General Counsel

Level : 6 Location : Angel - London, Hybrid 3 days per week At Automata, we're on a mission to transform how scientists work by making automation accessible to every lab in the world. We believe that by giving labs the power to automate, we can unlock discoveries that will shape the future of life sciences—from diagnostics and drug discovery to synthetic biology. But we’re more than just a company disrupting the industry—we're a team of innovators, problem-solvers, and creators passionate about empowering scientists. Our LINQ platform combines hardware and software to streamline workflows, making lab automation fast, flexible, and affordable. This means our customers can focus on groundbreaking research, while we take care of the rest. Why Work at Automata? Impact: Your work will directly contribute to advancements in science and medicine, supporting labs around the globe as they push boundaries in research and innovation. Innovation: You’ll be part of a team solving complex problems (seriously, no one else has figured out how to do this yet), using cutting-edge technology (we have robots). Growth: We invest in our people . Whether through hands-on experience, professional development, or collaborative projects, you’ll grow both professionally and personally. What we're looking for… The General Counsel is responsible for establishing, owning and continuously improving Automata’s legal framework, while providing strategic, hands-on in-house legal leadership to the Management Team. Reporting to the CFO, you will bring stage-appropriate structure to the business while maintaining the pace of growth and set Automata up for future fundraises with robust and reliable processes. A defining feature of this role is working closely with Automata’s AI legal assistant, which handles a significant volume of routine legal work, including NDA triage, contract review, compliance monitoring, canned response generation, and legal risk assessment. The General Counsel’s focus is therefore heavily weighted towards strategic legal judgment, complex negotiations, governance, and oversight of the AI-assisted legal function. The ability to work fluidly alongside AI tooling, set policy guardrails, and know when to intervene versus delegate is as important as deep legal expertise. A risk-based, pragmatic approach is essential. What You'll Do Commercial Lead major commercial negotiations and complex transactions, drawing on the AI Assistant’s first-pass contract analysis to focus human attention where it matters most Collaborate with Sales, Operations and Procurement to ensure legal contracts are fit for purpose, establishing and maintaining master templates that Claude Legal uses as its review baseline Appoint and oversee external legal counsel, as aligned with the CFO, for strategic, complex or high-value matters that exceed internal capacity or require specialist expertise Understand the dynamics of the Cap Table and actively support the CEO, CFO and Board on fundraising decisions. Implement legal controls into key commercial systems and processes Corporate Governance & Compliance Own and maintain Automata's business-wide risk register, working with the leadership team to identify, scope and manage key risks — supported by the AI Assistant's assessment function Set and maintain Automata's AI use policy for legal functions, including appropriate human oversight requirements and data handling standards Guide on regulatory and compliance matters across jurisdictions (UK, EU, and US), drawing on the AI Assistant for first-line compliance monitoring Lead horizon scanning for regulatory and legal change, keeping the business proactively informed of incoming legislation and regulation across UK, EU and US jurisdictions that could affect Automata's operations, products or commercial model Own the preparation of Board resolutions, working with external legal counsel as required Take full ownership of and lead Automata's Company Secretarial support – working wi