The Head of Legal will develop and oversee Until's legal and IP strategies while working with the executive team to mitigate legal risks across various functions and partnerships.
About Until
Until is a moonshot company building a “pause button” for biology. Our near-term focus is organ-scale reversible cryopreservation: preserving donated organs at subzero temperatures without ice formation, then rewarming them uniformly for transplant. By solving this challenge, we are laying the foundation for whole-body reversible cryopreservation, giving patients a bridge to future cures.
To achieve our goal, we are assembling an interdisciplinary team to develop perfusion systems, cryoprotectant formulations, and vitrification and rewarming hardware.
We envision a future where no transplantable organ is lost to logistics, and no terminal diagnosis is final because patients can safely wait for future medicine to arrive.
Role Overview
This is a senior leadership role responsible for shaping Until’s legal, IP, and risk posture as the company moves toward the clinic. The Head of Legal will act as a strategic partner to the executive team, influencing core technical, commercial, and regulatory decisions.
Key Responsibilities
- Own Until’s IP strategy across hardware, software, chemistry, and biology.
- Coordinate proactive FTO/Patentability searches with external IP counsel and translate results into clear strategic guidance for leadership.
- Manage outside patent counsel across prosecution, continuation strategy, and portfolio development.
- Partner closely with R&D and engineering to ensure technical iterations are reflected in IP filings and risk assessments.
- Maintain visibility into the competitive IP landscape, including competitor monitoring and potential licensing targets.
- Oversee protection of trade secrets, confidential know-how, and proprietary data across internal teams and external collaborators.
- Serve as the company’s internal legal lead, responsible for identifying, prioritizing, and mitigating legal risk across the organization.
- Own the interface with external corporate counsel on governance, financings, and corporate matters.
- Advise the executive team on legal considerations across product development, regulatory strategy, and commercialization.
- Partner with Regulatory and Clinical teams on legal risk and positioning related to FDA interactions, clinical studies, and labeling.
- Build and maintain lightweight, scalable legal processes appropriate for a fast-growing biotech company.
- Lead or support negotiation of licenses, sponsored research agreements, collaborations, and other types of strategic partnerships.
- Draft, review, and negotiate complex commercial agreements with a strong understanding of technical and IP implications.
- Ensure consistency, risk discipline, and speed across contracts as the company scales.
- Work closely with Strategy, Regulatory, and R&D to ensure legal posture is aligned with the company’s clinical and regulatory roadmap.
- Support diligence for partnerships, financings, and strategic transactions.
- Provide pragmatic, technically grounded legal advice to non-legal stakeholders.
- Support board-level legal matters and investor diligence, including preparation of legal risk summaries and IP positioning.
- Define the long-term legal function, including decisions around in-house versus external support and future hires.
Required Qualifications
- JD with 7+ years of relevant legal experience (law firm, in-house, or hybrid).
- Experience shaping IP strategy in novel or first-in-class technologies.
- Experience with continuation strategy, claim scope negotiation, and portfolio construction.
- Strong technical background with comfort engaging engineers, scientists, and inventors on complex technical systems.
- Experience negotiating and executing complex commercial, licensing, or sponsored research agreements.
- Ability to operate independently as the senior legal owner in a fast-moving startup environment.
- Demonstrated ability to translate ambiguous legal risk into clear strategic options for leadership.
- Comfort making high-stakes decisions with incomplete information.
Strong Preferred
- Experience in biotech, medtech, deep tech, or another highly regulated technical domain.
- Prior in-house experience at a growth-stage company (e.g. as a first or second legal hire at a startup)
- Comfort working across hardware, software, and biological IP.
- Familiarity with legal considerations around clinical studies, investigational use, or regulated product development.
Similar Jobs
Artificial Intelligence • Fintech • Machine Learning • Software • App development • Conversational AI • Generative AI
The Head of Legal will manage legal strategy, compliance, risk, and intellectual property, ensuring adherence to laws across jurisdictions while handling litigation and financial reporting responsibilities.
Top Skills:
Data Analytics ToolsEnterprise Resource Planning SystemsFinancial Software
Artificial Intelligence • Productivity • Software • Automation
Support procure-to-pay operations and vendor lifecycle management, perform OFAC and TIN matching, review and code invoices, manage virtual card transactions and vendor data, maintain process documentation, handle Zendesk ticketing and remote mail, and assist with month-end reconciliations and P2P projects.
Top Skills:
Ofac ScreeningSlackTin MatchingVirtual Card SystemsZendeskZip (Erp)
.png)
Artificial Intelligence • Blockchain • Fintech • Financial Services • Cryptocurrency • NFT • Web3
Own preparation, review, and submission of recurring Canadian regulatory filings; maintain parallel IFRS books, reconciliations, and capital adequacy reporting; drive monthly management and board-level financial analysis; partner with Tax, Treasury, Legal and vendors; build scalable reporting processes, automation, and internal controls; serve as Finance's primary contact for regulators and examinations.
Top Skills:
Generative AiIfrs
What you need to know about the Boston Tech Scene
Boston is a powerhouse for technology innovation thanks to world-class research universities like MIT and Harvard and a robust pipeline of venture capital investment. Host to the first telephone call and one of the first general-purpose computers ever put into use, Boston is now a hub for biotechnology, robotics and artificial intelligence — though it’s also home to several B2B software giants. So it’s no surprise that the city consistently ranks among the greatest startup ecosystems in the world.
Key Facts About Boston Tech
- Number of Tech Workers: 269,000; 9.4% of overall workforce (2024 CompTIA survey)
- Major Tech Employers: Thermo Fisher Scientific, Toast, Klaviyo, HubSpot, DraftKings
- Key Industries: Artificial intelligence, biotechnology, robotics, software, aerospace
- Funding Landscape: $15.7 billion in venture capital funding in 2024 (Pitchbook)
- Notable Investors: Summit Partners, Volition Capital, Bain Capital Ventures, MassVentures, Highland Capital Partners
- Research Centers and Universities: MIT, Harvard University, Boston College, Tufts University, Boston University, Northeastern University, Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory, National Bureau of Economic Research, Broad Institute, Lowell Center for Space Science & Technology, National Emerging Infectious Diseases Laboratories
