Senior Legal Counsel

Senior Legal CounselOrbital has been scaling fast, and our legal function needs to keep up. We currently work with external legal counsel across UK and US matters, and we're now looking for a Senior Legal Counsel to bring on in a FTE capacity, to own our legal function now, and shape how it looks in the future as we grow — bringing structure, strategy, and sharp judgment to everything from commercial contracts to IP protection.This isn't a fractional legal reviewer or an external-style adviser. It's an embedded business partner — someone who sits alongside product, commercial, and leadership teams to give legal a seat at the table before decisions are made, not after. You'll own what Orbital commits to customers, what the company needs to protect itself against, and how legal shows up when the business is moving fast.You'll be critical to transforming our legal function from a reactive resource into a proactive partner, by deeply understanding the business and building the processes, playbooks and team required to function in an optimal way for our success.You'll report into our Head of Operations, who currently coordinates our external legal counsel and will work closely with you on legal operations, process, and resourcing as you embed into the business.Ideally, you will be based in NYC and happy to spend a few days a week in office with us to feel fully embedded in the business.Operational Legal CounselThe embedded legal support you provide will keep the business moving forwards.You will:Partner with the global sales teams as they negotiate commercial contracts (standard contracts for our products, NDAs, DPAs)- you will be the legal partner to them, ensuring we secure customers quickly, fairly and in a sustainable way.Partner with individuals and teams across the business around vendor contracts - ensuring contracts are reviewed with a legal lens and teams understand what they are signing up for when bringing on new vendors.Field legal questions from across the business- knowing when you can advise directly, and when external specialist legal advice is required. These will include queries from the People team (eg. HR and employment law), the Finance team (eg. stock option schemes, cap table management etc), the InfoSec team (eg. data protection).Strategic Legal CounselThe forward-looking work that protects where Orbital is going, not just where it is.You will:Build a proactive partnership with product — understanding the roadmap so legal risks are surfaced before features ship, pricing models change, or new suppliers come on board, not after.Anticipate where the business is heading — understanding Orbital's growth goals well enough to spot the legal risks and gaps on the horizon and get ahead of them before they become problems.Lead significant legal change projects — terms revamps, new commercial frameworks, major product or supplier transitions — work that touches multiple teams and needs a legal owner who can drive it end-to-end, not just advise on it.Legal Function BuildingWe want legal to be a function the business reaches for proactively. A big part of this role is building the infrastructure to make that possible.You will:Train the wider team on where legal starts and ends, to contain escalations and ensure they are targeted and appropriateBuild a trusted and valued function, embedded across leadership of the businessPartner with Operations to ensure the legal function is operating efficiently, using AI and technology to scale with the company.Resource planning for the future team we might need and management of any external counsel required as extra support.What We're Looking ForPrior in-house legal experience at a scaling SaaS company is essential. Law firm experience alone is not sufficient — we need someone who has operated inside a fast-moving business and understands what that demands.You know the difference between what matters and what doesn't. In-house legal at a scale-up requires pragmatism: picking your battles, moving at commercial pace, and being genuinely helpful rather than a blocker.You've been the person in the room who makes things move, not slow them down — pragmatic, commercially minded, and easy to work with.A background in both private practice and in-house is common in this role, but the in-house experience is what we'll weigh most heavily.Why This Might Not Be For YouYou prefer advising from a distance. This role is genuinely embedded - you'll be proactively in the room with product, commercial and leadership, shaping decisions before they're made, not after.You're most comfortable with a clearly defined scope and existing playbooks. We need someone who sees what needs doing, decides what warrants legal input and moves the function forward without waiting to be asked.Why Join OrbitalShape the legal function - the playbook, the process, the infrastructure are yours to designReal strategic influence: you'll be at the table on IP, HR, pricing models, and commercial terms — not just executing others' decisionsGenuine momentum: $60m Series B, doubling headcount, expanding across two continentsWork alongside a fast-moving leadership team that values legal as a business enabler, not just a risk functionSecurity is everyone's responsibility at Orbital. We ask all team members to follow our security policies, complete regular awareness training, and handle sensitive data with care in line with ISO 27001 standards.At Orbital, we're committed to building a diverse and inclusive team. We especially welcome applications from people who are traditionally underrepresented in tech. Even if you don't meet every single requirement, we'd still love to hear from you.This hiring range is a reasonable estimate of the base pay range for this position at the time of posting. Pay is based on several factors, which may include job-related knowledge, skills, experience, and business requirements.Everyone who works with Orbital goes through background screening before they start. It's part of how we keep Orbital secure, for the people who work here and for the client information we're trusted with.