Head of Legal
About InPlanet
InPlanet is a mission-driven, remote-first ClimateTech startup headquartered between Germany and Brazil with hubs in Sao Paulo, Rio de Janeiro, New York and London. We’re scaling Enhanced Rock Weathering (ERW) in tropical agriculture as a powerful method to remove carbon, regenerate soils, and transform the way food is grown in the tropics.
Our vision is simple but bold: to sequester gigatons of CO2 while regenerating tropical soils in order to create a livable planet with nutritious food and healthy ecosystems for future generations. We’re doing this in partnership with farmers, scientists, and industry leaders - and we’re growing fast.
Our company culture blends people-first care and performance excellence. The Rocket represents our ambition and drive; the Heart symoolizes our focus on empathy, integrity, and collective impact.
We’re proud of our globally diverse team and inclusive culture. Our teams span across continents, but our boots are firmly on the ground in Brazil - where the real climate impact happens.
You can check out independent reviews by other candidates on Glassdoor to check how people find interviewing with us.
Check out our Culture page here
About The Role
We are looking for a Head of Legal to strengthen and lead the legal function at InPlanet, acting as a strategic partner to the business in a highly complex, science-, operations- and contract-based environment.
This role sits at the intersection of climate, mining, agriculture, and carbon markets, requiring someone who can connect legal, operational, and commercial perspectives across Brazil and international markets.
This role is well suited to someone who has experience leading legal functions within a fast-growing, ambitious startup, or who has worked closely with startup ventures as a trusted legal advisor. We are also open to candidates with strong standalone experience, as well as those coming from agency, law firm or financial markets environments. A structured business mindset and a holistic approach to the needs of a growing startup are essential, and these qualities will be assessed throughout the interview process.
The Impact you can make
- Enable the company to scale effectively through strong legal foundations
- Act as the legal backbone for strategic decisions, from operations to international expansion
- Structure and support complex, cross-border deals and partnerships
- Ensure robust governance, compliance, and risk management across all activities
- Bridge legal across Science, Operations, Supply, Business Development and People
- Strengthen investor confidence through clear and reliable legal frameworks
- Manage external network of trusted legal advisors
Core working relationships
Directly reporting to the CFO.
- Internal
Science & Operations Team, HR, Business Development, Leadership & Investors
- External
Legal boutiques (contracts & commercial), Tax advisors, Governance specialists, Regulatory bodies
Context of the role:
- You will join a lean and evolving legal function, with high ownership from day one
- Legal demand is rapidly growing alongside company scale
- Strong need to connect legal across international teams (Science, Carbon, BD)
- The role has potential to evolve into VP Legal, depending on scope and impact
Key Responsibilities
- Act as the central legal hub across all company functions, both locally (Brazil) and internationally
- Lead due diligence processes (legal and regulatory)
- Structure, negotiate, and manage complex contracts, including:
- Farmers, Mining partners, NDAs, Joint ventures, International commercial agreements, Corporate documentation (e.g. Investment agreements)
- Own cross-border legal strategy and execution
- Strengthen and improve corporate governance and entity structures (Brazil & international)
- Work closely with tax advisors
- Ensure compliance across multiple regulatory domains, including environmental, mining, agribusiness, and carbon markets
- Support the People Team with labour and service provision requirement
- Support investor relations from a legal standpoint
- Build scalable legal processes, templates, and infrastructure
You can be a Rock-Star if you have
Core Skills & Experience
- Law degree with active OAB registration (Brazil)
- 8–15+ years of experience, ideally with strong exposure to environmental, operations or infrastructure-related sectors
- Proven experience in:
- Commercial and business law, ideally from a startup angle
- Due diligence (legal & regulatory)
- Complex contract structuring and negotiation
- International contracts and cross-border operations
- Strong background in business-oriented legal roles (e.g., General Counsel, senior associate in relevant practice areas)
- Solid experience with:
- Corporate law and governance
- Investor relations and strategic partnerships
- Fluency in English, with experience working in international environments
Key Qualities
- Business-oriented mindset: understands legal as a driver of growth
- Highly relational: strong stakeholder management across cultures and functions
- Strategic thinker: connects science, operations, and business into legal frameworks
- Pragmatic and solution-driven: balances risk with execution speed
- High ownership: comfortable operating as a senior, autonomous leader in a lean structure
- Strong institutional presence: capable of representing the company externally
- Structured and integrative: able to navigate and connect multiple regulatory domains
- Neutral and sound judgment, especially in complex or sensitive matters
Bonus Points (but not essential)
- Experience in environmental, mining, agribusiness, or carbon markets
- Background in startups, scale-ups, or boutique law firms
- Exposure to governance and international structures
- Postgraduate degree (LL.M., ESG, Business Law, etc.)
- Business and legal experience in Germany
- Speaks German
- Based in a city with relatively easy access to Sao Paulo/SP
Living Our Values
At InPlanet, we have a big vision of solving climate change, and we are looking for individuals who are genuinely passionate about making a positive difference in the world of Carbon Removal Solutions. Trust guides our actions, drive fuels our efforts, and impact is our goal.
- Trust: You believe in being kind and transparent in the workplace, fostering an environment where trust thrives and collaboration flourishes
- Drive: You possess an innate drive to take action with a hands-on, can-do attitude, propelled by urgency
- Impact: You dream big and are committed to making a meaningful difference in the world, aligning with our overarching mission to address climate change
Benefits
- Compensation expectations and our compensation philosophy are openly discussed in the first interview with the goal of managing expectations fairly.
- Equity to feel like an owner
- Home Office Budget
- Fully Remote: Join us from anywhere within the CET (- 4/5-hour time zones).
- Personal development budget
- Language Programme Monthly Allowance
- 40+ days annual leave
- The opportunity to be autonomous, make a huge difference and belong to a vision.
- Occasional off-sites in Brazil yay!
- Laptop to fuel your productivity
InPlanet Compensation Philosophy
At InPlanet, our philosophy revolves around ensuring fair and unbiased compensation and equitable equity pay, coupled with competitive benefits, across all regions where we operate.
The reason behind our salary range being wide or undefined at the first stages of the interview is because of our international presence and globally distributed workforce, we utilize geo ranges to account for varying pay differentials, forming a crucial part of our global compensation strategy to remain competitive across diverse markets as we expand our reach.
These ranges are determined by role, level, and location, recognizing the nuanced demands of each market. The actual base pay for the selected candidate is influenced by factors such as location, skills, experience, training, business requirements, and market dynamics, with the range subject to potential adjustments in alignment with our commitment to fairness and transparency
Application Process
Roughly 8 hours across 6-8 weeks from CV-screening.
- Interview with Talent & People Partner or Head of People (values & motivation)
- Interview with the Hiring Manager (required core skills and competencies)
(optional third interview)
- Challenge with 3+ team members (specific task, preparation needed)
- Verbal reference check & psychometric profiling
- Offer
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How To Apply
- We kindly ask you to submit your CV in English, as this is the main language we use here at InPlanet (unless it is justified to be in Portuguese).
This job description is intended to provide a clear summary of the responsibilities, scope, and expectations associated with this opportunity. It may apply to a range of working relationships, including full-time or part-time employment as well as independent contractor or service-based arrangements, depending on the candidate's location and compliance framework. Each engagement is carefully assessed on a case-by-case basis to ensure alignment with applicable laws and InPlanet’s global operating standards.
Being an equal opportunities work provider is very important to us, and we are committed to ensuring that no applicant receives less favourable treatment on the grounds of gender, age, disability, religion, belief, sexual orientation, marital status, or race, or is disadvantaged by conditions which cannot be shown to be justifiable. We design our processes to be fair and equitable, and we believe in continuous learning.