General Counsel

Canonical · Home based - EMEA; Office Based - London, UK

  • Junior
  • Full-time
  • Posted 2026-09-24
  • Confirmed live on 25 September 2026

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Job description

We are hiring a General Counsel, reporting to the Chief Operating Officer (COO). This role leads Canonical’s global Legal and Compliance function.

This is a unique opportunity for an exceptional and commercially-minded senior lawyer to lead the legal and compliance function of a profitable, fast-growing technology company that is privately held with the intention to list on a public exchange. We’re looking for someone with genuine fluency in the software industry and in open source dynamics, who can translate that insight into clear positions on licensing, commercial contracts and risk, and hands-on execution.

Reporting directly to the Chief Operating Officer, you will own Canonical's legal, regulatory and governance posture and lead a distributed team across EMEA and the Americas. Your primary challenge will be to continue building both the team and the architecture: a management layer across two regions, and the governance, contracting and controls a public company needs, in an environment that regularly does things the industry has not done before. You will work closely with our product and engineering teams on licensing and IP questions, with the security function on customer assurance, and you will advise the Board and its committees directly.

In our selection process, we prioritize intellect and judgement alongside depth of practice. We are looking for someone with a strong academic background, an active licence to practice, and demonstrable exposure to a multilayered global operational environment.

Location: This role will be based remotely in EMEA time zones, with an option to be office based in London, UK.

The role entails

• Leading the global Legal and Compliance function: setting it's structure, standards and priorities across EMEA and the Americas.

• Building and managing a management capability: hire and develop managers, set objectives, review performance against a clear bar, and address under-performance directly.

• Setting the operating cadence of the function: intake and prioritization of legal work, service expectations with internal clients, and reporting on workload and risk to the leadership team.

• Owning public-market readiness on the legal side: corporate governance, group and entity structure, delegated authority, policies, disclosure controls and records, in partnership with Finance.

• Advising the CEO, COO, CFO and the Board, and supporting in Board and committee meetings.

• Owning the commercial contracting framework: standard templates, negotiating positions, and a deviation and escalation process that makes commitments visible before they are signed.

• Leading intellectual property and open source licensing strategy, including copyleft, trademark and the terms on which Ubuntu and our products are distributed.

• Owning the global compliance programme: data protection and privacy, export controls and trade compliance, anti-bribery and corruption, competition and AI regulation.

• Managing litigation, disputes and regulatory engagement, together with the external counsel panel, its budget and its quality.

• Advising on M&A, partnerships, strategic alliances and financing as the company grows.

What we are looking for in you

• An 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.

• A track record of setting and holding a high performance bar: hiring well, developing people, and dealing with under performance directly rather than waiting it out.

• Experience building or restructuring an in-house legal function, including deciding what is retained, delegated and sent to external counsel.

• Technology related experience of:

• negotiating and owning commercial technology contracts, including enterprise software and subscriptions, channel and reseller agreements, hardware manufacturer agreements, cloud and services

• advising on open source licensing, including permissive and copyleft licences, and familiarity with how open source communities operate.

• Experience of, or demonstrable readiness for, public company governance: 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 respectfully speak up, exchange feedback, hold colleagues accountable, and share ideas without hesitation.

• Professional written and spoken English with excellent drafting and presentation skills.

• Excellent interpersonal skills, curiosity, flexibility, and accountability.

• International travel two to four times a year for company events up to two weeks long.

Nice-to-have skills

• Experience taking

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