Head of Legal

Location: New York Office Workplace: Hybrid Taktile empowers financial institutions to transform into truly AI-native organizations. We’re growing rapidly with enterprise customers across banks and insurance companies, and we’re looking for a Head of Legal. Taktile's legal function already has real groundwork in place: core contract templates exist and two fractional GCs covering the US and EU have kept the essentials running and structured. That foundation is what makes this such a compelling opportunity: you're not starting from a blank page, you're taking something well-started and building it into the legal team and function that matches where Taktile is headed next. As Taktile's first dedicated in-house legal leader, you'll own that next chapter: deciding what scales as-is, what needs to evolve, and when and how to build out a team as the company's growth demands it. You'll work closely with the CEO and leadership team as a genuine strategic partner, with a direct line of sight into the biggest decisions the company makes, including deal structure, new markets, and product risk, while also staying close enough to the ground to draft the NDA, review the vendor contract, and answer the HR question yourself. That combination is what makes this role compelling: you get the influence of a strategic leadership seat and the satisfaction of tangible, immediate impact, without months of layers between a decision and getting it done. If you've been waiting for the chance to take a legal function with real momentum and shape what it becomes, including designing the team around it, this is that chance. What you'll do Design the function's next chapter. Build on the existing foundation of templates, the in-progress Ironclad rollout, and the structure the US and EU fractional GCs have put in place, then decide what evolves, what gets automated, and what a growing team should own versus what stays with outside counsel. You set the roadmap for where legal at Taktile goes from here. Build and lead the team. As Taktile grows, legal needs to grow with it. You'll make the call on when and who to hire, and design a team structure that fits Taktile's actual trajectory rather than a generic org chart. Own commercial contracting. Draft, review, and negotiate customer agreements (including with banks and financial institutions, which come with their own procurement and vendor-risk expectations), vendor contracts, partnership agreements, and NDAs. Refine the existing templates and playbooks so the business can increasingly self-serve on lower-risk paper, freeing you up for the work only you can do. Help define how AI decisioning gets regulated. Work with Taktile's compliance function and outside regulatory counsel on how banking, lending, and AI/model-risk regulations intersect with the product and with regulated customers. This is a genuinely emerging area where your read on the landscape will directly shape company strategy. Support a growing global team. Taktile operates through a US LLC, a German GmbH, a UK Ltd, a Romanian SRL, and LATAM contractors under the LLC. Partner with HR on offer letters, policies, and employment questions across these entities, bringing in local counsel where it adds the most value. Advise leadership on risk and strategy. Be a real business partner to the CEO and leadership team, helping them see around corners on legal risk, weigh in on deal structure, and think through the legal implications of new products, partnerships, and markets as Taktile grows. Set the company's data privacy posture. Own the company's baseline data privacy program (including GDPR given the European entities) and coordinate with specialized privacy counsel on more complex questions. Stay close to the business. Answer the “can we do this?” questions from sales, HR, and product as they come up. You'll always know exactly what's happening across the company, because you're the person everyone comes to. What we're looking for - 8+ years of relevant legal experience, including meaningful time in-house, ideally with some exposure to AI, fintech, financial services, SaaS, or another regulated/high-growth environment. - Direct experience building or significantly scaling a legal function and team. You've taken a function from an early or lean stage to something more structured and can point to what you built. - Strong commercial contract drafting and negotiation skills; comfortable being the primary negotiator on customer and vendor paper. - Working knowledge of, or genuine excitement to quickly build, expertise in financial services regulatory considerations relevant to AI-driven decisioning (credit, lending, model risk, fair lending concepts). - Experience supporting employment matters across multiple jurisdictions or entities, or a track record of picking up new jurisdictions quickly and knowing when to bring in local counsel. - JD and active bar membership in at least one US state. - An entrepreneurial, high-ownership mindset, energized by taking a function with a real foundation and building it into the next thing, including hiring and leading a team. - Sound judgment about when to solve something yourself versus when to route it to outside counsel, and confidence managing that outside counsel relationship as a true business owner would. What success looks like in the first year You've taken the existing foundation of templates and the structure the fractional GCs built, and evolved it into a function that reflects your judgment: a clearer contracting process, refined guardrails, and a concrete point of view on the legal team Taktile needs next, including your first hire or a clear plan for one. Leadership treats you as a core strategic voice in the room for major decisions. And the day-to-day runs smoothly on your watch, with NDAs turned around quickly, offer letters correct and on time, and routine questions answered fast: proof that you can build for the long term while nailing the fundamentals every single day. Our Stance - We're eager to meet talented and driven candidates regardless of whether they tick all the boxes. We're looking for someone who will add to our culture, not just fit within it. We strongly encourage individuals from groups traditionally underestimated and underrepresented in tech to apply. - We seek to actively recognize and combat racism, sexism, ableism and ageism. We embrace and support all gender identities and expressions, and celebrate love in its many forms. We won't inquire about how you identify or if you've experienced discrimination, but if you want to tell your story, we are all ears. About Us Taktile enables financial institutions to transform into AI-native organizations that are increasingly powered by autonomous agents. With our modular Agentic Decision Platform, customers combine AI agents, rules, relevant context, and human oversight to safely automate and optimize their decisions—approving more customers, reimbursing claims instantly, stopping fraud before it spreads, and financing every business worth funding. Founded in 2020, Taktile powers millions of decisions daily for institutions including Mercury, Monzo, Faire, and Pleo. With offices in New York, Berlin, London, São Paulo, and Iași, the company has raised $184M from Growth Equity at Goldman Sachs Alternatives, Index Ventures, Tiger Global, Balderton Capital, and Y Combinator. Learn more at taktile.com http://taktile.com. About Your Employment. Taktile operates through regional entities worldwide. Depending on the location of this role, your employment or engagement will be with Taktile LLC (US), Taktile GmbH (Germany), Taktile Ltd (UK), or Taktile SRL (Romania). The applicable entity will be confirmed during the offer process. Your Privacy. Taktile ("we" or "us") is the controller of the personal data you provide during this application process. We collect and process your name, contact details, resume/CV, work history, education, and any other information you submit or that we obtain from publicly available sources or references. How we use your data: We process your personal data to evaluate your candidacy, communicate with you about the recruitment process, comply with legal obligations (such as right-to-work verification), and, with your consent, to consider you for future opportunities. Legal basis (EU/UK applicants): We rely on (i) pre-contractual steps at your request (GDPR/UK GDPR Art. 6(1)(b)), (ii) legal obligations (Art. 6(1)(c)), and (iii) our legitimate interest in evaluating candidates (Art. 6(1)(f)). Retention: If your application is unsuccessful, we retain your data for 12 months after the recruitment process concludes, unless you consent to longer retention. Successful candidates' data becomes part of their employment records. Your rights: Depending on your location, you may have the right to access, correct, delete, or restrict the processing of your personal data, to data portability, and to withdraw consent. California residents have additional rights under the CCPA, including the right to know, delete, and correct personal information. Automated decision-making: We use automated tools to assist in screening applications. No hiring decision is made solely by automated means without human review. International transfers: Your data may be transferred to and processed in the United States, Germany, the United Kingdom, or Romania. Where required, transfers are protected by Standard Contractual Clauses or other approved mechanisms. By submitting your application, you acknowledge that you have read and understood Taktile's Applicant Privacy Policy. To exercise your rights or ask questions, contact privacy@taktile.com