We are looking for a Senior Counsel to join Quantinuum’s legal team on a permanent basis. Our company is in a period of significant growth. This is an excellent opportunity for an experienced Senior Corporate Counsel to play a vital role in managing legal affairs and legal activities for the company.
Reporting to the Assistant General Counsel, the Senior Counsel is an important role in the business that will be based in London. You will be working closely with the legal team, to manage corporate contracts and transactional activities. Among key areas, the role will focus on drafting and negotiating commercial contracts, technology licensing agreements, SaaS agreements, scientific research and collaboration agreements, trademark branding and marketing agreements, employment contracts, as well as providing support on various compliance functions, including in relation to technology control, import and export laws, data protection and regulations. In addition, you will develop and codify policies and standard operating procedures, and support in their rollout and related training.
We have many leading scientists working for us developing products which will have a significant impact on everyday life in the future. Your legal expertise will enable our teams and the company to be successful.
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Key Responsibilities:
- Draft, review, and negotiate a broad range of commercial agreements, including technology licensing, SaaS, scientific research and collaboration agreements, branding and marketing contracts, employment agreements, and other corporate transactions.
- Provide pragmatic, business-focused legal advice to internal stakeholders across commercial, technical, scientific, and operational teams, enabling the company’s growth and innovation strategy.
- Partner closely with the VP, Deputy Chief Legal Officer and wider legal team to manage corporate legal activities and transactional workflows across multiple jurisdictions.
- Support compliance programmes relating to technology controls, import/export regulations, data protection, and other applicable regulatory frameworks, ensuring legal and operational risks are effectively managed.
- Develop, implement, and maintain legal policies, templates, and standard operating procedures to improve consistency, efficiency, and risk management across the business.
- Deliver legal training and guidance to internal teams to support awareness of contractual obligations, compliance requirements, and best practices.
- Collaborate cross-functionally with business leaders, scientists, product teams, HR, and commercial functions to provide timely and strategic legal input on new initiatives and partnerships.
- Identify opportunities to streamline legal processes, improve contract lifecycle management, and support scalable legal operations during a period of significant company growth.
- Support brand protection activities, including trademark-related matters and marketing/legal reviews.
- Assist with corporate governance, risk mitigation, and broader legal projects as required.
You must have:
- Minimum 8-10 years of post-qualification legal experience
- US or UK Law Degree
- Admitted and registered as a solicitor in the UK or to practice in the US
Desirable:
- Excellent research, writing and drafting skills
- Exceptional communication skills (oral and written)
- Strong organizational skills
- Incisive analytical thinker and a self-starter
- Energetic and dynamic
- Ability to work autonomously and as part of a team
- Ability to work under tight timeframes
- Company secretarial experience
- Experience of working in scientific, software engineering or computer science industries
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What is in it for you?
Working alongside a highly talented team, with leading names in the quantum computing industry. We offer a highly competitive package, equity, 28 days of paid holiday (in addition to public holidays), a workplace pension, a positive approach to flexible working and enhanced parental and adoption benefits.
About Us:
Quantinuum is the world leader in quantum computing. The company’s quantum systems deliver the highest performance across all industry benchmarks. Quantinuum’s over 650 employees, including 400+ scientists and engineers, across the US, UK, Germany, and Japan, are driving the quantum computing revolution.
By uniting best-in-class software with high-fidelity hardware, our integrated full-stack approach is accelerating the path to practical quantum computing and scaling its impact across multiple industries.
By joining Quantinuum, you’ll be at the forefront of this transformative revolution, shaping the future of quantum computing, pushing the limits of technology, and making the impossible possible.
Visit our news pages to learn more about Quantinuum and our scientific breakthroughs and achievements: https://www.quantinuum.com/news
Quantinuum Intro Video: The Future of Quantum Computing
Please note that employment with us is subject to successfully passing our pre-employment screening checks. We are an inclusive equal opportunity employer. You will be considered without regard to age, race, creed, color, national origin, ancestry, marital status, affectional or sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, disability, nationality, sex, or veteran status.
TECHNICAL & MARKET ANALYSIS | Appended by Quantum.Jobs
The transition of the global quantum industry from experimental physics to commercial infrastructure deployment has created a structural necessity for specialized legal counsel capable of navigating unprecedented intellectual property and regulatory landscapes. Within the quantum value chain, this role serves as the essential governance layer that translates complex scientific breakthroughs into enforceable commercial frameworks, thereby securing the underlying value of deep-tech assets. Market signals indicate that as quantum processing units move toward cloud-based availability, the complexity of multi-jurisdictional technology licensing and data sovereignty increases, making high-level legal oversight a critical determinant of successful scaling. Furthermore, the emergence of stringent export controls on dual-use quantum technologies requires a robust compliance architecture to maintain global market access while mitigating significant geopolitical risks. This role effectively bridges the gap between raw innovation and institutional readiness, ensuring that the legal foundations of the ecosystem are as resilient as the hardware they protect.
The quantum technology sector currently operates at a critical juncture where the focus is shifting from fundamental research to the creation of standardized, "quantum-ready" commercial ecosystems. This evolution is characterized by a move toward hybrid classical-quantum workflows and the integration of specialized hardware into existing high-performance computing (HPC) environments. Within this value chain, the legal function acts as a primary enabler of adoption by resolving the inherent friction between open scientific collaboration and the necessity of proprietary commercial protection. As the market moves toward a projected multibillion-dollar valuation by 2030, the legal frameworks governing these interactions must be both flexible enough to accommodate rapid technological shifts and rigid enough to withstand rigorous due diligence during capital injections or mergers.
Macro constraints such as the scarcity of talent with combined expertise in tech-law and quantum mechanics, alongside the fragmentation of international regulatory standards, create significant bottlenecks for firms seeking rapid expansion. Ongoing ecosystem initiatives aim to accelerate readiness for practical quantum applications by standardizing how intellectual property is shared across public-private partnerships. This is particularly relevant as the industry faces a transition from physical to logical qubits, a phase that requires massive capital expenditure and complex scientific research agreements. Without sophisticated legal orchestration, the risk of litigation or regulatory blockage could severely impede the TRL progression of key technologies.
Moreover, the reliance on public funding cycles and national quantum strategies introduces a layer of institutional dependency that requires careful management of reporting and compliance obligations. As global powers prioritize quantum sovereignty, the legal architecture within organizations like Quantinuum must evolve to manage the interplay between international growth and national security requirements. This structural oversight ensures that the global quantum value chain remains interoperable and efficient despite increasing macro-level pressures and vendor fragmentation.
The capability architecture for this role centers on the intersection of advanced technology licensing, international trade compliance, and multi-jurisdictional corporate governance. Mastery of these domains is essential for establishing the structural throughput required for high-volume commercial transactions in the deep-tech sector. Expertise in structuring scientific research and collaboration agreements provides the necessary leverage to facilitate knowledge transfer while maintaining strict control over core IP assets. This is critical for ensuring that hardware and software developments can be seamlessly integrated without creating downstream interoperability barriers or ownership disputes.
Furthermore, a sophisticated understanding of technology control regimes, particularly regarding the import and export of sensitive components, acts as a primary mechanism for maintaining global supply chain stability. These capabilities enable the transition from isolated laboratory prototypes to modular, reproducible quantum processing units that can be deployed across diverse regulatory environments. By codifying standardized operating procedures and legal policies, this role creates a scalable framework that supports the cross-functional coupling of technical and commercial operations. This technical-legal interface is a prerequisite for the maturation of the quantum market, providing the stability and clarity needed for long-term investment and system-level performance optimization.
Standardizes the architectural frameworks for multi-jurisdictional technology licensing in the quantum sector
Mitigates systemic risks associated with the cross-border transfer of dual-use quantum hardware and software
Facilitates the accelerated commercialization of deep-tech assets through robust intellectual property protection
Harmonizes internal governance protocols with emerging international regulatory standards for quantum computing
Reduces transaction friction in high-value scientific research and development collaborations
Strengthens the reliability of the global quantum supply chain through proactive trade compliance oversight
Enhances the market readiness of hybrid classical-quantum cloud platforms via standardized SaaS agreements
Shortens the cycle from laboratory breakthrough to commercial deployment by streamlining legal due diligence
Supports the deterministic scaling of corporate operations during periods of rapid ecosystem expansion
Improves the interoperability of quantum technologies through the development of industry-standard contract templates
Safeguards the integrity of corporate brand assets within a highly competitive global technology landscape
Optimizes the alignment of internal operational policies with long-term national and international quantum strategies
Industry Tags: Quantum Computing Legal, Technology Licensing, Intellectual Property Law, Trade Compliance, Deep Tech Governance, SaaS Agreements, Data Protection, Corporate Law, Quantum Ecosystem Analysis, Regulatory Risk Management
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