Legal Counsel (Commercial & Data Privacy) - Germany or US East Coast at Qdrant
Germany
<p>As our first in-house Legal Counsel, you will work closely with founders, leadership, sales, product, and engineering teams. You will take ownership of our day-to-day legal work while helping to establish scalable legal processes, templates, and tools.</p> <p>We are now looking to hire our <strong>first in-house lawyer</strong> to help us move legal work closer to the business, build internal legal structures from scratch, and support our next phase of growth.</p> <p>This is a hands-on role with significant ownership and exposure across the company. </p> <p>This role is ideal for a <strong>business-oriented lawyer with 1–3 years of experience</strong> who is excited about building things from the ground up in a fast-moving, international environment.</p> <p>The role can be based <strong>in Germany or on the US East Coast</strong>, depending on qualifications.</p> <h2 id="tasks">Tasks</h2> <p>Commercial & Corporate</p> <ul> <li>Draft, review, and negotiate customer and vendor agreements (MSAs, SaaS agreements, DPAs, NDAs, partnership agreements, Privacy Agreements)</li> <li>Support go-to-market teams with pragmatic, risk-aware legal guidance and act as the first point of contact for commercial legal questions across the business</li> </ul> <p>Data Privacy & Compliance</p> <ul> <li>Own day-to-day data protection topics (GDPR, CCPA, customer DPAs)</li> <li>Work with external counsel and internal stakeholders to maintain and improve privacy compliance</li> <li>Help design scalable privacy and compliance processes in caloboration with our internal compliance officer</li> </ul> <p>Building the Legal Function</p> <ul> <li>Build legal processes, templates, and playbooks from scratch</li> <li>Select and implement legal tools (contract management, document storage, workflows)</li> <li>Manage and coordinate external counsel (Germany, US)</li> </ul> <h2 id="requirements">Requirements</h2> <p>Experience & Mindset</p> <ul> <li>1–3 years of relevant legal experience (law firm and/or in-house)</li> <li>Strong <strong>business-oriented and pragmatic mindset</strong></li> <li>Comfortable working with ambiguity and building structures from scratch</li> <li>Interest in technology and infrastructure</li> <li>Ability to prioritize and make sound judgment calls in a fast-paced environment</li> </ul> <p><em>Qualifications – Location Dependent</em></p> <p><strong>If based in Germany:</strong></p> <ul> <li>Fully qualified German lawyer (Volljurist, both state exams)</li> <li>Admission to the German Bar (Rechtsanwalt) strongly preferred</li> <li>Excellent English skills (written and spoken)</li> <li>Exposure to international / US-related legal work is a strong plus</li> </ul> <p><strong>If based in the United States (East Coast):</strong></p> <ul> <li>Juris Doctor (JD) from an accredited US law school</li> <li>Admission to a US state bar (NY preferred)</li> <li>Experience working with international or European companies is a strong plus</li> <li>Familiarity with GDPR and cross-border data protection concepts is a plus</li> </ul> <p><strong>Nice to Have (Not Required)</strong></p> <ul> <li>Prior experience with startups or high-growth tech companies</li> <li>Exposure to cross-border commercial contracts</li> <li>Experience working closely with sales or product teams</li> </ul> <h2 id="benefits">Benefits</h2> <ul> <li>Fully remote team with flexible working hours</li> <li>High ownership, real impact, and technical depth</li> <li>Opportunity to shape how the industry evaluates vector search</li> <li>401k, medical benefits</li> </ul> <p>Be the <strong>first in-house lawyer</strong> and shape the legal function end-to-end</p> <p>High ownership, visibility, and impact on the business</p> <p>Direct collaboration with founders and senior leadership</p> <p>International exposure with real US–EU cross-border work</p> <p>Remote working setup depending on location</p>
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