Head of Legal / General Counsel

The role

You will lead and scale the legal function, build legal processes, and lead legal preparation for an IPO. You will personally own consequential negotiations and advise the executive team and board.

What you will do

• Lead and grow the legal team by hiring and developing talent
• Build consistent legal practices including templates and negotiation playbooks
• Establish and manage service-level agreements for legal requests
• Automate repeatable legal work using AI tools and document generation
• Lead legal preparation for an IPO in partnership with Finance and the executive team
• Personally lead complex commercial negotiations for customers, suppliers, and partners
• Advise the executive team and board on financings, transactions, and governance
• Oversee employment, intellectual property, regulatory compliance, and disputes
• Own the legal budget and outside counsel relationships

Required qualifications

• Substantial experience advising high-growth technology companies, in-house or at a leading law firm
• A track record of hiring, developing, and leading high-performing legal teams
• Deep expertise in commercial negotiations, corporate governance, and financings
• Experience building legal processes that improve speed and quality
• Strong business judgment, concise communication, and willingness to personally own difficult work
• A JD and active bar admission

Nice to have

• Taking a technology company through an IPO and supporting public-company operations
• Leading legal work for major financings, acquisitions, or other strategic transactions at a rapidly scaling company
• Working in AI, hardware, semiconductors, or advanced manufacturing
• Building legal operations infrastructure, implementing contract lifecycle management systems, or deploying AI and automation in legal workflows
• California bar admission

Benefits

• Medical, dental, and vision packages with generous premium coverage
• $500 per month credit for waiving medical benefits
• Housing subsidy of $2,500 per month for those living within walking distance of the office
• Relocation support for those moving to San Jose (Santana Row)
• Various wellness benefits covering fitness, mental health, and more
• Daily lunch and dinner in our office
• Unlimited compute budget subject to ROI justification

About the company

Etched is building hardware for frontier intelligence by co-designing chips, racks, software, and manufacturing. They are a fully in-person team in San Jose and Taipei.