Legal Counsel

Senior Legal & Compliance Counsel (AI/SaaS Startup) – Individual Contributor

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Experience:

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About the Role

Senior Legal & Compliance Counsel

startup legal frameworks

Key Responsibilities

1. Legal & Compliance Ownership

• Lead all legal and compliance processes end-to-end for the organization.
• Ensure full compliance with Indian laws relevant to tech startups including:
• Company Law
• Labor laws
• Data privacy & data protection (DPDP Act, GDPR familiarity preferred)
• IT Act / digital regulations
• Contract Act & commercial regulations
• DPIIT startup compliances

2. Contracts & Agreements

• Draft, review, and negotiate a wide range of agreements such as:
• SaaS agreements
• MSAs, NDAs, licensing contracts
• Vendor & partner contracts
• Employment and consultant agreements
• Customer and enterprise-level contracts
• Ensure all contracts protect the company’s interests and minimize risk.

3. Funding & Corporate Governance

• Manage legal aspects of fundraising rounds (Seed to Series stages):
• Term Sheets
• SHA, SSA, Cap Table alignment
• Due diligence responses
• Investor compliance
• Handle Board resolutions, ROC filings, statutory registers, and governance documents.

4. IP & Innovation Protection

• Ensure protection of proprietary technology, AI assets, algorithms, and brand IP.
• Manage trademark, copyright, trade secret, and patent-related matters where required.
• Advise product and tech teams on compliance-sensitive feature development.

5. Risk, Policy & Regulatory Alignment

• Build internal policies related to data protection, AI governance, cybersecurity, usage of LLMs, etc.
• Identify and mitigate legal and regulatory risks proactively.
• Stay updated with global AI regulations and technology-specific legal developments.

6. Future Leadership

• Initially operate as an

  individual contributor

  .
• As the company scales, take ownership of building and leading the legal function.

Required Experience & Qualifications

• 8–10+ years of legal experience, ideally with exposure to

  AI, SaaS, or technology startups

  .
• Strong background in

  contracts, compliance, corporate law, and startup legal frameworks

  .
• Proven experience handling

  funding rounds

  and investor-driven legal processes.
• Experience with

  IP protection and regulatory compliance

  for tech products.
• Excellent negotiation, analytical, and communication skills.
• Ability to work independently, act as an advisor to founders, and handle fast-paced environments.

Preferred Attributes

• Startup-first mindset; thrives in ambiguity.
• Proactive, solution-oriented, and detail-driven.
• Ability to act as the sole legal advisor and scale into a leadership role.
• Familiarity with global AI governance and cross-border SaaS compliance regulations.

Why Join Us

• Opportunity to shape the entire legal and compliance function of a fast-growing AI startup.
• Work directly with founders and leadership on strategic decisions.
• High ownership, autonomy, and future team leadership opportunity.