Head (Director) of Legal

Orca Bio

Orca Bio

Legal
Menlo Park, CA, USA
Posted on Wednesday, November 22, 2023
Over one million people in the world today are fighting blood cancer. While a traditional allogeneic stem cell transplant has been the best hope for many patients, the transplant itself can prove fatal or lead to serious conditions, such as graft versus host disease.
Orca Bio's investigational, high-precision cell therapies are designed to replace a patient's compromised blood and immune system with a healthy one, while dramatically lowering the risk of developing life-threatening or debilitating transplant-related side-effects. The first application of Orca Bio’s platform is in blood cancer where the unmet need is most acute; with a robust pipeline of promising cell therapies, we plan to extend into autoimmune diseases and genetic blood disorders as well.
Summary
As the company’s first legal hire, the Head of Legal will play a key role in supporting Orca Bio’s growth and development. The ideal candidate will have 7-10 years of corporate and/or transactional law experience in the life sciences industry, and will have served as both in-house counsel at a company and as outside counsel at a top-tier law firm. The Head of Legal will report to the CEO and be responsible for providing legal counsel and support to Orca Bio on a wide range of matters, including corporate governance, strategic and financing transactions, contract operations and review, clinical trials, employment, regulatory compliance, and commercial preparedness.
If you are a highly motivated corporate attorney who is interested in a challenging and rewarding opportunity, we encourage you to apply for this position.

Responsibilities

  • Advise the Company on strategic and financing transactions, including managing due diligence, drafting and negotiation of transaction documents, and closing
  • Draft, review, and negotiate general and sophisticated corporate and commercial agreements, including licenses, manufacturing, confidentiality, material transfer, consulting, employment, vendor, services, purchasing, outsourcing, software, research, licensing, clinical trial, and data-related agreements
  • Advise the Company on regulatory compliance matters, including FDA regulations, HIPAA regulations, and export controls
  • Represent the Company in regulatory proceedings and litigation
  • Provide general advice and guidance on legal best practices as we approach product approval / launch
  • Efficiently source, manage, and direct outside counsel

Required qualifications

  • JD degree from an accredited law school
  • 7-10+ years of experience in corporate law
  • Current admission to any state bar in good standing (California preferred)

Preferred qualifications

  • Experience working in-house at a biotechnology company (small or medium sized company highly preferred)
  • Experience with FDA regulations
  • Experience at a company progressing from clinical stage through commercialization
  • Experience with strategic and financing transactions, including IPO, equity, and/or M&A
The anticipated annual salary range for this U.S. based job is $150,000– $250,000. The final offer will be based on professional experience previously in this role/industry, education, geographic location, internal equity, and other job-related factors as permitted by law. For remote-based candidates, this range may vary based on your local market. Actual compensation may vary. You will also be eligible to receive pre-IPO equity, in addition to medical, dental, vision, PTO, 401(k) plan, life and accidental death and disability coverage, and parental leave benefits. Total compensation will be determined at the Company's sole discretion.
Who we are
We are driven by a passion for science and compassion for patients. We act with urgency to ensure our treatments are one day accessible to all patients who need them.
We strive to do things right, and to embody our core values of passion, courage, and integrity. Excellence in our work means the potential to unlock a better quality of life for our patients, and with that comes tremendous responsibility.
We innovate daily on a path that hasn’t been paved. This means we lean heavily on our entrepreneurial spirit and are comfortable taking calculated risks to achieve progress toward our mission. It means we aren’t afraid to ask “why not,” and encourage lively discourse around rethinking the status quo.
We work hard to preserve our start-up culture rooted in camaraderie and leadership by example - by everyone, regardless of title.
We’re proud to be an equal opportunity employer, and have seen how our differences - when celebrated and woven together - create stronger and more lasting solutions that better serve our team, our partners, and most importantly, our patients and the providers who treat them.
Notice to staffing firms
Orca Bio does not accept resumes from staffing agencies with which we do not have a written agreement and specific engagement for a particular opening. Our employment activities, inquiries and offers are managed through our HR/Talent department, and all candidates are presented through this channel only. We do not accept unsolicited resumes.