Legal and Compliance Advisor (Native German Speaker)

Job Description

Element is the startup which employs the core team behind Matrix— the leading project for secure, open decentralised communication.

Matrix’s mission is to make messaging as open as email— allowing everyone to choose where their data is hosted, enjoy private conversations and ultimately be in control of their own communication.

We build open alternatives to apps like WhatsApp, Slack, Teams & more. Our early adopters include The French Government, we have delivered the world’s largest ever single contract for collaboration software supporting German schools with remote learning and more recently have welcomed the entire health care system of Germany on to Matrix. We’ve welcomed open source communities like Mozilla, KDE, GNOME and Wikimedia and are working towards gaining traction in personal messaging.

Requirements

The Role:

We are looking for a German Legal and Compliance Advisor to join our team. You will work within the Legal and Compliance team providing pragmatic advice and legal support as Element continues to scale internationally.

This is a phenomenal opportunity to be part of a growing team working on cutting edge issues in a fast-paced, globally distributed and ever-changing environment.

Key Responsibilities:

• Work with German lawyers regarding various matters around employment, commercial, corporate governance, compliance, etc
• Work with the Bid Manager in order to manage the legal aspects of German public tenders
• Support the Legal and Compliance team with ad hoc projects and contract reviews under time-sensitive conditions
• Coordinate and collaborate with lawyers from different jurisdictions regarding various matters
• Provide on the ground support to the HR team to comply with German employment requirements around contracts and other employment documents
• Handle legal queries from all areas of the company, involving other members of the Legal and Compliance team and/or outside counsel as needed
• Contribute towards designing legal and business processes that enable Element to scale internationally

About You:

• At least 5 years’ experience in either an in-house team or private practice, ideally, with experience advising on a range of commercial and corporate matters You are business minded and practical in addressing legal issues. You can differentiate between legal and commercial issues and understand when to escalate
• Experience coordinating projects with multiple stakeholders
• You are highly detail-oriented, and adept at spotting inconsistencies and anomalies with excellent organizational skills; delivering on deadlines
• You have exceptional interpersonal skills, including outstanding verbal and written skills in English and German
• Highly organised with the ability to balance and prioritise multiple tasks
• Works under pressure without compromising quality
• Ability to work independently and as part of a team
• Ability to adapt to changing conditions
• You are naturally curious and want to work on a broad variety of matters, with teams across various business functions
• Interest or experience in technology
• Energised by a dynamic, fast-paced, and remote-first workplace
• Native German speaker

Nice to have:

• Qualified lawyer in Germany
• Knowledge of OSS
• Knowledge of German employment law
• German public tender experience very desirable

Benefits

People tend to stay with the company for a long time, we take this as a sign that we have a cohesive, supportive culture, that we have engaging challenging work and that people can develop their skills and careers here for the long term. We also have a family friendly environment, many of the team have small children and we look to accommodate that as best we can. Since our technology is relevant to anything that requires real-time comms, the role provides exposure to a wide range of domains from web and app dev through to VR, VoIP and IoT.

Our package generally contains:

• Private Health Insurance
• Plumm (Wellbeing and L&D platform)
• Pension
• Annual Bonus
• Share Options
• Home Office Allowance
• Coworking Space Allowance
• Annual leave (40 days including local bank holidays)
• Company Socials (virtual or in person)
• Annual Global Offsite

You can find a more detailed explanation here and you might be eligible for other benefits depending on your location.

Element does not discriminate on the basis of race, sex, colour, religion, age, national origin, marital status, disability, veteran status, genetic information, sexual orientation, gender identity or any other reason prohibited by law in provision of employment opportunities and benefits.

IMPORTANT - Please submit your CV/application in English so we can review with our wider team. Thank you!