Head of Legal

About the Role: 

Terradot is seeking a strategic and business-savvy Head of Legal to establish and lead our legal function. This role is critical in navigating the complex legal landscape of highly regulated industries such as mining and agriculture, while also ensuring we build a solid legal framework for the emerging CDR industry. The Head of Legal will be responsible for risk assessment, contract negotiation, regulatory compliance, and corporate governance, enabling the company to scale efficiently while mitigating risks.

Location: São Paulo, Brazil (preferred) or San Francisco, US  

Languages: English (fluent), Portuguese (fluent)

Legal: OAB required, US-qualified a plus  

Role Responsibilities:  

• Legal Risk & Compliance: Identify and assess legal risks, develop mitigation strategies, and create risk frameworks to empower employees in escalating risks.  

• Contract Management: Oversee and negotiate contracts with farmers, suppliers, CDR buyers, and financing partners, ensuring the most favorable terms for Terradot. 

• Internal Legal Operations: Develop legal playbooks, templates, and negotiation frameworks to streamline company-wide legal processes.  

• Corporate Governance: Manage board meetings, regulatory filings, and governance compliance across jurisdictions (Brazil, US, and beyond).  

• Regulatory Strategy: Stay ahead of carbon trading regulations, cross-border transaction rules, and industry-specific legal developments.  

• Data Protection & IP Strategy: Establish policies and best practices for data security and intellectual property protection, and effectively product counsel product and engineering teams.  

Background and Requirements:  

• Minimum 10 years work experience with +5 years of commercial law experience at a top-tier law firm or in-house legal team, ideally in high-stakes industries.  

• Proven experience in negotiation, contract drafting, and risk assessment across multiple stakeholders.  

• Ability to create and implement legal processes that are scalable and practical for business teams.  

• Ownership mindset with a proactive and problem-solving approach.  

• Experience in vendor contracting, financing structures (debt/equity), and forward purchase agreements/offtakes.  

• In-house experience, preferably in a start-up or highly regulated industry such as fintech, banking, mining, or renewables.  

Personal Attributes: 

• Strong business acumen with the ability to balance risk and opportunity.  

• Strategic thinker who can simplify complex legal concepts for business teams.  

• Entrepreneurial and scrappy problem solver, comfortable working in fast-paced and ambiguous environments.  

• Excellent communication and stakeholder management skills across multiple cultures and jurisdictions.  

• Driven by innovation and efficiency, aiming to keep the legal team lean while maximizing impact.  

This is a unique opportunity to build and shape the legal function in a fast-growing, high-impact company. If you are a legal leader with a passion for navigating complex regulatory environments and enabling business growth, we’d love to hear from you!

About Terradot: 

Our mission is to stabilize Earth’s climate by transforming nature’s most powerful permanent carbon removal process into a global climate solution. By advancing science, building technology, and assembling a global coalition, we are catalyzing a global initiative to scale Enhanced Rock Weathering within the next decade, starting in Brazil. 

Founded out of the Stanford University ecosystem, Terradot is led by the world’s leading experts to advance the science and technology of ERW. Our unique structure bridges industry, academia, and government and allows our team to contribute with speed & scale. We have raised $58.2M in total funding from John Doerr, Sheryl Sandberg & Tom Bernthal, George Roberts, Microsoft’s Climate Innovation Fund, Google, Cisco and Venture Funds, Floodgate, Kleiner Perkins, Acre Venture Partners, Gigascale Capital, Valor Capital, Ponderosa Ventures and others. We have sold ~300,000 tons in offtakes from leading CDR buyers like Frontier and Google.

All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, national origin, disability, protected veteran status, or any other characteristic protected by law. Research suggests that qualified people from historically marginalized groups may self-select out of opportunities if they don't meet 100% of the job requirements. We encourage individuals who believe they have the skills necessary to thrive to apply for this role.