Group General Counsel

**THE ROLE** Disrupt Group is seeking an experienced and commercially grounded General Counsel to lead its legal function. The scope is broad: corporate transactions, fund structuring, commercial contracts, regulatory compliance, employment law, proactive risk management, and fundraising support across the Group and its portfolio. This is not a role for a narrowly specialized practitioner or someone who defaults to external counsel as a first response. The expectation is hands\-on legal leadership across all workstreams, with external counsel engaged selectively and managed deliberately. The General Counsel will not be working alone. The Group maintains a dedicated team of legal counsels in Pakistan who operate as an integrated part of the legal function, providing research, drafting, transactional support, and day\-to\-day coverage across entities. Candidates should come prepared to lead a team, not to be a team of one. Ownership is the baseline. The General Counsel is expected to take initiative without waiting to be directed, give a clear point of view rather than a neutral presentation of options, and exercise the judgment to know when something requires extended analysis and when it can be resolved quickly. Directness is respected here. Advice that avoids a position because it avoids scrutiny is not advice. The Group moves at pace and the legal function must move with it. **KEY RESPONSIBILITIES** ***Corporate and Transactional*** * Lead all M\&A, investment, and corporate restructuring transactions across the Group, including shareholder agreements, subscription agreements, warrant instruments, convertible instruments, and associated governance documentation. * Manage the Group's corporate structure across ADGM, DIFC, UAE mainland, BVI, and Pakistan, including entity maintenance, board governance, and intercompany arrangements. * Oversee DIFC fund structures, including carried interest vehicles, SPV governance, and compliance with DFSA requirements. * Advise on cross\-border transactions, identifying and managing legal risk at the Group level. ***Fundraising and Capital Markets*** * Lead and support fundraising transactions at both the Group level and across portfolio business units, including term sheet negotiation, investor due diligence management, and the drafting and review of all investment documentation. * Work closely with Group leadership and portfolio companies to structure capital raises, manage investor legal relationships, and ensure deal timelines are met without compromising legal integrity. * Advise on cap table management, dilution mechanics, anti\-dilution provisions, and related investor rights across the portfolio. * Support the Group in building and maintaining relationships with legal advisers, investors, and counterparties relevant to future capital activity. ***Proactive Risk Identification and Mitigation*** * Own the Group's legal risk register, ensuring that risks across the portfolio are identified, categorized, actively monitored, and escalated appropriately rather than managed reactively. * Conduct regular legal health assessments across portfolio entities, surfacing structural, contractual, regulatory, and governance risks before they crystallize. * Advise leadership proactively on emerging regulatory, jurisdictional, or transactional risks, with a clear point of view and a recommended course of action. * Establish early\-warning frameworks for key risk categories including counterparty exposure, regulatory change, employment disputes, and IP integrity. ***Commercial and Operational*** * Draft, review, and negotiate complex commercial agreements including technology licensing, SaaS, partnership, vendor, and service agreements. * Establish and maintain the Group's contract management framework, including template libraries, approval workflows, and counterparty risk assessment. * Support the shared services function with intercompany agreements, transfer pricing frameworks, and intra\-group billing arrangements. ***Regulatory and Compliance*** * Maintain awareness of regulatory developments across ADGM, DIFC, UAE mainland, and Pakistani jurisdictions relevant to the Group's operations and portfolio. * Manage compliance obligations across free zone and onshore entities, including AML/KYC frameworks where applicable. * Advise on data protection, technology regulation, and Web3 and crypto\-specific regulatory exposure across portfolio companies. ***Employment and People*** * Provide legal support on employment matters across UAE and Pakistan, including employment contracts, termination processes, DIFC and mainland employment law compliance, and senior executive arrangements. * Work alongside HR and finance leadership on compensation structures, LTIP documentation, and related governance matters. ***Team Leadership*** * Lead the Group's legal function across UAE and Pakistan, setting clear standards, managing workload allocation, and building capability across both teams. * Drive legal process standardization, matter management, and external counsel governance across the Group. * Build scalable legal infrastructure suited to the pace and complexity of a growing venture and investment group. **CANDIDATE PROFILE** The ideal candidate is a qualified lawyer with at least fifteen years of post\-qualification experience, with a demonstrable track record in UAE law and practice. Experience within a UAE free zone environment, specifically ADGM or DIFC, is essential. A background that combines private practice at a recognized commercial firm with meaningful in\-house experience at a holding company, investment group, or technology business is strongly preferred. The role requires genuine breadth. The General Counsel must be effective across transactional, commercial, regulatory, and employment matters and must be able to operate with confidence across all of them without treating any as peripheral. Candidates who are narrowly specialized in a single practice area will not be well suited to this environment. Beyond technical competence, the Group is looking for someone who is direct, exercises sound judgment under ambiguity, and can advise senior stakeholders without unnecessary hedging. A working style that prioritizes outcomes over process and quality of output over volume of activity will fit naturally into the culture. **QUALIFICATIONS** * LLB or equivalent law degree; called to the bar or admitted to practice in a recognized common law jurisdiction. * UAE\-qualified or with a well\-established UAE practice profile. Familiarity with ADGM and DIFC legal and regulatory frameworks is essential. * Experience with large and complex corporate structures is an advantage. * Fluency in English, written and spoken, is required. Arabic is an advantage but not a prerequisite. * Experience with Web3, fintech, cybersecurity, or technology\-sector legal matters is preferred. * Comfortable and experienced in the practical use of AI tools as part of legal workflow, including research, drafting, contract review, and risk analysis. The Group is an active builder and investor in AI technologies and expects its leadership to engage with these tools as a natural part of how they work, not as an afterthought. * Prior leadership of an in\-house legal team is preferred.