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Head of Legal

7AI

7AI

Legal
Boston, MA, USA
Posted on Mar 27, 2026

Location

Boston, MA

Employment Type

Full time

Location Type

Hybrid

Department

G&A

We’re hiring our first legal leader — someone to build the legal function from 0 → 1.

This is a rare opportunity to define what legal looks like at a high-growth company from the earliest stages. You’ll operate as both a strategic partner and a hands-on builder, working closely with leadership to shape how we take risk, support the business, and scale responsibly.

We’re looking for someone who brings strong judgment, clear opinions, and a builder mindset — someone excited to design the function, not just inherit it. As the company grows, this role will naturally expand in scope and impact alongside it.

What you’ll do

  • Build the legal function from scratch — defining what needs to exist now vs. later

  • Create scalable processes, templates, and systems that enable the company to move quickly

  • Decide what to own in-house vs. outsource, and manage external counsel as needed

  • Act as a strategic partner to leadership on risk, structure, and key business decisions

  • Own and evolve core legal workflows across commercial contracts (customer + vendor)

  • Advise on product, data privacy, and regulatory considerations (especially in SaaS/AI contexts)

  • Support corporate governance, entity management, and employment-related legal matters

  • Reduce friction across teams by building lightweight, usable processes and clear guidance

  • Lay the groundwork for scaling the legal function and evolving toward a future GC org

What we’re looking for

  • 8+ years of legal experience (mix of law firm and in-house strongly preferred)

  • Experience working at or closely with startups, ideally in SaaS or tech

  • Comfort operating as a team of one (at least initially)

  • Strong business judgment — you know when to push, when to flex, and when to simplify

  • A bias toward action and pragmatism over perfection

  • Ability to translate complex legal concepts into clear, usable guidance

  • Opinions about how a modern legal function should operate — and the ability to execute on them

Nice to have

  • Experience as an early or first legal hire at a startup

  • Familiarity with data/privacy, AI/ML, or emerging regulatory environments

  • Experience supporting go-to-market teams (sales, partnerships, procurement)

  • Interest in eventually building and leading a team