Vay - Legal, Vice President (VP)

• This is not a role where you inherit a playbook. You write it. • As VP, Legal, you will be the most senior legal voice at Vay, reporting directly to the CEO and sitting at the table where consequential company decisions are made. You’ll own the legal strategy that protects, enables, and accelerates the business as we scale across jurisdictions. • This is a broad role by design. We need a builder, not a specialist behind one legal domain. You’ll work across corporate governance, fundraising, regulatory strategy, commercial contracts, data privacy, insurance, employment, litigation, compliance, IP, and expansion. • You’ll also build the legal function as the company grows. The legal team today is lean, with Senior Legal Counsel support across the US and Germany. For the first 12–18 months, this will remain a hands-on player-coach role. You’ll draft, review, negotiate, advise, unblock, and build the systems around you as the function matures. • If you’re looking for a pure management role with a large team from day one, this probably isn’t the one. If you want to build the legal foundation for a new mode of transportation, keep reading. • What you’ll be driving • Lead Vay’s legal function across the US and Europe, setting the strategy, priorities, operating model, and ways of working as the company scales. • Act as a trusted advisor to the CEO, leadership team, and board across legal, regulatory, commercial, risk, privacy, employment, corporate, and strategic matters. • Own corporate governance and company structure, including board matters, subsidiary governance, equity management, option grants, 409A processes, and equity plan administration. • Lead legal workstreams for fundraising, strategic transactions, partnerships, commercial alliances, M&A, due diligence, and future corporate development opportunities. • Build and own Vay’s regulatory strategy for Remote Driving across federal, state, municipal, US, European, and future market requirements. • Own commercial legal work across vendors, suppliers, customers, partnerships, vehicle procurement, insurance, leasing, maintenance, and strategic agreements — including scalable templates, approval workflows, and legal playbooks. • Lead Vay’s data privacy and protection program across CCPA, GDPR, passenger data, vehicle telemetry, Remote Driving session data, operational recordings, employee data, and vendor data processing agreements. • Design and manage Vay’s insurance, risk, and incident response strategy, including commercial auto, general liability, D&O, E&O, cyber, product liability, safety reporting, litigation, government inquiries, and novel coverages required for Remote Driving operations. • Advise across employment, IP, compliance, real estate, and outside counsel strategy, ensuring specialist support is used effectively where needed. • Lead and develop the existing legal team, hire selectively as the function matures, manage outside counsel spend and performance, and set the standard for legal at Vay: fast, pragmatic, commercially minded, deeply embedded in the business, and focused on enabling smart decisions. • What are we looking for • J.D. from an accredited law school and active bar membership in good standing. • 10+ years of legal experience, with meaningful time spent both in a top-tier law firm and in-house at a high-growth technology, mobility, or regulated company. • Strong generalist capability across corporate, commercial, regulatory, employment, privacy, insurance, compliance, IP, litigation, and strategic advisory work. • Experience supporting fundraising rounds, growth equity transactions, venture financing, M&A, due diligence, or other strategic corporate transactions. • Strong regulatory instincts, ideally gained in ambiguous or frontier sectors such as mobility, automotive, AV/AD, Remote Driving, drones, fintech, robotics, or another highly regulated technology environment. • Excellent commercial judgment. You understand that “no” is not legal advice, and you know how to find the path to yes while protecting the company. • Strong technical legal skills. You can draft precise contract language, analyze a novel regulatory issue, and advise the CEO on a board-level strategic question in the same afternoon. • Clear, direct communication style. You translate complex legal topics into practical, actionable guidance for engineers, operators, product leaders, executives, and board members. • Hands-on, autonomous, and pragmatic. You’re comfortable with ambiguity, able to prioritise across competing demands, and ready to take ownership without waiting for structure to appear. • 💪A global team of smart, motivated people from 30+ countries who love tackling hard problems and turning bold ideas into reality. • 🌍 Huge scope for impact in a fast paced environment • 💰 ESOP stock options: A stake in Vay’s future - not just a salary. • 🌴 Flexible Paid Vacation Days • 🎫 401(k) programme • 🏥 Health, Dental & Vision Insurance • 🚗 All Vay team members receive 30% off their Vay rides • 🏋️‍♂️ Wellness Hub free gym access & wellness app subscriptions • 🛍️ Exclusive external discounts • ✈️ Relocation financial assistance when relocating to Las Vegas • 🎊 Regular team events throughout the year • For more information on Vay’s physical demands, working environments and safety requirements, you can review this link. We’ll also cover anything specific to this role during the first interview. • We’d love to stay connected for future opportunities, so feel free to include your LinkedIn profile when you apply. • We welcome applications from all backgrounds and experiences. If you’re excited about shaping something truly groundbreaking, we’d be happy to hear from you.