Interim Head of Legal (Fractional)

Overview

The organization seeks an experienced interim Head of Legal to step in soon to own commercial legal work and manage AI-, data-, and content-related legal issues. This is a business-facing, go-to-market (GTM)-focused role with significant impact on revenue-facing deals and vendor relationships.

Responsibilities

• Own end-to-end contract review, negotiation, approval, and signature workflows, with primary volume in enterprise customer agreements (managed in a contract lifecycle management system / CLM).
• Partner closely with GTM and enterprise sales teams to close deals efficiently, especially during periodic month- and quarter-end spikes.
• Review and approve vendor and procurement contracts for new internal systems, SaaS agreements, and vendor relationships.
• Advise on AI-related legal considerations, including customer data usage, content rights/licensing, and how AI features are represented in customer contracts.
• Provide light employment counsel and risk assessment in coordination with the People/HR team.
• Manage and mentor one additional contract hire supporting the legal team.
• Report to and collaborate closely with the COO/CFO on legal and business priorities.

Qualifications

• Proven in-house General Counsel or senior legal leader experience, ideally at a SaaS or technology company (approximately up to ~500 employees) handling a broad commercial legal portfolio.
• Strong commercial contracting background: customer agreements, vendor/procurement contracts, and deal-focused negotiation experience.
• Familiarity with contract lifecycle management platforms (CLM) and related contract tooling.
• Practical experience with AI-related legal issues, including data privacy, content usage/licensing, and drafting contract language for AI features.
• Comfortable providing light employment counsel and partnering with HR on employee-relations risk.
• Able to move quickly and operate autonomously from day one in a time-sensitive environment.
• Prior exposure to companies that have undergone acquisitions is a plus.
• Experience supervising or managing at least one direct report or contractor preferred.