Founding Counsel
$130k - $185kCappo Search
Founding Counsel
Location: San Francisco
Team: Legal
Reports To: Leadership Team
About the Company
Cappo Search is partnering with a rapidly growing, venture-backed AI company that is transforming how investment decisions are made.
The company has developed an AI-native platform that automates large parts of the due diligence process for investors, strategy teams, and advisors. By combining proprietary workflows with advanced AI agents, the platform gathers, analyses, and synthesises fragmented information into actionable insights, helping customers make faster and more informed decisions.
Customers include:
- Leading Private Equity and Venture Capital firms
- Hedge Funds and investment organisations
- Global consulting firms
- Corporate Strategy, M&A, and Business Development teams within Fortune 500 companies
Following strong customer adoption and successful Series A funding, the company is entering its next phase of growth and is looking to make its first dedicated legal hire.
The Opportunity
This is a unique opportunity to join as the company's first legal hire and build the legal and compliance function from the ground up.
The company's customers include leading private equity firms, consulting businesses, and enterprise organisations that conduct extensive legal, privacy, security, and compliance reviews before purchasing software. Strengthening the company's compliance posture and accelerating enterprise procurement has become a strategic priority as the business scales.
Working closely with the founders, product, engineering, and go-to-market teams, you will own customer-facing legal and compliance initiatives, helping the company establish the trust, governance, and risk frameworks required to win and expand
Key Responsibilities
- Build and own the company's legal and compliance framework
- Lead customer-facing privacy, security, compliance, and procurement reviews
- Advise on AI governance, data privacy, and emerging regulatory requirements
- Partner with product, engineering, and security teams to strengthen the company's compliance posture
- Negotiate and manage commercial customer, vendor, and partnership agreements
- Develop scalable legal processes, policies, and contracting frameworks
- Advise founders and leadership on legal, regulatory, and operational risk
- Manage external counsel and specialist advisors where required
Must-Have Qualifications
- J.D. and active membership in at least one U.S. state bar
- 2–6 years of legal experience across commercial, technology, privacy, compliance, or regulatory matters
- Experience supporting SaaS, AI, data, or enterprise software businesses
- Strong understanding of enterprise procurement, privacy, security, and compliance requirements
- Excellent drafting, negotiation, and stakeholder management skills
- Ability to operate independently in a fast-paced startup environment
Nice-to-Have
- Background at Gunderson Dettmer, Cooley, Wilson Sonsini, Fenwick, Orrick, Goodwin, Morrison Foerster, or a similar technology-focused law firm
- Experience advising venture-backed technology companies
- Familiarity with SOC 2, GDPR, AI governance, security reviews, and enterprise customer compliance processes
- Prior in-house experience at a startup or high-growth technology company
- Interest in artificial intelligence, investing, and enterprise technology
Location & Work Environment
- San Francisco-based
- Collaborative, high-energy, in-office culture (3–4 days per week)
Compensation
- Base salary: $130k - $185k (depending on experience)
- Meaningful equity participation
Why Join?
- Become the first legal hire at a high-growth AI company
- Help shape legal, compliance, and governance strategy from an early stage
- Work directly alongside experienced founders and operators
- Play a critical role in helping the company win and expand enterprise customers
- Significant opportunity to grow into a senior legal leadership position as the business scales
- Please note: Unfortunately, visa sponsorship is not available for this position. Applicants must have existing U.S. work authorisation.
Vacancy posted 2 days ago
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