Head of Legal at Hadrian in Amsterdam, North Holland, NL

Do you believe the best legal advice doesn't just protect a business, but helps it move faster?

Then look no further, and join us here at Hadrian as our new Head of Legal!

Who are we?

What if cybersecurity could think like a hacker?

At Hadrian, that's exactly what we're building: the future of offensive cybersecurity, powered by autonomous AI agents that think like hackers. Founded in Amsterdam in 2021, we're on a mission to change the way organisations defend themselves by helping them find and fix security weaknesses before attackers can exploit them.

Our platform brings together two products: Atlas, which continuously maps an organisation's external attack surface and validates which exposures are genuinely exploitable, and Nova, which uses AI agents to perform in-depth penetration testing on demand. Together, they give security teams the visibility and proof they need to focus on what really matters and stay ahead of emerging threats.

Backed by $65M in total funding, including our recent $40M Series B led by Forgepoint Capital International and SmartFin, we're investing in the next generation of autonomous offensive security and expanding our impact across global markets. With a team spanning 25+ countries and offices in Amsterdam, London, and New York, we're helping organisations rethink what's possible in cybersecurity.

Join us and help shape the future of offensive security.

Your Role:

As our Head of Legal, you'll be much more than the person reviewing contracts and managing legal risks. You'll be a strategic partner to the business, helping Hadrian move fast, close opportunities, and navigate the legal challenges that come with building an AI-native cybersecurity company operating internationally.

This is a genuine opportunity to own and shape Hadrian's legal function. From complex enterprise SaaS negotiations and evolving AI regulations to fundraising, strategic partnerships, and corporate governance, you'll have a seat at the table on some of the most important decisions we make. You'll work directly with our founders and senior leadership, supported by an existing paralegal and external counsel where needed.

We're looking for someone who brings a commercial mindset, genuine passion for technology, and a builder's mentality. Someone who doesn't just identify legal risks but translates them into practical business decisions, challenges the status quo, and embraces AI to make legal work smarter, faster, and more scalable.

If you're excited by the idea of being hands-on today while building a legal function that can grow alongside Hadrian, we'd love to hear from you!

What you will do as Head of Legal at Hadrian:

• Own all legal matters across Hadrian's international business, acting as a trusted advisor to our leadership team and helping the company make commercially sound, risk-informed decisions.
• Drive commercial contracting and negotiations, working closely with Sales and Partnerships to close complex enterprise SaaS, penetration testing, reseller, and strategic partnership agreements with customers across Europe and the US.
• Navigate data protection and emerging regulations, including GDPR, DORA and NIS2-related customer requirements, the EU AI Act, and other regulatory developments relevant to our business and products.
• Partner with Product, Engineering, and Security to anticipate legal implications of new AI capabilities, product developments, and commercial opportunities, ensuring our terms, policies, and contractual protections evolve alongside them.
• Support corporate and strategic transactions, including future fundraising, M&A, venture financing, and other strategic initiatives, working directly with our founders, board, investors, and external counsel.
• Own our equity and corporate governance processes, including cap table management in Ledgy, ESOP grants and exercises, STAK administration, board documentation, and corporate records across our group.
• Advise on employment, IP, and operational matters, partnering with our People and Finance teams on employment-related legal issues, intellectual property protection, procurement, insurance, and disputes.
• Strengthen our compliance and risk management framework, covering areas such as sanctions and export controls, corporate policies, contractual security obligations, and legal aspects of incident response.
• Build a smarter and more scalable legal function, improving templates, negotiation playbooks, and processes while developing AI-powered workflows and agents that make legal work faster, more consistent, and measurable.
• Lead and develop our legal operations, managing our paralegal, legal tooling, and external counsel relationships while ensuring the business receives practical, timely, and commercially minded support.

You are fit for this job because you:

• Are fluent in English (Dutch is a bonus), both written and spoken.
• Are a qualified lawyer (Dutch advocaat or equivalent EU/UK qualification), with a Master's degree in Law or equivalent and demonstrable working knowledge of Dutch law.
• Have 5+ years of post-qualification experience, including meaningful in-house experience within a technology-driven, SaaS, or fast-growing business.
• Bring strong experience in complex enterprise SaaS contracting, including negotiating customer paper, liability provisions, data protection, security terms, and agreements with large or regulated organisations.
• Have hands-on knowledge of GDPR and data protection matters, particularly processor obligations, DPAs, sub-processors, international data transfers, and customer audits.
• Are genuinely passionate about technology and AI. You see yourself as a legal technologist and have hands-on experience building or implementing AI agents and AI-powered workflows to improve how legal work gets done.
• Have a commercially pragmatic mindset. You understand how to balance legal risks with business opportunities, communicate their potential impact clearly, and find solutions rather than simply pointing out obstacles.
• Are comfortable owning a legal function independently, making decisions, managing competing priorities, and knowing when to involve leadership or external counsel.
• Thrive in a fast-paced, entrepreneurial environment, where you take initiative, anticipate challenges, and enjoy building better ways of working rather than relying on established processes.
• Are an excellent communicator and stakeholder partner, able to build trust, challenge constructively, and work effectively with everyone from engineers and salespeople to executives, customers, and investors.

Bonus points if you have:

• Experience with Dutch corporate and employment law, including BV governance, STAK structures, ESOPs, and equity administration.
• Familiarity with DORA, NIS2, the EU AI Act, or security frameworks such as ISO 27001 and SOC 2.
• Experience working in cybersecurity, offensive security, or another highly regulated technology sector.
• Been involved in fundraising, venture financing, M&A transactions, or international expansion.
• Experience negotiating channel, reseller, OEM, or technology partnership agreements.
• Professional proficiency in French, or additional European languages such as German or Italian.

Benefits at Hadrian:

• Permanent contract
• Unlimited paid holiday
• Stock options package
• Mobile phone stipend
• Work-from-home budget
• Business Travel card
• Swapfiets
• Referral bonuses

Why you want to be part of Hadrian:

Make the internet safer: We enable companies to protect their customers, employees, and other stakeholders from malicious hackers by providing real-time Exposure Management from the Hacker’s perspective

Board a primed rocket ship: Hadrian is growing fast; the team is approaching 100 wonderful people, notable customers are signed, and significant funding is raised. Now is the time to join our high-growth journey

Be part of a strong and dynamic culture: Our values define who we are as a group and serve as the cornerstones to guide us in building a product that our customers love. At Hadrian, we achieve this by championing a culture that takes ownership, succeeds together, increases velocity, and pursues growth

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Sounds like the role for you? Hit the apply button!

Our customers are seeking a world-class and reliable digital security service. That is exactly what we are offering. Therefore, a background check will be part of the process.