Senior Legal Counsel - Commercial
About OLIX
AI is growing faster than any technology in history and the explosion in demand has created a massive infrastructure gap; we can no longer build chips or power stations fast enough to keep up. The industry is still leaning on a ten-year-old hardware blueprint that has reached its limit. A new paradigm that is faster and more efficient will be the biggest economic opportunity of the next century and create the most important company of the next decade. The OLIX Decode Accelerator 1 (DX-1) is the first accelerator architected specifically for decode. Rack-scale co-design of logic, data movement, packaging, optics and interconnect enables a step change in system level performance.
The Role
We are hiring our Senior Legal Counsel to lead and scale the commercial legal function at OLIX. Reporting to the Director of Legal, you will own commercial contracting end to end as OLIX moves from a small legal team to a function that supports a rapidly scaling business. You will lead negotiations on our largest and most complex deals, build and develop a team beneath you as the company grows, and define the playbooks, standards, and tooling that let OLIX scale faster than legal headcount.
This is a player-coach role for a senior lawyer who wants to own a function, work hands-on with engineers and commercial leaders, and shape how commercial legal works at one of the most ambitious deep-tech companies in Europe. You will not be sitting above the work. You will be leading the toughest negotiations yourself while building the team that handles everything else.
Open to UK-based candidates and US-qualified attorneys willing to relocate to London. We provide full visa sponsorship and relocation support.
Responsibilities
Lead the commercial legal function end to end: strategy, team, deal flow, tooling, and standards.
Personally lead negotiations on OLIX’s largest and most complex commercial deals, including customer agreements with hyperscalers, supply agreements with manufacturing partners, NREs, JDAs, and strategic partnerships.
Build and scale the commercial legal team as OLIX grows. Hire, develop, and manage junior counsel and paralegals.
Set commercial legal standards, playbooks, fallback positions, and templates across the function.
Design and build scalable legal workflows using AI tooling and automation, so the legal function scales faster than headcount.
Integrate AI deeply into day-to-day contracting: triage, first-pass review, redline generation, clause extraction, precedent search, and playbook enforcement.
Set OLIX’s positions on key commercial terms including liability caps, indemnities, IP ownership and licensing, data protection, warranties, termination, and service levels.
Partner with Sales, Procurement, Operations, and Engineering to align legal with business strategy.
Manage external counsel for specialist workstreams including US contracting, specialist IP, data, and export controls.
Partner with the Director of Legal on cross-functional matters including corporate, governance, and regulatory work that touches commercial contracting.
Contribute to legal tooling selection, CLM implementation, and internal enablement across the broader legal team.
Contribute to legal tooling selection, CLM implementation, and internal enablement
Skills & Experience
Qualified solicitor in England and Wales, or US-qualified attorney (admitted to a US state bar), with 8 to 10 years of post-qualification experience.
Trained at a top-tier City, US, or comparable international firm.
Demonstrable track record leading complex commercial contract negotiations end to end as the responsible lawyer, not just supporting a partner.
Experience building, scaling, or meaningfully contributing to a commercial legal function, ideally in a growth or scale-up environment.
Line-management or mentoring experience with junior counsel, paralegals, or secondees. Does not need to be extensive but needs to be real.
Strong technical drafting skills and a structured approach to playbooks and standard forms.
AI-native approach to legal work. You actively use AI tools in your day-to-day practice, have strong instincts for what AI does well and where it fails, and treat AI fluency as a core craft skill rather than a novelty.
Bias toward building scalable systems over doing work manually. You look for the automation, template, or workflow that solves the problem ten times, not just once.
Commercially pragmatic, able to move at pace, and comfortable owning positions without constant supervision.
Direct, plain-language communicator.
Nice to have
Experience in a technology company, ideally B2B hardware or infrastructure.
Exposure to semiconductor, manufacturing, or deep-tech industries.
Familiarity with enterprise or cloud customer contracting, including bespoke negotiations with hyperscalers.
Understanding of IP licensing, export controls, and data protection as they arise in commercial contracts.
Experience implementing or selecting CLM or legal AI tooling (Ironclad, Harvey, Spellbook, Robin, Eve, etc.).
Light coding or low-code fluency (Python, SQL, Zapier, n8n, or similar) for building internal workflows.
Compensation & Equity
Competitive Salary: £120,000+, commensurate with your experience, skills, and location.
Equity & Ownership: Meaningful stock options. You’re not just joining the mission; you’re owning a piece of it.
Proximity Bonus: We value your time. To minimise your commute and maximise your life, we offer a £24k annual Living-Local Bonus if your residence is within 20 minutes of the office.
Health & Wellbeing
Premium Healthcare: Comprehensive BUPA medical and dental cover, including Medical History Disregarded (MHD), for complete peace of mind.
Time Off: 25 days of annual leave, plus all UK bank holidays.
The Workspace & Tech
Elite Hardware: M4 Macs come as standard, with M4 Pro upgrades for our engineering team. We will provide whatever you need to do your best work.
Optimal Environment: High-spec noise-cancelling headphones and a fully ergonomic workstation designed for deep focus.
Rapid Prototyping: Access to our high-performance 3D printing lab for work, experimentation, and personal creative projects.
Life at the Office
Chef-prepared meals: if you need to work late.
Caffeine on Us: We’ve got you covered with a tab at our favourite local coffee shop.
Relocation & Global Mobility
Visa Sponsorship: We hire the best in the world. We offer full UK and international visa sponsorship.
Seamless Relocation: Whether you’re moving across the country or across the globe, our dedicated relocation partner provides funding and concierge support to get you settled.
Due to U.S. export control regulations, candidates’ eligibility to work at OLIX depends on their most recent citizenship or permanent residency status. We are generally unable to consider applicants whose most recent citizenship or permanent residence is in certain restricted countries (currently including Iran, North Korea, Syria, Cuba, Russia, Belarus, China, Hong Kong, Macau, and Venezuela). Applicants who have subsequently obtained citizenship or permanent residency in another country not subject to these restrictions may still be eligible
