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Salary: USD 315,000 - 357,000 / annual
Superluminal Medicines is a generative biology and chemistry company revolutionizing small molecule drug discovery through a combination of deep biology, computational chemistry, machine learning, and proprietary data infrastructure. The company aims to create candidate-ready compounds with unprecedented speed and accuracy.
You will serve as Vice President and Head of Legal, reporting to the CFO and partnering closely with the executive leadership team and Board of Directors. This is a highly visible, hands-on leadership role establishing and scaling the company's legal capabilities across all areas.
Key responsibilities span multiple domains:
**Corporate Governance & Corporate Matters:** Serve as senior legal advisor to CEO, executive team, and Board. Lead governance matters including Board support, corporate records, resolutions, and policies. Advise on corporate structure, capitalization, equity, securities, and corporate transactions. Support financings, strategic initiatives, and material corporate events. Monitor regulatory developments and advise leadership on implications.
**Corporate & Commercial Legal:** Advise on broad range of commercial and operational legal matters. Provide leadership for negotiation of material agreements including strategic collaborations, licensing, and research agreements. Develop legal templates, playbooks, and guidance. Partner with Business Development, Operations, and Finance to enable business while managing risk.
**Intellectual Property & Life Sciences Matters:** Partner with scientific and business development teams on IP and legal matters. Support transition to clinical development and research activities. Work with external IP counsel to protect and manage the company's IP portfolio. Support licensing, collaboration, and partnering transactions. Advise on confidentiality, data ownership, publications, and research collaborations.
**Build and Scale the Legal Function:** Establish the company's legal operating model, determining which capabilities should be managed internally versus externally. Develop roadmap for expanding the legal function. Establish scalable processes for corporate records, Board materials, legal entity management, and outside counsel management. Build internal legal team over time as needed.
**Employment & People Matters:** Partner with Head of HR and executive leadership on employment-related legal matters. Provide guidance on employment agreements, executive arrangements, employee relations, and policies. Help ensure employment practices evolve appropriately as organization grows.
**Legal, Compliance & Risk Management:** Develop and evolve legal and compliance policies as business evolves. Partner with Clinical, Regulatory, and Quality resources on legal and regulatory risk management. Advise leadership on securities law, insider trading, materiality, and disclosure. Support insurance and corporate risk matters.
**Transactions & Strategic Initiatives:** Lead or support legal work on financings, strategic partnerships, licensing transactions, acquisitions, and other significant corporate transactions. Lead legal diligence and coordinate internal stakeholders and external advisors. Manage relationships with outside counsel.
**Requirements:**
- Juris Doctor (J.D.) degree from an accredited law school
- Active license to practice law and member in good standing of at least one U.S. state bar or District of Columbia
- 10-15+ years of relevant legal experience with significant experience supporting life sciences, biotechnology, or pharmaceutical companies
- Experience with in-house legal leadership, ideally within a growth-stage life sciences company
- Experience across corporate, commercial, and general legal matters
- Experience with corporate governance, commercial transactions, securities, and strategic legal matters
- Experience advising CEOs, CFOs, executive teams, and Boards of Directors
- Experience managing outside counsel and establishing or scaling legal processes and infrastructure
- Experience supporting significant corporate milestones, financings, strategic transactions, and evolving governance requirements
- Experience navigating complex securities, disclosure, and corporate governance matters in private or public company environment (strongly preferred)
- Experience working with external legal and business advisors on complex corporate transactions
- Experience with intellectual property, licensing, collaborations, and research-related agreements in life sciences environment
