Head of Legal
Job description
Head of Legal at Seqera responsible for owning the day-to-day legal function, leading the legal team, and handling commercial contracting, corporate governance, data privacy and legal operations. The role reports to the Director of Operations and is intended to grow into a leadership position as the legal function scales.
At a glance
- Employment
- Full-time · Employee (employment agreement)
- Work mode
- Remote · Spain
- Languages
- English – fluent
What you'll do
- Own the day-to-day legal workload and set priorities across many competing requests.
- Lead, develop and manage the legal team.
- Lead on legal strategy, complex special projects and corporate matters.
- Manage external and local counsel across jurisdictions, keeping cost and quality in check.
- Know what to handle alone and when to escalate to the General Counsel.
- Draft, review and negotiate international technology contracts: SaaS, licensing, DPAs, NDAs, research collaborations, partner and vendor agreements.
- Run complex enterprise and public sector deals with Sales from first draft to signature.
- Own contract templates, fallback positions and playbooks to speed up deal cycles.
- Give pragmatic, risk-weighted advice that helps the business say yes.
- Lead corporate governance, entity management and board documentation.
- Support fundraising, investor relations (private equity / VC) and share option plans.
- Advise on employment matters and compensation plans with Finance and People.
- Lead data privacy and data protection work (GDPR and global frameworks) with IT & Compliance and our external DPO.
- Handle the legal input into customer security and procurement reviews.
- Advise on IP and licensing, including open source licensing.
- Improve legal processes and tooling so the business can self-serve where possible.
- Build trust across the business and position Legal as an enabler, not a blocker.
What we're looking for
- 8-12 years of post-qualification experience.
- Qualified to practise law in England & Wales or a US jurisdiction.
- Strong commercial legal background with extensive hands-on technology contracting experience.
- Previous startup or scale-up experience.
- Demonstrable experience leading teams or managing large international projects.
- Fluent business English.
- Based in the UK, the US or Spain, with the right to work.
- Commercially pragmatic: practical, risk-weighted advice rather than legal theory.
- Sound judgment on what to own and when to escalate.
- Explains legal issues simply to non-lawyers.
- Proactive, organised and able to prioritise across many small requests.
- Balanced approach to risk management in a fast-paced environment.
- Leader and builder: you develop people and create structure where none exists.
- Business partner first, not a gatekeeper.
- Autonomous and proactive, with strong ownership.
- Comfortable with ambiguity, a broad remit and limited resources.
Nice to have
- Data privacy, security and licensing expertise.
- Corporate governance, fundraising and share option plan experience.
- Employment matters and compensation plans.
- Experience in life sciences, healthtech or regulated industries.
Your team
Legal
The legal function, reporting into the Director of Operations and working closely with the General Counsel.
Benefits
Time off: 23 days for vacations per year, 3 days given by Seqera in December, and the national/public holidays according to your location.
- Equity
- Private health insurance
- Private life insurance
- Home office allowance (valued over 1,000 USD)
- Learning and development budget per year (1,000 USD)
Apply
Direct apply at Seqera
Opens the job posting at Seqera
About Seqera
Seqera is the company behind Nextflow and the Seqera Platform, enabling global enterprises, biotech innovators, academic institutions, and public sector organizations to scale complex data workflows. It is a global, remote-friendly team with headquarters in Barcelona and colleagues across the US, UK, and beyond.
Mission
Empower scientists and organizations to solve humanity's biggest challenges through data-driven science.
Key facts
- Barcelona
- Company behind Nextflow and the Seqera Platform
- Global, remote-friendly team with colleagues across the US, UK, and beyond