Head of Legal​/General Counsel @ Mission Driven SaaS

Overview

Whistler Partners is partnering with to hire its first senior legal leader — a Head of Legal with the opportunity to step into a General Counsel title for the right candidate.

Owner provides a suite of tools designed to help local restaurant owners increase sales and strengthen their online presence. From mobile ordering and customer rewards to digital growth infrastructure, the platform empowers independent restaurants to compete and win. As the business expands product surfaces, navigates regulatory complexity, and enters increasingly strategic partnerships, legal leadership is now mission-critical.

This is a foundational hire at a high-growth, mission-driven SaaS company.

Why this role?

This is not an incremental legal hire. It’s a build-from-zero seat.

You will own the full legal stack — corporate, compliance, employment, IP, litigation, regulatory, and commercial — and serve as a strategic partner to the executive team. You won’t inherit a pre-built function. You’ll architect it.

Success in this role means:

• Building scalable systems from ambiguity
• Knowing when to leverage outside counsel — and when to move internally
• Acting as DRI on the company’s most sensitive initiatives
• Helping leadership move faster while strengthening risk discipline

The title is flexible and may include General Counsel for the right candidate.

This is ideal for a builder who wants true ownership, executive visibility, and the opportunity to shape Legal at a scaling technology company from day one.

Key Responsibilities

• Partner closely with Engineering, Product & Design, GTM, People, Finance, Ops, and the Executive team
• Act as strategic advisor to the CEO on negotiations, disputes, and sensitive matters
• Build and scale Owner’s Legal function as its first full-time legal hire
• Serve as DRI on litigation strategy, regulatory posture, and complex commercial agreements
• Partner with Product and Engineering to ensure new products and pricing models are built with compliance and risk minimization in mind
• Design scalable systems across contracting, compliance, governance, privacy, employment, and IP
• Manage outside counsel across corporate, regulatory, employment, and litigation matters
• Support fundraising, board matters, corporate governance, and investor communications
• Proactively identify legal risk areas and implement preventive frameworks

About You

• 8–10+ years of legal experience across law firm and in-house environments
• Broad, “full-stack” experience across commercial, corporate, compliance, IP, employment, and litigation oversight
• Builder mentality — energized by creating structure from scratch
• Strong executive presence and business judgment
• Comfortable operating in fast-moving, ambiguous environments
• Able to partner closely with product and engineering teams
• Motivated to scale and eventually build a Legal team

Compensation

$250,000 – $325,000

Owner is open to increased compensation at the General Counsel level and may stretch beyond the posted range for the right candidate.

Perks

Comprehensive health coverage, Bay Area-based remote flexibility, unlimited PTO, and additional growth-stage benefits.

Interested?

This search is being led by Wolf at Whistler Partners. Please contact them for a confidential conversation.

About Whistler Partners

Matchmakers, Not Headhunters

Whistler Partners is a boutique matchmaking firm focused on counseling the best and the brightest attorneys over the course of their careers. We believe that the right move comes from working closely with talent to curate their long-term career paths. When it comes to career advice, what matters is not the size of the agency but the strength of your individual recruiter.

We readily admit that we are elite and only work with the best – after all, a little elitism is okay when it comes to your career. Employers love us because we are picky about whom we represent, and attorneys love us because we get them their dream jobs.