Legal Head - Bengaluru - Opptra

Description

About Us:
Opptra ) is revolutionizing global expansion for consumer brands with a focus on ecommerce and digital capabilities. We're building a portfolio of category-specialized franchising businesses, powered by our centralized technology platform and global supply chain infrastructure.

We create market access through franchising businesses that serve as master franchisees or licensing partners for brands entering new markets.

Unlike traditional distribution partners that prioritize brick-and-mortar channels, our businesses leverage advanced ecommerce expertise to accelerate market entry while balancing online and offline channels to match local consumer behavior.

With 70% of global consumer growth driven by Asia, we're currently focused on enabling access to these high-potential markets.

Our model offers brands significant advantages:

• Reduced market entry costs
• Broader consumer reach
• Faster testing and learning capabilities than traditional retail
• Local expertise with global backing

Role Summary :

Fast Market Entry:

Streamlined legal processes for rapid multi-country launches, swiftly handling incorporation and regulatory approvals to reduce friction for brands entering new markets .The Legal Lead's work ensures legal is never a bottleneck to expansion.

Compliance-Driven Scalability:

Robust compliance frameworks that scale with the business, allowing Opptra to grow across India, GCC, and Southeast Asia without major legal roadblocks.

Every new channel or region is backed by diligent adherence to local laws (online and offline retail) so that growth is sustainable and risk-managed.

• Capital Efficiency via

Smart Legal Frameworks:

Innovative legal strategies that maximize cost-efficiency while mitigating risk – for example, leveraging standard contracts, automation, and savvy structuring to avoid expensive external counsel where possible.

The Legal Lead's approach to legal operations directly supports Opptra's drive for capital-efficient scaling.

Agile Legal Infrastructure:

The Legal Lead will have built an agile legal infrastructure (processes, tools, and partnerships) that keeps pace with Opptra's franchise model.

This includes implementing advanced legal tech (e.g. contract lifecycle management systems and AI-driven risk monitoring) to handle a high volume of contracts and compliance tasks efficiently. The result is a lean legal function that punches above its weight, handling cross-border operations with speed and accuracy.

Trusted Business Partner:

Internally, the Legal Lead is regarded as a trusted advisor and proactive business partner to the leadership and cross-functional teams.

They are deeply involved in strategic decisions from the outset – effectively "a businessperson with a law degree" in the eyes of colleagues.

Over 5–7 years, they cultivate a culture where legal input is sought early in product launches, partnerships, and expansions (not just to approve deals at the end), ensuring business initiatives are both ambitious and prudent.

What we're looking for:

• Multi-

Country Legal Mastery:
Legal experience with extensive multi-country exposure across Asia – particularly India, GCC, and Southeast Asia.

The candidate should have hands-on experience setting up legal entities and operations in multiple jurisdictions, navigating local incorporation procedures, foreign investment regulations, and cross-cultural legal nuances.

• Broad Domain Expertise: Demonstrated expertise in a range of legal areas vital to a retail/franchise business – including corporate incorporation and governance, product regulatory compliance (e.g. safety standards, import/export laws), commercial contracts (with suppliers, distributors, partners), intellectual property (trademark registration, brand licensing, IP enforcement), employment law (hiring, labor compliance across regions), and company secretarial matters (board resolutions, filings, statutory compliance)
• Growth-

Stage Track Record:

Proven "0→1" experience (launching a new business or market entry from scratch) and "1→10" experience (scaling that business across geographies or from startup to growth stage).

The ideal candidate has built legal and compliance frameworks from the ground up and then evolved them to support rapid expansion.

• External Counsel &

Stakeholder Management:
Adept at working with external legal firms and consultants across multiple countries.

This includes selecting and managing outside counsel for specialized local issues, negotiating fees and scopes efficiently, and harmonizing advice from different jurisdictions into a coherent company-wide stance.

• Tech & AI Savvy: Comfort with legal technology and AI tools to streamline workflows. The candidate has a track record of adopting or working with contract management systems, compliance monitoring software, or AIdriven legal research tools to improve efficiency and insight. (Notably, a recent industry study found 39% of inhouse legal teams already use AI, with 61% planning to – reflecting how important techenabled efficiency has become[4].) The Legal Lead should be eager to implement such innovations to keep Opptra's legal function lean and effective.
• Cross-Functional Influence & Communication: Excellent interpersonal skills with a crossfunctional mindset – able to collaborate with and influence nonlegal teams like marketing, finance, product, and supply chain
• Leadership &

Personal Traits:

High integrity and sound judgment are a must – the individual should uphold the highest ethical standards and ensure Opptra's values are reflected in all legal dealings.