The posting
At Hive, we're building the defining physical AI platform of the next decade.
Industrial labor is one of the most acute bottlenecks in the global economy. Operators are expensive, hard to retain, and working in environments that are increasingly unsafe. The shortage is structural. The window to solve it is now.
Our answer is a machine-agnostic intelligence platform that lets any machine, on any site, perceive, decide, and act autonomously. One platform. Any machine. No fleet replacement.
Already live across multiple sites and customers in Europe - spanning logistics and warehousing, industrial manufacturing, and large-scale chemical production - with a US expansion underway.
The vision: one operator managing hundreds of machines simultaneously. Productive machine-hour cost dropping by 80x, and unlocks the next productivity revolution in physical work.
The mission is to make productivity limitless. Come and help us build it.
ABOUT THE ROLE
Hive is looking for a pragmatic, hands-on Legal Counsel to be in charge of all legal matters across the company. This is an in-house operator role, not a policy or pure-oversight seat — you'll draft and negotiate directly, make judgment calls quickly, and know when to bring in outside counsel versus handle something yourself, while remaining ultimately accountable for every legal matter that touches the business. You'll cover everything from entity structuring and fundraising docs to IP strategy, cross-border contracts, and HR-related legal matters, using outside counsel to fill in jurisdiction-specific or specialist expertise rather than trying to be an expert in every market. We need someone who wants to move at startup speed and get things done, not just flag risk.
WHAT YOU'LL OWN
Corporate & Fundraising
- Manage entity structure and governance across all jurisdictions we operate in (formations, cap table hygiene, board resolutions, filings)
- Own fundraising legal work — term sheets, SAFEs/convertibles, share purchase agreements, disclosure schedules, and coordinating diligence
- Manage relationships with outside counsel and investors' legal teams; keep deals moving efficiently
- Maintain corporate records and ensure ongoing compliance obligations are met
Commercial Contracts
- Draft, review, and negotiate MSAs, DPAs, vendor agreements, and customer contracts, including cross-border deals with varying legal regimes
- Build and maintain template contracts and playbooks so the business can self-serve on lower-risk agreements
- Be the primary point of contact for commercial negotiations, balancing legal protection with deal velocity
IP Strategy
- Own IP strategy and protection — trademarks, patents (where relevant), trade secrets, and open-source/licensing considerations — engaging specialist outside counsel for filings and deep technical IP work while retaining overall accountability
- Ensure IP assignment is airtight across employees, contractors, and any external development partners
- Advise product and engineering on IP risk as new features and products are built
HR & Employment Legal
- Advise on employment law matters across jurisdictions — contracts, terminations, disputes, disciplinary processes — partnering closely with the People function
- Review and update employment policies, handbooks, and offer templates as we expand into new markets
- Manage or support employee relations issues that carry legal risk
General Counsel Function
- Be in charge of all legal matters across the company — the single accountable owner, even where specific work is executed by outside counsel
- Be the internal point person for any legal question across the company — a true "ask me anything" resource for the team
- Own the outside counsel budget and relationships pragmatically: handle day-to-day drafting and negotiation directly, and route jurisdiction-specific or highly specialized work (e.g. patent filings, employment law in markets you don't cover deeply, contentious disputes) to the right external partner, while staying accountable for the outcome
- Assess and manage legal risk across the business (data privacy, regulatory, insurance) with a bias toward practical solutions over theoretical risk-avoidance
- Advise leadership on legal implications of new markets, products, or business models
WHAT WE'RE LOOKING FOR
- Qualified lawyer (England & Wales or equivalent) with in-house or relevant private practice experience
- Has directly run legal workstreams for fundraising rounds (priced or SAFE/convertible) and understands cap table and investor dynamics
- Comfortable negotiating cross-border commercial contracts and adapting to different legal systems
- Practical, commercially-minded approach — knows how to get a deal done, not just spot every risk
- Exceptional attention to detail — comfortable being the last line of defense on contracts, filings, and compliance where mistakes are costly and hard to unwind
- Strong risk judgment: knows how to weigh legal exposure against business speed, and is rigorous exactly where it matters (fundraising docs, IP assignment, entity compliance) even while moving fast elsewhere
- Experience advising on employment law matters, ideally across more than one jurisdiction
- Confident managing outside counsel efficiently — knows what to delegate and what to handle directly
- Comfortable being a hands-on operator with limited support — this role drafts and executes, it doesn't just advise
- High judgment and discretion; able to move fast without sacrificing rigor on things that matter
NICE TO HAVE
- Experience in-house at an early or growth-stage startup
- IP or technology law specialization
- Experience building legal function/processes from scratch
- Additional jurisdiction qualification (e.g., US state bar) a plus given cross-border scope
