What are the responsibilities and job description for the Legal Counsel - Commercial & Regulatory Affairs position at Emesent?
Emesent is an Australian deep technology company specialising in autonomous drone mapping and LiDAR-based spatial intelligence. The company’s flagship product, Hovermap, enables autonomous data capture in GPS-denied and hazardous environments across mining, construction, defence, and government sectors globally.
Why this role?
This role is the company’s first dedicated in-house legal and compliance hire, reporting directly to the CFO. The Legal Counsel will establish and own the legal and regulatory affairs function across the business, providing commercial legal support, building the product compliance and certification framework, managing employment law matters across both jurisdictions, and coordinating the company’s panel of external specialist law firms.
The role exists because Emesent’s growth trajectory — expansion into regulated markets (EU, US defence), increasing customer compliance requirements, the launch of cloud-based products, and the dual-entity structure — requires a dedicated internal legal and regulatory capability that has not previously existed in the organisation. The successful candidate will be building a function, not stepping into an established one.
Key Accountabilities
Commercial Contracts
- Draft, review, and negotiate the full suite of commercial agreements including customer contracts, reseller and channel partner agreements, white-label and OEM arrangements, procurement contracts, and NDAs.
- Provide legal input on commercial terms for defence and government contracts, including FAR/DFARS flowdown provisions, CMMC requirements, and sector-specific compliance obligations embedded in contract terms.
- Support the commercial team on deal structuring, particularly for Hardware-as-a-Service, subscription licensing, and hybrid revenue models.
- Manage the contract lifecycle including template maintenance, delegation of authority framework, and contract risk assessment.
- Establish and own the company’s compliance register and product certification roadmap, aligned to the product development lifecycle and market-entry strategy.
- Manage market-access certifications across all operating jurisdictions (CE marking, FCC, ACMA, MIC, and equivalent frameworks) in coordination with external certification bodies and testing laboratories.
- Lead the trade and export compliance program, including ITAR/EAR obligations for the US entity, conflict minerals due diligence (Dodd-Frank Section 1502, EU Regulation 2017/821), and sanctions screening.
- Own the regulatory risk assessment for new market entries, new product launches, and new customer channels, ensuring compliance is integrated into commercial decision-making rather than addressed reactively.
- Manage customer-driven compliance requirements, including responding to compliance questionnaires, due diligence requests, and partner onboarding requirements.
- Lead the data privacy and cyber security compliance framework for cloud products, including GDPR, Australian Privacy Act, and security certification requirements (SOC 2, ISO 27001) for enterprise and government customers.
- Develop and implement a compliance governance framework with standing reporting to the CFO and Board/Audit & Risk Committee on compliance posture
- Provide first-response legal advice on employment law matters across Australian and US jurisdictions, including employment contracts, terminations, workplace investigations, non-compete and restraint of trade provisions, and workplace policies.
- Support HR on policy development and review, ensuring alignment with applicable employment legislation in both jurisdictions.
- Manage employment-related disputes and coordinate with external employment law specialists for complex or contentious matters.
- Monitor legislative developments in employment law across both jurisdictions and advise leadership on compliance implications
- Manage the company’s intellectual property portfolio including patents, trademarks, trade secrets, and copyright.
- Instruct and manage external patent and IP counsel on prosecution, maintenance, and enforcement.
- Ensure IP protections are appropriately embedded in all commercial agreements, partnership structures, and employee/contractor arrangements.
- Advise on IP risk in white-label, OEM, and technology licensing arrangements.
- Manage the company’s panel of external law firms across jurisdictions and specialties (AU, US, EU), including engagement, briefing, budget management, and performance evaluation.
- Act as the internal coordination point for all external legal engagements, ensuring efficient briefing and cost-effective use of external resources.
- Coordinate with external counsel on substantive corporate governance, M&A, capital raising, and other specialist matters that sit outside the primary scope of this role.
- Provide light-touch internal coordination on corporate governance matters, including board meeting support and statutory obligations across both entities.
- Substantive corporate governance, company secretarial, M&A, and capital raising work will be managed through external counsel, with this role acting as the internal liaison and project manager for those engagements.
Experience & Qualifications
- Australian legal practitioner with a current practising certificate.
- 8–12 years post-qualification experience with substantial in-house experience in a regulated product environment (hardware manufacturing, med-tech, defence electronics, industrial equipment, or comparable sector).
- Demonstrated experience across commercial contract drafting and negotiation, product regulatory affairs and certification frameworks, and IP portfolio management.
- Working knowledge of export control frameworks (ITAR/EAR) or demonstrable capacity to develop this expertise rapidly with external counsel support.
- Experience managing a panel of external law firms across multiple jurisdictions and specialties.
- Familiarity with employment law fundamentals across at least one of the Australian or US jurisdictions, with willingness to develop capability in the other.
- Pragmatic, commercially-oriented legal practitioner with a risk-based decision-making approach — comfortable making recommendations that balance legal risk against commercial objectives.
- Experience in the defence and government contracting sector, including familiarity with FAR/DFARS, CMMC, or equivalent frameworks.
- Exposure to data privacy and cyber security compliance frameworks (GDPR, Australian Privacy Act, SOC 2, ISO 27001).
- Experience with market-access certification regimes (CE marking, FCC, ACMA, or equivalent).
- Previous experience building a legal or compliance function from the ground up in a scaling technology company.
- Understanding of SaaS/cloud product compliance requirements.
- Experience with dual-entity or multi-jurisdictional corporate structures.
- 9-day fortnight, every second Friday off
- Employee Share Option Plan (ESOP) share in Emesent’s success
- Work alongside a friendly and passionate team building cutting-edge technology
- Genuine learning and development opportunities, including access to LinkedIn Learning
- Flexible working arrangements and a casual dress code
- Employee Assistance Program and Qoctor online telehealth
- One full day of leave each year for your work anniversary
Why Emesent?
At Emesent, you’ll work on technology that is genuinely shaping the future of how industries capture and understand the physical world. We offer a dynamic, collaborative environment, competitive compensation, and real opportunities for professional growth. Join us in pushing the boundaries of robotics and spatial intelligence.