Convergent Research General Counsel
Job Description
Convergent Research is a non-profit science studio best known for pioneering the Focused Research Organization (FRO). We architect pivotal infrastructure that removes bottlenecks to breakthrough scientific research.
FROs are a new operating model for science that ensures rapid iteration cycles and high-throughput learning. Convergent secures funding and provides an operational backbone for counterfactual R&D, creating space for scientists to do what they do best. FRO teams are agile, creative, and risk-tolerant as a result. They make fast progress because they start and stay focused.
About the Role
Convergent Research has grown significantly since its founding—from a scrappy early-stage org to a 200-person, $100M-spend nonprofit with 13 subsidiary FROs, entities in the UK, a growing IP portfolio, active licensing deals, and a portfolio of organizations approaching graduation into the world. We're not running on the same legal playbook we started with and we want to position ourselves and our legal department for the future.
We're looking for a General Counsel who is a strategic partner to Convergent's leadership—someone who sees around corners, builds systems that make the whole organization more capable, and knows how to be a smart, creative enabler rather than a gatekeeper. You'll own the legal function at the enterprise level, set the IP and risk strategy, manage a growing team, and be a first call—not a last resort—for complex decisions.
This role sits in the senior leadership team. You will manage a small but growing legal function that includes an FRO General Counsel and a part time contracts counsel handling day-to-day contract work across the portfolio. We have an idea of how the workload will be divided across these functions, but will be looking to you to help operationalize and refine the division of the duties and responsibilities of each role. You'll also own Convergent's relationships with a roster of specialized outside counsel.
Convergent Research is a non-profit science studio best known for pioneering the Focused Research Organization (FRO). We architect pivotal infrastructure that removes bottlenecks to breakthrough scientific research.
FROs are a new operating model for science that ensures rapid iteration cycles and high-throughput learning. Convergent secures funding and provides an operational backbone for counterfactual R&D, creating space for scientists to do what they do best. FRO teams are agile, creative, and risk-tolerant as a result. They make fast progress because they start and stay focused.
About the Role
Convergent Research has grown significantly since its founding—from a scrappy early-stage org to a 200-person, $100M-spend nonprofit with 13 subsidiary FROs, entities in the UK, a growing IP portfolio, active licensing deals, and a portfolio of organizations approaching graduation into the world. We're not running on the same legal playbook we started with and we want to position ourselves and our legal department for the future.
We're looking for a General Counsel who is a strategic partner to Convergent's leadership—someone who sees around corners, builds systems that make the whole organization more capable, and knows how to be a smart, creative enabler rather than a gatekeeper. You'll own the legal function at the enterprise level, set the IP and risk strategy, manage a growing team, and be a first call—not a last resort—for complex decisions.
This role sits in the senior leadership team. You will manage a small but growing legal function that includes an FRO General Counsel and a part time contracts counsel handling day-to-day contract work across the portfolio. We have an idea of how the workload will be divided across these functions, but will be looking to you to help operationalize and refine the division of the duties and responsibilities of each role. You'll also own Convergent's relationships with a roster of specialized outside counsel.