Legal Counsel

Oxa is enabling the transition to self-driving vehicles through an initial focus on the most commercially advanced sector; the autonomous shuttling of goods and people.

We are home to some of the world's leading experts on autonomous vehicles, creating solutions that equip vehicles with full self-driving functionality. Our technology is being deployed across the UK and the U.S, and we're partnering with a fast-growing ecosystem of operators, vehicle OEMs and equipment makers serving autonomous transportation globally as it advances.

Based in Oxford, and with offices in Canada and the U.S, Oxa was founded in 2014 and is  growing rapidly (350+ ‘Oxbots' to date). Our purpose is to change the way the Earth moves, through an uncompromising focus on safety, efficiency and explainability of our AI approaches. The company has attracted $225 million from leading investors so far, with $140 million raised in the last Series C funding round in January 2023.

Your Role

This role plays a key part within the company's legal and governance functions, supporting the General Counsel on high-impact work to drive strategic growth. The role requires expert advice on corporate and commercial matters, helping safeguard the business while enabling agile decision-making. Close collaboration with teams across the organisation ensures that governance, from both a compliance and risk perspective, remains robust and proportionate across both UK and international entities. Overall, the role is central to building a resilient, well-governed business that can confidently navigate complex regulatory and commercial landscapes.

You will:

• Provide strategic legal support to the General Counsel on high-value and complex projects, contributing to key business decisions and ensuring legal considerations are integrated early in the planning and execution stages.
• Manage and deliver a wide range of company, commercial, and corporate legal matters, including all forms of corporate work, drafting and negotiating contracts and supervising the work of external legal counsel to ensure consistency, quality, and cost-efficiency.
• Oversee and strengthen corporate governance practices, including preparing board and committee materials, ensuring regulatory compliance, and supporting governance processes across both UK-based and international legal entities.
• Implement and manage an enhanced compliance framework, promoting a culture of accountability and integrity across the organisation, and ensuring alignment with legal, regulatory, and internal policy standards.
• Act as a key liaison between the legal function and internal business teams, building strong cross-functional relationships to provide proactive legal advice and support that aligns with commercial objectives and operational needs.

Requirements

What you will need to succeed:

• Proven ability to advise across a broad range of legal matters with minimal reliance on external counsel.
• A proactive, hands-on mindset with the confidence to take initiative and work independently.
• Demonstrated ability to operate effectively in a fast-paced environment, balancing speed with sound judgment.
• Genuine interest in innovation and emerging technologies, with a commitment to supporting a rapidly evolving business.
• Experience advising on the protection of innovation, including intellectual property in its broadest sense and the compliance requirements necessary to support this.
• Strong interpersonal skills, with the ability to collaborate across cross-functional teams and contribute to wider business value.
• Post-qualification experience gained at a leading national firm or a specialist commercial practice.
• Minimum of 4 years' PQE (or equivalent experience).
• Expertise in one or more of the following areas: corporate law, commercial contracts, intellectual property, or regulatory compliance.

Extra kudos if you have:

• Some experience of in-house, through employment or secondment.
• Experience of the technology sector and/or working for or with a scale up.

The Candidate Journey: Multi-Step and Two-Way

No-one wants to feel like a square peg in a round hole, so this process is designed to give you every chance to get the measure of us, and us of you. The various stages give you every opportunity to show your unique strengths and qualities, and enables each of us to establish if we're a good fit for the other. If the fit is good and you're selected, you're then in a position to do great work and thrive, which is what everyone wants.

We provide:

• Competitive salary, benchmarked against the market and reviewed annually
• Company share programme
• Hybrid and/or flexible work arrangements
• An outstanding £3,000 flexible benefits including private medical insurance, critical illness coverage, life assurance, EAP, group income protection
• Funded relocation support
• Fully funded Visa sponsorship if required
• A salary exchange pension plan
• 25 days' annual leave plus bank holidays
• A pet-friendly office environment
• Safe assigned spaces for team members with individual and diverse needs

Our Culture:

We promote an open and inclusive culture that empowers our Oxbots to bring their whole, authentic selves to work every day. Oxa is proud to be an inclusive organisation and, as such, we require all team members within our recruitment process to understand and deploy best practices focused on de-biasing the whole recruitment cycle. We also apply a neuro inclusive lens to our recruitment process and want each potential Oxbot to enjoy the best experience possible for them. Please share with us any individual needs or reasonable adjustments we may need to make in advance of commencing the interview process with us.

Learn more about our culture here

Why become an Oxbot?

Our team of engineers, mathematicians and experts in AI, machine learning and much else is truly world-class. They are solving the most exciting and important technological challenges of our times.

But as well as smarts, Oxbots have heart. Our diverse, multi-cultural crew is guided by a shared vision to bring the myriad benefits of autonomy to our customers and partners. And in a company that celebrates uniqueness as much as skill and experience, we do it with energy, conviction and a healthy dose of excitement too. If you are bold, creative and hyper skilled, come and create the future of autonomy with us at Oxa.