Commercial Legal Counsel

Job description

COMMERCIAL LEGAL COUNSEL Edinburgh / London ABOUT WORDSMITH Wordsmith is building the legal operations platform for in-house teams, and we are growing fast. We believe in-house legal is becoming one of the most important functions in the AI era. Every business is moving faster, but legal work is still too often scattered across inboxes, chats, documents, and disconnected systems. Wordsmith brings that work into one system. Requests come in from across the business, AI agents handle the routine, lawyers stay in control where judgment matters, and every step is captured as work happens. We are built for in-house legal, not law firms. Our goal is to help legal teams move faster, reduce unnecessary external counsel spend, and become a function the business can run with. More than 500 companies, including Financial Times, Safelite, Trip.com, Canva, Starling, and Sage, use Wordsmith. Backed by $100M from Index Ventures, General Catalyst, Highland Europe, and others, we are building one of the defining companies in legal AI. THE ROLE This is not a traditional in-house counsel role. You are “customer zero” for an AI-native legal product. You will support commercial agreements in a high-velocity SaaS environment while using Wordsmith daily to draft, review and improve how legal work gets done. Alongside this, you will help build the systems behind the work. Playbooks, templates and workflows that allow the business to move faster without always relying on legal. This role sits at the intersection of legal execution, product development and commercial velocity. RESPONSIBILITIES COMMERCIAL LEGAL SUPPORT Provide fast, pragmatic legal support across customer and vendor agreements including MSAs, order forms, DPAs and NDAs. Balance legal risk with commercial priorities to keep deals progressing. Partner closely with Sales and GTM teams through active deal cycles, especially during end-of-month and quarter close. AI & LEGAL WORKFLOW DEVELOPMENT Use AI tools to draft, review and negotiate contracts efficiently. Build and refine templates, playbooks and self-serve workflows that scale legal output. Identify opportunities to automate or remove friction in the contracting process. CUSTOMER ZERO & PRODUCT FEEDBACK Act as an internal user of Wordsmith. Test, break and improve the product through real legal work. Work with Product and Legal Engineering to translate legal workflows into product features. Feed structured insights back into R&D to improve accuracy, usability and impact. LEGAL OPERATIONS & INSIGHT Analyse contract data to identify trends, improve positions and strengthen playbooks. Bring a data-led approach to how legal decisions are made and scaled. REGULATORY & RISK Provide practical advice on privacy, data protection and SaaS contracting. Stay current on GDPR, AI regulation and emerging legal frameworks. WHAT WE’RE LOOKING FOR - Qualified solicitor (England & Wales or Scotland) with roughly 2–4 years’ PQE. - Strong grounding in B2B SaaS agreements and commercial contracting. - Experience working closely with sales teams or commercial stakeholders. - Practical understanding of privacy and data protection. - Comfort operating in a fast-moving environment where speed and judgement both matter. - Ability to explain legal concepts clearly and make decisions without over-engineering. - Interest in AI, legal technology and improving how legal work gets done. HOW WE WORK We’re an in-office team. We work together because it makes us faster, sharper, and more effective. You should expect to be in the office as your default. This is a high performance environment. We set a high bar, move quickly, and expect people to take ownership of real problems. There isn’t always a clear path. The people who do well here figure things out, stay close to the work, and keep pushing until they get to the right outcome. This won’t suit everyone. If you’re looking for a highly structured environment or clear boundaries around pace, this likely isn’t the right fit. WHY THIS ROLE MATTERS This role shapes how legal operates inside Wordsmith. You are not just supporting deals. You are helping build a new model for legal work. One that is faster, more scalable and deeply integrated with product. Your work will directly influence both how we close revenue today and how legal teams operate tomorrow.