Legal Counsel

We build the embodied intelligence that moves real vehicles safely, and the ecosystem a billion machines will run on in the future. Very few people in AI can say this. Every role here, whatever the team, plugs into that.

Here's what this particular role covers.

The Legal Team enables the business to achieve its goals while appropriately identifying and managing legal risk. This role sits within the Commercial Legal team, reports to the Managing Counsel, and will play an important role as Wayve scales globally and brings embodied AI technology into real-world deployment.

Based in London, you'll work closely with commercial, procurement, engineering, product, privacy, People and Fleet Operations teams on a broad range of commercial and cross-border matters. You'll have significant ownership and autonomy, helping stakeholders understand legal and commercial risks and finding practical paths forward in areas where precedent and market practice may still be developing.

Your day-to-day: You'll independently manage a broad range of day-to-day commercial legal matters while partnering closely with colleagues across the business. You'll draft and negotiate agreements, advise on IP, AI, data, privacy and employment matters, and support strategic initiatives, international expansion and new product deployments.

This is an opportunity for a commercially minded lawyer who enjoys working at the intersection of law, AI, product innovation and operational scale. You'll need to be comfortable exercising judgement in a fast-moving environment, clearly communicating risk and helping the business find solutions rather than simply identifying obstacles.

What you'll be working on:

• Drafting, reviewing and negotiating a broad range of commercial agreements, from supplier, software/SaaS, services and other operational contracts through to bespoke agreements with OEM customers and Tier 1 suppliers involving significant IP, data, privacy and other technology-related issues.
• Advising on intellectual property, AI and data usage, including data used for AI development and training, alongside other members of the Legal team and external counsel where required.
• Working through novel and emerging legal questions at the intersection of law and AI, including areas where legal frameworks, precedent and market practice are still developing.
• Advising the People team on employment and HR matters relating to Wayve's global workforce, working with local counsel where specialist jurisdictional advice is required.
• Advising on data protection and privacy, including the use and sharing of data in connection with Wayve's products, commercial relationships, and AI development and training.
• Supporting strategic initiatives, international expansion and new product deployments from a commercial legal perspective.
• Supporting Fleet Operations and other operational teams in connection with the operation, testing and deployment of Wayve's vehicle fleet across international markets.
• Building and improving scalable legal processes, templates, playbooks and governance structures to support Wayve's growth and increasing contracting volume.
• Educating and enabling stakeholders on commercial risk, contracting best practices and legal processes, while supporting other members of the Legal team.

You should apply if:

• You are a qualified solicitor in England and Wales.
• You trained at a leading law firm and have approximately 2–4 years of relevant post-qualification experience, although we are open to candidates with more or less experience.
• You have strong experience drafting and negotiating complex commercial agreements, including procurement, supply chain, technology and vendor contracts.
• You are comfortable negotiating directly with commercial counterparties and can communicate legal positions clearly and pragmatically.
• You have excellent communication and stakeholder management skills and can distil complex legal issues into clear explanations of legal and commercial risk for non-legal stakeholders.
• You have experience supporting strategic commercial transactions and working closely with business stakeholders in fast-moving, technology-driven environments.
• You exercise strong commercial judgement, assessing legal risk in the context of broader business objectives and providing practical, solutions-oriented advice.
• You have experience advising on employment matters affecting a global workforce, or are willing to develop experience in this area, including navigating a fast-paced employment environment.
• You can operate autonomously on day-to-day matters, take initiative and exercise sound judgement about when to escalate.
• You have experience partnering cross-functionally and can communicate effectively with both legal and non-legal experts.
• You have strong organisational and prioritisation skills and can manage multiple workstreams and competing priorities.
• You're enthusiastic about getting stuck into a broad range of legal matters, including areas outside your existing experience, and are comfortable tackling novel questions where precedent may be limited.

Not ticking every box? That's totally okay! If you're passionate about autonomy and keen to learn, we encourage you to apply even if you don't meet every requirement.

More about Wayve: Wayve is building the leading AI platform for autonomous driving. We are pioneering an end to end AI approach that enables vehicles to learn directly from real world experience, developing the ability to adapt, generalise and improve at scale.

How we work:

• Locations & Flexible Working: This is a full-time role based in our London office. Our main hubs are in London, Sunnyvale, Yokohama, Herzliya, Vancouver and Leonberg. We operate a hybrid working model that combines in-person collaboration in our dedicated office spaces with focused time working remotely.

What's in it for you:

• Salaries benchmarked against the market annually
• Meaningful equity, sharing in the ownership and long term success of Wayve
• Relocation support and visa sponsorship where applicable
• Hybrid working, core hours and the chance to work hands-on in vehicle workshops and labs
• Learning and development budgets with support for training, conferences and growth
• Comprehensive benefits including health insurance, dental, enhanced maternity and paternity leave, retirement or pension where applicable, access to therapists, wellbeing partnerships, team socials and more