Head of Legal

Advanced Navigation is the world’s most determined innovator in AI robotics and navigation technologies across land, air, sea and space applications. Founded on a culture of research and discovery, Advanced Navigations mission is to be the catalyst of the autonomy revolution. Fields of expertise include artificial intelligence, underwater sonar, GNSS, radio frequency systems, inertial sensors, robotics, quantum sensors and photonics.

Today, Advanced Navigation is a supplier to some of the worlds largest companies, including Airbus, Boeing, Google, Tesla, NASA, Apple, and General Motors. Discover it for yourself: https://youtu.be/F7uAqs1gtuk

Role Overview

Advanced Navigation is seeking a strategic and hands-on Head of Legal to lead our global legal function. In this role, you will be the primary legal architect for a company scaling at the frontier of autonomous technology. You wont just be managing risk; you will be a business partner helping us navigate the complexities of international expansion, cutting-edge R&D, and sophisticated government and defence partnerships.

Key Responsibilities

Commercial Transactions: Draft, review, and negotiate high-value contracts, including SaaS agreements, hardware manufacturing contracts, and complex licensing deals.

Intellectual Property Strategy: Partner with the engineering teams to safeguard our "secret sauce." Manage a global portfolio of patents, trademarks, and trade secrets.

Regulatory & Compliance: Ensure compliance with international trade laws, export controls (such as ITAR/EAR equivalents), and data privacy regulations (GDPR/APP).

Corporate Governance: Support the Company Secretary (with a path to transitioning into this role), managing board materials, equity incentive plans, and future funding rounds or M&A activity.

External Counsel Management: Be the gatekeeper. Select and manage specialized outside counsel efficiently to ensure we get maximum value for spend.

Your Profile

Experience: 10+ years of post-qualification experience (PQE), ideally with a mix of top-tier law firm training and in-house experience at a hardware or deep-tech company.

The "Generalist" Mindset: you enjoy the variety of shifting from an employment law issue in the morning to a subsea sensor distribution agreement in the afternoon.

Tech-Fluent: you understand the difference between "off-the-shelf" software and proprietary AI algorithms. You can speak the language of engineers. Experience in deep-tech companies is a big advantage.

Pragmatism over Perfection: you know when to fight for a clause and when to accept "market standard" to get a deal across the finish line.