VP Legal

Pactum is seeking a Vice President of Legal to lead our global legal function as we scale from growth stage to maturity. You'll be responsible for establishing world-class legal processes, managing complex international operations, and serving as a trusted advisor to the leadership team and Board. The ideal candidate combines deep SaaS legal expertise in a tech scale-up environment selling to large global enterprises, with the ability to lead, mentor, and grow a high performing international team, enabling Pactum to expand globally while effectively managing risk.

Responsibilities

• Serve as chief legal advisor to the executive team and Board, providing strategic counsel on all legal, regulatory, and governance matters.
• Own and scale the legal function by establishing processes, hiring and managing outside counsel, and building an internal legal team across multiple regions.
• Design and implement scalable global legal frameworks that ensure consistency, efficiency, and compliance across all jurisdictions where Pactum operates.
• Provide leadership and mentorship to a distributed legal team and foster collaboration across time zones and cultures.
• Draft, review, and negotiate a wide range of commercial contracts including enterprise SaaS agreements, partnership deals, vendor agreements, and procurement contracts.
• Lead on corporate governance including Board support, equity and stock option matters, subsidiary management, and compliance with investor obligations.
• Oversee regulatory compliance and risk management including data privacy (GDPR, CCPA), information security, and cross border regulatory requirements.
• Support fundraising, M&A, and IPO readiness activities including due diligence, securities law compliance, and capital market transactions.
• Protect and manage the company's intellectual property portfolio including patents, trademarks, and open source software compliance.
• Advise on employment law issues in partnership with the People Lead and HR team including policies, executive compensation, and employee agreements.
• Partner closely with Sales, Product, Engineering, and Finance to enable business growth while managing legal risk.
• Act as a business enabler by balancing risk and agility in a fast paced, international SaaS environment.

Requirements

1. 15+ years of legal experience, including time at a top law firm and in house at a growth stage SaaS or technology company.
2. Directly led legal function during a scale up's hyper growth phase.
3. Have hands on experience in IPO readiness - either successfully taken a tech scale up public or have extensively prepared for an IPO, with deep involvement in every aspect of the process.
4. Have personally managed the complex legal, governance, compliance, and operational challenges that come with scaling at hyper growth level and preparing for entry into the public markets.
5. Deep expertise in SaaS commercial contracting and negotiation with large enterprise customers.
6. First hand experience leading legal through a hyper growth SaaS journey, including in establishing scalable legal frameworks and processes. Demonstrated success in leading and developing international teams across multiple jurisdictions for a global SaaS business.
7. Strong knowledge of data privacy, information security, and regulatory compliance relevant to SaaS businesses operating globally.
8. Experience managing corporate governance, financings, and M&A transactions.
9. Strong experience managing and protecting a company's intellectual property portfolio, including trademarks, patents and software related assets, with a strong understanding of open source compliance and licensing.
10. Strong track record scaling a legal function including managing outside counsel and in house teams.
11. Strong business acumen with the ability to align legal strategy with company goals and act as a thought partner to executives.
12. Excellent judgment, pragmatism, and communication skills with the ability to explain complex legal issues in business terms.
13. Comfortable operating in a fast paced, high growth, international environment with the ability to adapt quickly and drive solutions.
14. Licensed to practice law in the United States or an EU jurisdiction.
15. Be located in Eastern Time Zone or in the UK.