Head Of Legal

Note: Partly is headquartered in the UK, with a Product and Engineering HQ in Christchurch, New Zealand, and an early presence in San Francisco, USA. If you are based outside of a Hub, we will fly you to the nearest Hub for 1 week per quarter for our “Season Openers” (we pay for your travel and accommodation).

🚀 Our story

Partly's mission is to connect the world's parts, building the first global platform for replacement parts — starting with auto parts. Our big vision is to accelerate the world toward a sustainable future where anyone can fix anything.

Founded by ex–Rocket Lab engineers, we use cutting-edge technology to solve complex, high‑impact problems in a $1.9 trillion industry. We’ve more than tripled our team in the past year and plan to double again. Our team spans Europe and Australasia, delivering a scalable digital infrastructure used by the world’s largest businesses and most exciting startups.

We’re backed by world-class investors including Blackbird Ventures, Square Peg, Octopus Ventures, Icehouse, Peter Beck (Rocket Lab), Akshay Kothari (Notion Co‑Founder) and Dylan Field (Figma Co‑Founder).

At Partly, we’re building an environment where people do the best work of their lives.

🖍️ This role

The Head of Legal will own and scale Partly’s legal function so the company can move faster and reduce risk as we expand globally. Reporting to Nathan Taylor (Co‑founder), you’ll be the single point of ownership for commercial contracting, dispute management, and external counsel coordination. You’ll partner closely with our regional teams to ensure that legal operations scale efficiently with our growth, without adding unnecessary bureaucracy.

This is a hands-on, high‑ownership role suited to someone who loves building from first principles and turning legal process into business leverage.

💻 What will you do

• Own and deliver commercial contracting across jurisdictions - Drive end‑to‑end ownership of customer, supplier, vendor, and partner contracts. Review, draft, and negotiate agreements to enable faster execution while maintaining smart risk control.

• Establish scalable legal systems - Develop and maintain contract templates, playbooks, fallback positions, and a streamlined contracting process that scales globally.

• Manage disputes and escalation - Lead response and resolution strategies for disputes. Coordinate external counsel interventions where appropriate and ensure learnings feed back into playbooks.

• Coordinate external counsel and manage outcomes - Identify, engage, and coordinate external counsel across NZ, UK, and US markets. Ensure effective cost management, consistent matters tracking, and quality outcomes.

• Empower internal teams - Partner with Product, Engineering, Ops, and Finance to embed good legal practices in their workflows — enabling faster decisions and compliant build processes.

• Act as a trusted business advisor. - Provide pragmatic, commercially‑savvy legal advice to leadership and cross‑functional teams, balancing risk, impact, and speed.

🥷 Your skills

• Broad in‑house legal experience - You’ve operated as an in‑house counsel or Head of Legal, ideally in a fast‑growth or tech‑driven environment. You understand the demands of supporting dynamic product and commercial teams.

• Strong commercial judgment - Proven ability to balance business speed with risk management, with a bias for practical solutions rather than theoretical perfection.

• Excellent contract drafting and negotiation ability - You can structure clear, concise agreements and anticipate key issues across jurisdictions.

• Systems‑builder mindset - You create scalable templates, playbooks, and processes that evolve with the business.

• Executive communication and influence - Able to translate complex legal positions into actionable business advice, building trust with senior leaders and cross‑functional partners.

• Experience with external counsel management - Skilled at selecting and directing outside counsel to maximise value and maintain consistency across markets.

• (Preferred) Exposure to multi‑jurisdiction operations - Familiarity with NZ, UK, and/or US legal frameworks is a plus.

• (Bonus) Startup or scale‑up experience - You’ve been the first or second lawyer in a company and know how to build a structure that enables, not constrains, growth.

Please note: if you don’t meet every criterion but believe you’d excel, we want to hear from you. Many excellent candidates — particularly from underrepresented backgrounds — self‑select out of opportunities unjustly. Please let us learn more about you.

🪅 Benefits

• High trust, low process, and no bureaucracy. We hire exceptional people whose judgment we trust.

• Competitive base salary + equity. Everyone shares in our upside.

• Flexible working hours. Choose how you work best, with an office‑first approach in our Christchurch HQ.

• Focus Days. Two days per week with zero meetings for deep work.

• Take time when you need it. Unlimited leave with full trust.

• Beautiful offices in Christchurch CBD and Auckland’s K Road. Spaces designed to help you do your best work.

• Learn from the best. Regular sessions with leading founders and executives from unicorn companies.

• Quarterly season openers & annual global offsite. Spend time connecting in person across teams.

• Team connection. Regular lunches, celebrations, and events.

• Parental leave & flexible return to work. Designed for families.

• Payroll giving. Match donations to high‑impact charities.

🛬 Relocation

If you are relocating from overseas or domestically to Partly HQ, we offer a generous relocation allowance to support your move.