚖️ Legal Counsel / General Counsel

👻 Ghost score 16%

What it means: how likely this posting is sitting open without active hiring.How to read it: 60% or higher means we think this is a ghost. Lower scores are less of a worry.How we score it: age, reposts, open roles vs team size, how fast jobs close, and whether pay is listed.Fine print: an estimate from public data, not a judgment of the company. Real jobs can score high, so treat it as a hint, not a fact.

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Canonical

WebsiteLinkedInAll Job Openings

501 - 1000 employees

Founded 2004

🤖 Artificial Intelligence

Open Source • Cloud • Artificial Intelligence

Canonical is the company behind Ubuntu, the world's most popular open-source operating system, which provides fast, modern, and secure Linux solutions for desktops, servers, and cloud environments. They offer a comprehensive set of products and services, including Ubuntu Desktop, Ubuntu Server, cloud solutions such as OpenStack, and tools for managing containerized applications with Kubernetes. Canonical focuses on making open-source technology reliable and accessible across various industries, from IoT and AI to enterprise infrastructure.

📋 Description

• Lead Canonical’s global Legal and Compliance function across EMEA and the Americas • Build and manage management capability by hiring and developing managers, setting objectives, reviewing performance, and addressing under-performance • Set the function’s operating cadence, including legal-work intake, prioritization, service expectations, and workload and risk reporting • Own public-market legal readiness, including corporate governance, group and entity structure, delegated authority, policies, disclosure controls, and records • Advise the CEO, COO, CFO, Board, and committees • Own the commercial contracting framework, including templates, negotiating positions, deviation, and escalation processes • Lead intellectual property and open source licensing strategy, including copyleft, trademark, and Ubuntu and product distribution terms • Own the global compliance program covering data protection and privacy, export controls and trade compliance, anti-bribery and corruption, competition, and AI regulation • Manage litigation, disputes, regulatory engagement, external counsel, budget, and quality • Advise on M&A, partnerships, strategic alliances, and financing

🎯 Requirements

• Exceptional academic track record from both high school and university • A degree in law, or equivalent, and an active licence to practice in an EMEA or Americas jurisdiction • Substantial senior in-house experience in a global technology or software business • Proven experience leading a distributed legal team, including managing managers across regions and time zones • Track record of setting and holding a high performance bar, hiring well, developing people, and addressing under-performance directly • Experience building or restructuring an in-house legal function, including deciding what is retained, delegated, and sent to external counsel • Experience negotiating and owning commercial technology contracts, including enterprise software and subscriptions, channel and reseller agreements, hardware manufacturer agreements, cloud and services • Experience advising on open source licensing, including permissive and copyleft licences, and familiarity with open source communities • Experience of, or demonstrable readiness for, public company governance, including listing preparation, board and committee support, disclosure, and controls • Depth in at least two of: data protection and privacy, IP and trademark, export controls and trade, competition, or disputes • Confidence to speak up, exchange feedback, hold colleagues accountable, and share ideas • Professional written and spoken English with excellent drafting and presentation skills • Excellent interpersonal skills, curiosity, flexibility, and accountability • Ability to travel internationally two to four times a year for company events up to two weeks long

🏖️ Benefits

• Performance-driven annual bonus or commission • Distributed work environment with twice-yearly team sprints in person • Personal learning and development budget of USD 2,000 per year • Bi-annual compensation review • Company recognition rewards • 40 days annual leave per annum, including public holidays and All Company holiday periods • Maternity and paternity leave • Team Member Assistance Program & Wellness Platform • Opportunity to travel to new locations to meet colleagues • Priority Pass for lounge access