General Counsel (Remote)

About the role

Canonical is seeking a senior General Counsel to lead its global Legal and Compliance function across EMEA and the Americas. The role is fully remote, operating within EMEA time zones, and involves shaping legal strategy, governance, and risk management for a fast‑growing technology company.

Key responsibilities

• Define and implement the structure, standards and priorities for legal and compliance across regions.
• Build and manage a distributed legal team, hiring managers, setting objectives and reviewing performance.
• Oversee public‑market readiness, corporate governance, board support and disclosure controls.
• Develop and maintain commercial contracting frameworks, open‑source licensing strategy and IP protection.
• Lead global compliance programmes covering data protection, export controls, anti‑bribery, competition and AI regulation.
• Manage litigation, disputes and regulatory engagements with external counsel.
• Advise on M&A, partnerships, strategic alliances and financing.

Required profile

• Law degree with an active licence to practice in an EMEA or Americas jurisdiction.
• Extensive senior in‑house experience in a global technology or software business.
• Proven track record of leading distributed legal teams and restructuring in‑house functions.
• Experience supporting public‑company governance, board committees and IPO preparation.
• Strong interpersonal skills, confidence to speak up and hold colleagues accountable.

Required skills

• Commercial technology contract negotiation (enterprise software, SaaS, hardware, cloud services).
• Open‑source licensing expertise (permissive and copyleft licences).
• Data protection and privacy compliance.
• Intellectual property and trademark management.
• Export controls, trade compliance and competition law.
• Litigation and dispute management.