Head of Legal @ AI Chip DeepTech Venture, Dresden / Berlin

About This Opportunity

We are representing a confidential AI hardware venture backed by leading European investors. Our client is a deep-tech organization transitioning from research-led development into scaled commercial operations, deploying advanced computing systems to research institutions, supercomputing centers, and enterprise customers internationally. With approximately 70 employees and fresh funding secured, they are building the legal infrastructure to support their next phase of growth.

This is their first dedicated legal hire. You will establish the legal function from the ground up, working directly with the managing directors to create frameworks, processes, and decision rights that enable the organization to scale efficiently. The role spans corporate governance, commercial contracting, export control, IP management, product compliance, and operational legal support across German and US entities.

Responsibilities

• Own corporate governance for German GmbH and US subsidiary, including shareholder matters, board governance, financing rounds, and conflict-of-interest management
• Lead commercial contracting for hardware sales, licensing agreements, research collaborations, cloud services, and NDAs—building templates and playbooks for efficient execution
• Take ownership of export control and dual-use compliance, including EU Dual-Use Regulation, German licensing, US export restrictions, sanctions screening, and restricted-party checks
• Drive cybersecurity and product compliance initiatives, including NIS2, Cyber Resilience Act, incident reporting, and conformity requirements
• Manage product safety and market access for hardware systems: CE marking, EMC, RoHS, REACH, and product liability
• Oversee IP portfolio management, including patents, freedom-to-operate analysis, trade secrets, technology licensing, and trademarks
• Handle compliance obligations related to public funding, including grant conditions, documentation, and audit readiness
• Support employment matters with People & Culture: contracts, terminations, employee participation structures, immigration, data protection, and GDPR
• Oversee open-source license compliance and software supply-chain obligations in collaboration with engineering teams
• Establish delegation frameworks: signing authority, approval thresholds, decision rights, and clear ownership structures to prevent bottlenecks
• Determine in-house versus external counsel strategies and manage external legal relationships and budgets

What We're Looking For

• Qualified German lawyer (Volljurist) with deep fluency in EU regulation
• In-house experience at a semiconductor, hardware, or deep-tech company, preferably in a startup or scale-up environment rather than exclusively large corporate settings
• Hands-on experience with export control and dual-use regulations in organizations that ship internationally, including practical understanding of licensing versus per-transaction screening
• Broad legal capability across corporate, commercial, IP, employment, and regulatory domains—you don't need to be the deepest specialist in each area, but you must recognize quality work and know when to escalate
• Proven track record building legal infrastructure: templates, approval frameworks, signing authority, or similar structures that scaled beyond your direct involvement
• Familiarity with hardware product regulation (CE marking, RoHS, REACH) or evolving EU cybersecurity requirements is highly valuable
• Working fluency in both German and English, written and spoken
• Comfortable being the sole legal professional in-house, viewing this as an opportunity to build rather than a limitation
• Direct, commercially minded, and confident making judgment calls while recognizing when specialist input is needed
• Based in or willing to relocate to Dresden or Berlin

How We Work With You

As your recruiting partner, Get A Job.ai manages the full candidate process for this confidential search. You will apply through our platform at getajob.ai, where one of our recruiters will conduct an initial screening conversation. After confirming mutual fit, we will submit your profile to our client for consideration. We ask that you do not attempt to contact the employer directly, as all communication is coordinated through our talent team to ensure a structured and respectful process for all parties.

Pay

Compensation details will be discussed during the screening process and are competitive for senior legal roles in the German deep-tech sector. Our client offers relocation support for qualified candidates.

Equal Opportunity

Get A Job.ai is committed to inclusive recruiting practices. We welcome applications from candidates of all backgrounds and work to ensure fair consideration throughout our process.