Legal Counsel - Regulatory Compliance, Product and Privacy

Canonical is a leading provider of open source software and operating systems to the global enterprise and technology markets. Our platform, Ubuntu, is very widely used in breakthrough enterprise initiatives such as public cloud, data science, AI, engineering innovation and IoT. Our customers include the world's leading public cloud and silicon providers, and industry leaders in many sectors. The company is a pioneer of globally-distributed collaboration, with 1200+ colleagues in 80+ countries and very few roles based in offices. Teams meet two to four times yearly in person, in interesting locations around the world, to align on strategy and execution.

The company is founder led, profitable and growing. We are privately held with the intention to list on a public exchange.

We are expanding our in-house legal team, creating an opportunity for an exceptional lawyer as Legal Advisor or Legal Counsel. The successful candidate will be a rigorous and effective practitioner with a track record of academic achievement and social engagement. At Canonical, you will have the opportunity to work on a variety of compliance and privacy matters in the technology and enterprise software realm, as well as cutting-edge questions of technology, law and product development. In this role we are looking for someone with some experience in compliance, privacy and product development, paired with an ability to learn and tackle new challenges and complex questions. You should be able to demonstrate good commercial judgement and provide high-quality legal and compliance advice. If you have a rigorous work ethic, capability to grasp details, and the ambition to identify opportunities for improvement, this role is for you.

Location : This role is home-based in EMEA or the Americas, with an option of working from our London office.

The role entails

Drafting and reviewing corporate policies, spearheading process change and deploying controls to meet compliance regulatory requirements globally

Helping develop, maintain and scale global privacy programs. This includes conducting PIAs, ROPAs and supporting operational initiatives

Working with cross functional with teams to evaluate the impact of privacy and data protection laws and regulations, including AI regulations

Providing legal support to various internal clients across the company, including Canonical’s product teams

Working with local counsel in many countries to seek and implement advice

What we are looking for in you

An exceptional academic track record from both high school and university

A degree in law, JD or equivalent, and active licence to practise law or current progress towards that

Drive and a track record of going above-and-beyond expectations

Professional written and spoken English with excellent drafting and presentation skills

Confidence to respectfully speak up, exchange feedback, and share ideas without hesitation

Appreciative of diversity; polite and effective in a multicultural multinational organisation

Ability to stay organised, proactive and efficient

Ability to demonstrate good commercial judgement

Ability to travel twice a year, for company events up to two weeks long

Nice-to-have skills

Experience in compliance, data privacy, or product development

Leadership and the ability to influence others to embrace new ideas or practices

Understanding of the open source software community and values

Understanding of the technology industry - silicon, data centers, PCs, connected devices, and software

Experience working on in-house legal team and/or law firm

What we offer colleagues

We consider geographical location, experience, and performance in shaping compensation worldwide. We revisit compensation annually (and more often for graduates and associates) to ensure we recognize outstanding performance. In addition to base pay, we offer a performance-driven annual bonus or commission. We provide all team members with additional