Head of Legal/General Counsel

80,000 Hours helps talented people work on the world’s most pressing problems, especially mitigating risks from advanced AI. Over a million people visit our site each year, and thousands have changed their careers because of our work.

Engagement: Full time, could be flexible for the right candidate

Title: General Counsel or Head of Legal, dependent on experience

Location: London preferred, or remote in the UK. We’re also open to candidates working on US Eastern Time or elsewhere in Europe. We can sponsor UK visas.

The work to be done: We’ve nearly doubled in size since mid-2025, we have staff in the UK and US, and we’re launching new programmes and AI products. Some of our most ambitious plans now depend on legal questions we can’t yet answer quickly, such as how much policy-related work a UK charity like ours can take on. You’d be our first senior in-house lawyer — the person who leadership and staff turn to when they need to know whether they can do something, and how. You’d build on a strong start, since a legal operations specialist already handles day-to-day questions and we have good working relationships with several law firms. You’d own our legal strategy and risk across our two UK entities and manage our legal operations specialist, with room to hire more people into your team as we grow. Your team would own legal support, governance operations, and data privacy and protection for the organisation.

• Own legal strategy and risk. Be a thought partner to leadership, and scope new programmes before we launch them: the exposure, how likely and costly it is, and the structure that keeps most of the upside.
• Answer novel questions fast. For example: how much political activity can a UK charity with a largely international audience take on? How should we manage IP ownership across our content products, as well as with the guests, contractors, and partners who contribute to them? How should we handle legal risk when writers and podcast guests discuss AI companies and industry practices?
• Data and AI products. Make sure the AI tools we build with the information people tell us about their careers earn their trust and comply with UK GDPR and the EU AI Act.
• Structure and governance. How our two UK entities relate as we grow, whether and how we establish a legal presence in the US, and board and compliance support for both.
• Fundamentals. Agreements across the organisation, employment questions in the UK and US, and visa sponsorship in coordination with People Operations.
• Build the team and function. Guidance, templates and an AI-assisted first line, so staff can handle routine questions themselves. Decide what goes to outside counsel, and get faster, better answers from the firms we use.

Who might be a good fit: A qualified lawyer with in-house experience, ideally as general counsel, head of legal, or sole counsel. You give risk-calibrated, decision-ready advice, move quickly, and explain your reasoning to colleagues who aren’t lawyers. Experience with English charity and company law, UK data protection, or US law is a plus. Experience setting up an organisation’s presence in the US is especially valuable, but we’d still like to hear from you if you haven’t done it and could learn it quickly. You don’t need an AI policy background.

Compensation:

• London (3+ days a week in office) £157,000–196,000
• UK remote £136,000–169,000
• US remote $195,000–243,000
• Washington, DC $224,000–279,000

Up to £18,000 (or the USD equivalent) per year available to spend on wellbeing, professional development, and productivity. 10% of your time for self-development, private medical insurance for you and your dependents, generous parental leave and childcare support, relocation support, exit pay, 25 days’ paid holiday, and a pension.

To apply, please complete this application form by November 1st. We are hiring alongside a number of organisations working on AI Safety, and you can be considered for multiple organisations through the same application process.