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Posted 8 months ago

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Head of Legal

Bay AreaOn-siteFull-time

AI Summary

Head of Legal shaping legal, IP, and risk strategy for a biotech moonshot focused on organ-scale reversible cryopreservation; serves as strategic partner to executives and oversees patents, trade secrets, licensing, and regulatory/legal risk.

About this role

About Until

Until is a moonshot company building a “pause button” for biology. Our near-term focus is organ-scale reversible cryopreservation: preserving donated organs at subzero temperatures without ice formation, then rewarming them uniformly for transplant. By solving this challenge, we are laying the foundation for whole-body reversible cryopreservation, giving patients a bridge to future cures.

To achieve our goal, we are assembling an interdisciplinary team to develop perfusion systems, cryoprotectant formulations, and vitrification and rewarming hardware.
We envision a future where no transplantable organ is lost to logistics, and no terminal diagnosis is final because patients can safely wait for future medicine to arrive.

Role Overview

This is a senior leadership role responsible for shaping Until’s legal, IP, and risk posture as the company moves toward the clinic. The Head of Legal will act as a strategic partner to the executive team, influencing core technical, commercial, and regulatory decisions.

Key Responsibilities

  • Own Until’s IP strategy across hardware, software, chemistry, and biology.
  • Coordinate proactive FTO/Patentability searches with external IP counsel and translate results into clear strategic guidance for leadership.
  • Manage outside patent counsel across prosecution, continuation strategy, and portfolio development.
  • Partner closely with R&D and engineering to ensure technical iterations are reflected in IP filings and risk assessments.
  • Maintain visibility into the competitive IP landscape, including competitor monitoring and potential licensing targets.
  • Oversee protection of trade secrets, confidential know-how, and proprietary data across internal teams and external collaborators.
  • Serve as the company’s internal legal lead, responsible for identifying, prioritizing, and mitigating legal risk across the organization.
  • Own the interface with external corporate counsel on governance, financings, and corporate matters.
  • Advise the executive team on legal considerations across product development, regulatory strategy, and commercialization.
  • Partner with Regulatory and Clinical teams on legal risk and positioning related to FDA interactions, clinical studies, and labeling.
  • Build and maintain lightweight, scalable legal processes appropriate for a fast-growing biotech company.
  • Lead or support negotiation of licenses, sponsored research agreements, collaborations, and other types of strategic partnerships.
  • Draft, review, and negotiate complex commercial agreements with a strong understanding of technical and IP implications.
  • Ensure consistency, risk discipline, and speed across contracts as the company scales.
  • Work closely with Strategy, Regulatory, and R&D to ensure legal posture is aligned with the company’s clinical and regulatory roadmap.
  • Support diligence for partnerships, financings, and strategic transactions.
  • Provide pragmatic, technically grounded legal advice to non-legal stakeholders.
  • Support board-level legal matters and investor diligence, including preparation of legal risk summaries and IP positioning.
  • Define the long-term legal function, including decisions around in-house versus external support and future hires.

    • Required Qualifications

  • JD with 7+ years of relevant legal experience (law firm, in-house, or hybrid).
  • Experience shaping IP strategy in novel or first-in-class technologies.
  • Experience with continuation strategy, claim scope negotiation, and portfolio construction.
  • Strong technical background with comfort engaging engineers, scientists, and inventors on complex technical systems.
  • Experience negotiating and executing complex commercial, licensing, or sponsored research agreements.
  • Ability to operate independently as the senior legal owner in a fast-moving startup environment.
  • Demonstrated ability to translate ambiguous legal risk into clear strategic options for leadership.
  • Comfort making high-stakes decisions with incomplete information.

    • Strong Preferred

  • Experience in biotech, medtech, deep tech, or another highly regulated technical domain.
  • Prior in-house experience at a growth-stage company (e.g. as a first or second legal hire at a startup)
  • Comfort working across hardware, software, and biological IP.
  • Familiarity with legal considerations around clinical studies, investigational use, or regulated product development.

    • Skills

    Biotech IPClaim Scope NegotiationClinical Study LawCommercial AgreementsContinuation StrategyFTOInvestigational UseIP StrategyLicensing AgreementsPatent ProsecutionPortfolio ConstructionRegulatory LawSponsored Research AgreementsTrade Secret Protection

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