General Counsel (UK)

At Hypersonica, we’re redefining what’s possible in European defence technology. We exist to deliver speed, resilience and technological independence at a pace that sets a new standard. 
We are a small, talent dense team working on hard problems that matter, and solving them quickly. 
As we scale our UK business, we are looking for an exceptional General Counsel (UK) to build and lead our legal capability in the UK. 
You will report to the Group General Counsel, based in Germany, and work closely with our UK leadership team and wider Group leadership across some of the most important decisions the company makes. 
You will work directly with our leadership team across some of the most important decisions the company makes. Major customer contracts, government programmes, intellectual property, strategic partnerships, suppliers, export controls, national security requirements, corporate matters and the legal foundations required to scale the business will all sit within your world. 
This is not a traditional in house legal role. 
You will not inherit a large team, decades of precedent or a legal function filled with established processes. You will have the opportunity to decide what good looks like and build it. 
We need someone with outstanding legal judgement who understands that the objective is not to remove every possible risk. It is to understand which risks genuinely matter, make them visible and help the business move forward intelligently. 
Someone who can protect Hypersonica without slowing Hypersonica down.

What you’ll do

- Build and lead the UK legal function as Hypersonica scales.

- Act as a trusted legal adviser to the founders, UK leadership team and senior leaders across Engineering, Programmes, Commercial, Supply Chain, Operations and People, working closely with the Group General Counsel and the wider Group legal function.

- Lead the drafting, review and negotiation of complex commercial agreements, including customer contracts, development agreements, supplier agreements, strategic partnerships, NDAs, MoUs and technology agreements.

- Support major UK government and defence opportunities from early customer engagement through contracting, programme delivery and subsequent change.

- Partner closely with Commercial and Programmes to understand the customer objective, contractual position and delivery risk rather than treating the contract as an isolated legal document.

- Advise on intellectual property strategy, including foreground and background IP, licensing, ownership, collaboration agreements, inventions and protection of strategically important technology.

- Lead UK legal support around export controls, sanctions, end use restrictions, national security requirements, security obligations and other regulatory matters relevant to a defence technology company.

- Support the business in navigating UK public sector and defence contracting requirements.

- Advise on corporate governance, Board matters, shareholder matters, fundraising and strategic transactions where required.

- Support international expansion, strategic partnerships and cross border activity alongside our German business and wider Group, ensuring appropriate alignment with Group legal strategy, governance and risk management.

- Partner with People on senior employment matters, equity, sensitive employee issues and the legal infrastructure required as the UK organisation grows.

- Build contracting standards, templates, playbooks and approval processes, aligned with Group policies, that enable people to move quickly without introducing unnecessary bureaucracy.

- Establish practical compliance frameworks across areas including anti bribery and corruption, conflicts of interest, data protection and business ethics.

- Work with Engineering and technical leadership to understand the legal implications of highly complex technology rather than expecting the business to translate everything into legal language first.

- Select and manage external counsel where specialist support is genuinely required while maintaining ownership internally.

- Identify legal risk early and give clear recommendations rather than simply presenting the business with a list of possible problems.

- Build the team around you as the complexity and scale of the business grows.

Who you are

- A qualified solicitor in England and Wales with significant experience advising complex businesses on commercial, corporate and regulatory matters.

- You may have trained at a leading law firm, developed your career in house, or built your experience through a combination of both.

- Experienced negotiating sophisticated commercial and technology agreements where the legal position cannot be separated from the commercial or technical reality.

- Ideally experienced within defence, aerospace, deep technology, advanced engineering, government contracting or another highly regulated environment.

- Comfortable with, or capable of becoming genuinely expert in, areas such as export controls, sanctions, defence contracting, security requirements and national security regulation.

- Strong on intellectual property and comfortable working with engineers developing technology where ownership and protection really matter.

- Commercially minded enough to understand that the safest legal answer is not necessarily the right business answer.

- Able to distinguish between a material risk and a theoretical one.

- Comfortable making recommendations where the information is incomplete and the business cannot wait three weeks for the perfect answer.

- Able to sit with founders and senior leaders, understand the objective quickly and give a clear view, while collaborating effectively with the Group General Counsel and colleagues across the Group.

- Equally willing to personally negotiate a supplier agreement, review an NDA or solve a practical day to day problem when that is what the business needs.

- Curious enough to understand the technology behind the agreements you are advising on.

- Comfortable challenging senior people when necessary and equally comfortable changing your own position when the evidence changes.

- Someone who naturally takes ownership and does not need a perfectly defined remit before getting started.

- Highly organised and precise without becoming process driven.

- Motivated by the opportunity to help build sovereign European defence capability.

What we offer

- A mission driven environment with the opportunity to work on one of Europe’s most consequential defence challenges, with direct impact on sovereign capability and security.

- Daily collaboration with top experts across engineering, operations, and defence, with real opportunity to learn from the best, contribute, and grow.

- High ownership and autonomy; no time tracking, no micromanagement, just clear objectives and accountability for outcomes.

- A fast paced environment where good ideas are implemented quickly, and feedback from test and flight drives real decisions.

- A culture that values clarity, integrity, and excellence, and supports people who take initiative and push boundaries responsibly.

- Competitive compensation and real share options aligned to responsibility and impact, not tenure or hierarchy.

You might have come from

There is no single route to being the right General Counsel for Hypersonica UK .

You may currently be a General Counsel, Legal Director, Head of Legal or Senior Legal Counsel within defence, aerospace, technology or advanced manufacturing.

You may be a senior lawyer within private practice who has spent significant time advising high growth technology, government or defence clients and wants to move much closer to the decisions and outcomes.

You may already know defence contracting and export controls inside out.

Or you may have built your career around complex technology businesses and have the intellectual horsepower to learn the defence environment extremely quickly.

We care more about judgement, ownership and capability than fitting a conventional legal career template.

What we offer

- The opportunity to build the UK legal function of one of Europe’s most ambitious defence technology companies.

- Direct involvement in decisions that materially shape the company.

- Close access to founders and senior leadership rather than Legal operating several layers away from the business.

- High ownership and autonomy. No time tracking, no micromanagement, just clear objectives and accountability for outcomes.

- The chance to create the legal infrastructure you believe a fast moving technology company actually needs rather than inherit years of legacy process.

- Daily collaboration with exceptional people across Engineering, Programmes, Operations, Commercial and Defence.

- A fast paced environment where good ideas can become company practice quickly.

- Competitive compensation and meaningful share options aligned to responsibility and impact.

- The opportunity to help protect technology and capability with genuine strategic importance to Europe.

The person we are looking for

We are not looking for someone whose contribution ends with identifying the risk.

We need someone who asks:

What are we trying to achieve? What could genuinely hurt us? What do we need to protect? And how do we get this done properly?

Someone capable of advising the founders senior leadership on a strategically important agreement in the morning, sitting with engineers to understand an IP problem in the afternoon and negotiating the contract themselves that evening.

Someone who knows when Legal needs to hold the line and when the right answer is to find a smarter route forward.

Someone who can build a legal function that is rigorous without becoming bureaucratic, commercial without becoming careless and fast without losing judgement.

If that sounds like you, come and build it with us.

At Hypersonica, every hire raises the bar. We are deliberately small, intensely capable, and deeply mission-driven. If this role feels like a strong fit, or if you believe you bring something exceptional that goes beyond the description, we encourage you to apply.
Hypersonica is an equal-opportunity employer and assesses candidates solely on merit, capability, and potential.
You can apply directly to this role or reach out to Nathan Sweeney, Head of Talent. We review every application and aim to respond to all candidates within two weeks, whether the answer is yes or no.