Head of Legal & Governance.
Location: Agonda, Canacona, South Goa
Role Type: Full-Time | In-House | Founder’s Office
Relocation: Mandatory
Function: Legal Operations, Litigation, Property, Regulatory & Public Interest Matters
About the Role
We are looking for a highly capable Head of Legal & Governance to work as the in-house legal lead for our group of companies, properties, projects and associated public-interest initiatives.
This is a full-time, hands-on legal role based in Agonda, South Goa.
The majority of our legal, property, regulatory and litigation matters are concentrated in Canacona and South Goa, and therefore the person joining this role must be willing to work on the ground and build a strong understanding of the local legal and administrative ecosystem.
Relocation to Canacona is mandatory for this role.
This is not a remote legal advisory position and not a conventional desk-based corporate lawyer role.
The person will be expected to work closely with the Founder, internal teams, external advocates, government authorities and project teams, and take ownership of legal matters from beginning to end.
The role will primarily deal with the legal requirements of our own businesses and projects. In addition, the person will also support our public-interest, governance, civic and accountability initiatives.
We are looking for someone who combines legal knowledge, execution ability, organisation, judgment and ownership.
Core Responsibilities1. In-House Legal Ownership
Act as the primary internal legal point of contact for the group.
Take ownership of legal matters relating to:
- Group companies.
- Hospitality businesses.
- Properties and land.
- Development projects.
- Commercial transactions.
- Contracts.
- Government permissions.
- Regulatory matters.
- Notices and disputes.
- Litigation.
- Employee and vendor-related legal matters.
- Corporate documentation.
- Public-interest initiatives.
The role is intended to develop a strong internal legal capability rather than repeatedly outsourcing basic legal thinking and coordination.
External advocates and specialist counsel will continue to be engaged where appropriate, but the Head of Legal will remain responsible for internal ownership and coordination of each matter.
2. Legal Operations & Matter Management
Build and maintain a disciplined legal operating system across the organisation.
Responsibilities include:
- Maintaining a complete legal matter tracker.
- Creating matter-wise files and chronologies.
- Maintaining agreements, notices, pleadings, orders and correspondence.
- Tracking legal deadlines.
- Tracking court dates and hearings.
- Tracking notice periods and contractual obligations.
- Maintaining property-wise legal documentation.
- Maintaining regulatory and permission-related records.
- Creating templates and standard legal documents.
- Maintaining a central legal repository.
- Ensuring important documents are searchable and immediately accessible.
- Preparing periodic legal status reports for the Founder and management.
Every important legal matter should clearly show:
Current Status
Risk
Next Action
Deadline
Responsible Person
External Counsel, if any
3. Litigation & Court Matters
The role requires active involvement in ongoing litigation.
The Head of Legal will be expected to:
- Attend court hearings where required.
- Attend proceedings before tribunals and authorities.
- Coordinate with external advocates.
- Prepare advocates before hearings.
- Maintain factual chronologies.
- Organise evidence and supporting documentation.
- Review pleadings and case strategy.
- Track filings and procedural deadlines.
- Maintain hearing notes and court orders.
- Follow up on actions arising from hearings.
- Brief the Founder and management after important proceedings.
- Coordinate conferences with advocates and Senior Counsel.
- Ensure external lawyers receive complete and timely instructions.
The role is not limited to receiving updates from external counsel.
The in-house lawyer must understand the matter, know what happened during the hearing and ensure the next steps are executed.
Since most matters are presently concentrated in South Goa, regular travel to courts, government offices and authorities within South Goa will form part of the role.
4. Property & Real Estate Matters
A significant part of the legal work relates to property, land, leases and development.
Responsibilities may include:
- Reviewing property documentation.
- Coordinating title due diligence.
- Reviewing title reports.
- Assisting with land acquisitions and disposals.
- Drafting and reviewing lease deeds.
- Drafting agreements for sale and related property documentation.
- Reviewing survey and revenue records.
- Coordinating registrations.
- Identifying title and encumbrance risks.
- Handling property disputes.
- Coordinating with surveyors, architects and consultants.
- Managing property-related litigation.
- Maintaining complete property-wise legal files.
Experience with Goa property and land-related matters will be a strong advantage.
5. Contracts & Commercial Documentation
Draft, review and negotiate legal documentation relating to the group’s businesses.
This may include:
- Lease deeds.
- Agreements for sale.
- Development agreements.
- Commercial agreements.
- Vendor contracts.
- Consultancy agreements.
- Franchise agreements.
- Management agreements.
- NDAs.
- MOUs.
- Term sheets.
- Settlement agreements.
- Indemnities.
- Employment-related documentation.
- Investment documentation.
- Shareholder arrangements.
- Notices.
- Replies.
- Legal correspondence.
The lawyer should be capable of independently understanding the commercial objective behind a transaction and translating it into strong legal documentation.
6. Regulatory & Government Matters
Work closely on legal and regulatory matters involving government departments and authorities, particularly in South Goa.
This may include interactions involving:
- Village Panchayats.
- Town & Country Planning Department.
- Collectorate.
- Revenue authorities.
- Sub-Registrar.
- CRZ / GCZMA.
- Pollution Control Board.
- Excise.
- Fire authorities.
- Health authorities.
- Tourism Department.
- Labour authorities.
- FSSAI.
- Other statutory and local authorities.
The role may require personally visiting government offices, following matters, understanding procedures and resolving documentation or regulatory issues.
This is therefore not a desk-only position.
7. Public Interest, Civic & Governance Work
Alongside company matters, the Head of Legal will support our public-interest and governance initiatives.
This may include work relating to:
- RTI applications.
- RTI appeals.
- Government representations.
- Administrative complaints.
- Civic issues.
- Environmental issues.
- Government accountability.
- Public records.
- Legal research.
- Regulatory violations.
- Public-interest litigation.
- Writ petitions.
- Complaints before statutory authorities.
- Evidence collection and documentation.
- Analysis of government decisions and records.
The person should be intellectually comfortable working on matters where the objective is not necessarily commercial gain, but public accountability, lawful governance and institutional improvement.
This part of the role may involve working with:
- Citizens.
- Researchers.
- Journalists.
- Technical experts.
- Activists.
- External advocates.
- Senior Counsel.
The same standards of evidence, documentation and legal discipline expected in commercial matters will apply to public-interest matters.
8. AI & Technology
We intend to operate a modern legal function using AI and technology wherever appropriate.
The candidate should either:
already be comfortable using AI tools, or
be genuinely willing and capable of becoming proficient with AI-enabled legal workflows within 30–45 days of joining.
Previous AI experience is desirable but not mandatory.
An unwillingness to learn and adopt technology will not be compatible with this role.
AI and technology may be used for:
- Legal research.
- Judgment analysis.
- Document summarisation.
- Case chronologies.
- Contract comparison.
- First-level document review.
- Regulatory research.
- Organising evidence.
- Extracting obligations and deadlines.
- Drafting support.
- Litigation tracking.
- Maintaining databases.
- Reviewing large volumes of records.
- Identifying inconsistencies across documents.
- Building reusable legal knowledge.
The lawyer must, however, understand that AI output requires professional verification and independent legal judgment.
9. External Advocate Management
The organisation will continue engaging external advocates and specialist counsel wherever necessary.
The Head of Legal will coordinate such relationships.
This includes:
- Identifying appropriate counsel.
- Preparing complete briefs.
- Supplying documents.
- Preparing chronologies.
- Participating in strategy discussions.
- Reviewing pleadings.
- Attending hearings where necessary.
- Tracking deliverables.
- Tracking fees.
- Following up after hearings.
- Ensuring decisions taken by counsel are implemented internally.
The objective is to ensure external advocates receive a well-prepared client rather than an unorganised collection of documents and instructions.
10. Founder & Management Advisory
The Head of Legal will work closely with the Founder and senior members of the organisation.
For every significant matter, the lawyer should be able to explain clearly:
What happened?
What is the legal position?
What is our risk?
What evidence do we have?
What are our available options?
What do you recommend?
What happens next?
The role requires the confidence to give independent legal advice, including situations where that advice may differ from the initial view of management.
What We Are Looking For
We are looking for someone with:
- LL.B. from a recognised institution.
- Strong legal drafting ability.
- Experience handling litigation.
- Experience working with external advocates.
- Experience in contracts and commercial legal work.
- Good understanding of property matters.
- Strong documentation and organisational skills.
- Ability to independently research legal issues.
- Ability to work directly with senior management.
- Ability to handle several active legal matters simultaneously.
- Willingness to attend courts and government offices personally.
- Strong communication and negotiation ability.
- High standards of ethics, confidentiality and integrity.
- Comfort with technology.
- AI proficiency or willingness to become AI-proficient within 30–45 days.
Experience relating to Goa property law, civil litigation, administrative law, hospitality, regulatory matters or government authorities will be particularly useful.
Mandatory Location Requirement
The office is located in Agonda, Canacona, South Goa.
The successful candidate must therefore be willing to relocate to Agonda / Canacona and be based in South Goa on a full-time basis.
This requirement is mandatory.
Most current legal matters are located within South Goa, and the role requires regular physical presence for:
- Court hearings.
- Government offices.
- Property visits.
- Registrations.
- Meetings with advocates.
- Meetings with authorities.
- Project and site-related legal issues.
Candidates seeking remote or primarily work-from-home arrangements should not apply.
The Person We Want
We are looking for someone who:
- Takes ownership.
- Does not require constant follow-up.
- Is highly organised.
- Enjoys solving complicated situations.
- Can turn scattered facts into a clear chronology.
- Can read hundreds of pages and identify what actually matters.
- Is comfortable attending court.
- Is comfortable visiting government offices.
- Can work with both senior advocates and ground-level administrative staff.
- Understands business realities.
- Can negotiate firmly.
- Is curious.
- Is resourceful.
- Is technologically adaptable.
- Has strong research instincts.
- Is not intimidated by unusual or difficult matters.
- Is capable of challenging assumptions.
- Understands the difference between winning an argument and solving a problem.
You should be comfortable moving between:
Office → Court → Government Department → Project Site → Advocate Conference → Founder Meeting
depending upon what the day requires.
This Role Is Not For You If
This position is unlikely to suit someone looking for:
- A purely corporate desk job.
- Remote work.
- A narrowly defined legal role.
- Only contract drafting.
- Only litigation.
- Predictable repetitive work.
- A role where all difficult matters are simply forwarded to external lawyers.
- A job where visiting courts, authorities or project sites is considered outside the role.
- A workplace resistant to new technology.
Success in This Role
Within the first 3 months, we would expect the person to establish:
- A complete legal matter-management system.
- A central legal documentation repository.
- Property-wise legal files.
- Litigation trackers and court chronologies.
- Contract and documentation templates.
- A dependable external advocate network.
- Regulatory and permission trackers.
- A disciplined hearing and litigation follow-up system.
- AI-assisted legal research and document workflows.
- With the help of HR, develop a legal team of 5 people.
- Strong legal support for public-interest and governance initiatives.
- Regular legal-risk reporting to the Founder.
- A legal function where every important matter has a clear owner and next action.
The objective is straightforward:
Every significant legal matter should be understood, documented, strategically managed and followed through to conclusion.
Nature of the Opportunity
This is an opportunity for a lawyer who wants significantly broader exposure than a conventional in-house legal position.
The person will work across business, property, litigation, government, regulation and public-interest law, with significant responsibility and direct exposure to decision-making.
For the right person, this role can evolve into the central legal leadership position across the wider ecosystem.
Pay: ₹600,000.00 - ₹1,000,000.00 per year
Benefits:
- Cell phone reimbursement
- Flexible schedule
- Health insurance
- Paid time off
Ability to commute/relocate:
- Canacona, Goa (Canacona): Reliably commute or planning to relocate before starting work (Required)
Application Question(s):
- Are you willing to relocate to Canacona, South Goa ?
Experience:
- legal expereince: 3 years (Required)
License/Certification:
- Are you eligible to practice in different courts of Goa ? (Required)
Willingness to travel:
Work Location: In person
