Principal Counsel (Africa Legal)

Role Overview

Join Zipline as Principal Counsel (Africa Legal). This senior, hands-on legal leadership role is responsible for leading and scaling legal and compliance operations across multiple African countries, with the autonomy to shape the function while being supported by a global legal team.

Key Missions

• Lead and scale Zipline’s legal and compliance operations across multiple countries in Africa, ensuring adherence to complex regulatory requirements.
• Design, implement, and continuously improve legal and compliance programs that enable sustainable operations and support rapid growth.
• Serve as a senior legal advisor to business leaders, providing pragmatic, risk-calibrated guidance across a broad range of legal and compliance matters.

Responsibilities (Working Style)

• Collaborate closely with teams including operations, policy, government affairs, People, finance, and engineering.
• Break down complex legal/regulatory problems into clear priorities and practical solutions.
• Make independent decisions, while escalating when appropriate in a fast-changing, ambiguous environment.

Profile / Requirements

• Willingness to travel up to ~25% to Africa and to San Francisco headquarters.
• Experience advising on legal and compliance matters, preferably in international or emerging-market environments.
• Strong written and verbal communication skills with the ability to advise senior stakeholders.
• Collaborative, solutions-oriented mindset and strong organizational skills.
• Ability to dive deep into unfamiliar issues and operate effectively in ambiguous, fast-paced environments.

Nice-to-haves

• Prior experience working across multiple countries with complex regulatory environments (implied by scope).