Fractional General Counsel, Frive

Frive – At Frive, we’re redefining what food should be – real, wholesome and made without artificial stuff, because your body deserves better than the ultra-processed products that flood supermarket shelves. Our mission is simple: to fuel you with real nutrition that supports your health and vitality – not just for today, but for the long run.

Summary: Are you commercially minded, pragmatic and solution driven? We are looking for our first in-house General Counsel (GC) to join us as the business as Frive scales. This is not intended to be a narrow, back-office compliance function limited to reviewing contracts.

The General Counsel will act as a close partner to the CEO and wider C-suite: a trusted advisor on legal risk, a guardian of governance standards, and an active contributor to sound decision-making as Frive grows from an entrepreneurial business into a larger, more mature organisation. This would require understanding and experience of fundraising, investment, and M&A activity.

Overall someone who can contribute actively, bringing their knowledge of scaling businesses to help shape the next phase of our development. This is a fractional role (2 days per week).

Key Responsibilities Commercial & Contracts

Draft, review, and negotiate a wide range of commercial contracts, including supplier, distribution, retail, licensing, and partnership agreements. Provide clear, practical guidance to the executive team on contractual risk, balancing legal protection with commercial pace. Build and maintain a suite of template agreements and playbooks to enable the business to self-serve on lower-risk matters. Corporate Governance & Compliance

Support the CEO in maintaining strong standards of corporate governance and statutory filings. Ensure the business maintains compliance with relevant company, consumer, food safety, advertising, and competition law. Advise on corporate structuring, shareholder matters, and any fundraising, investment, or M&A activity. Risk, Regulatory & Data Protection

Help the business identify, understand, and respond to key legal and regulatory risks affecting performance, reputation, or long-term viability, including supply chain, product liability, and food safety exposure. Own data protection and privacy compliance (including UK GDPR), advising on data handling across customer, employee, and supplier relationships. Maintain visibility of critical legal risks and appropriate mitigation actions, including through use of the risk register. Raise concerns clearly and constructively where significant issues, conflicts, or unresolved risks could materially affect the business, recommending intervention where needed. Intellectual Property & Brand Protection

Protect Frive's brand, trademarks, and other intellectual property, both domestically and as the business expands internationally. Advise on IP considerations in product development, packaging, and marketing. External Representation & Stakeholder Management

Represent Frive in strategically important external legal matters, including with investors, regulators, and key commercial partners. Manage relationships with external law firms and other advisors, ensuring cost-effective and high-quality external support where specialist expertise is required. Support the Chair and CEO on Board-level legal and governance matters as required. Candidate Profile Experience & Credibility

Qualified solicitor (England & Wales) or equivalent, with significant post-qualification experience (PQE) gained in-house and/or in private practice. Proven experience as General Counsel, Head of Legal, or senior in-house counsel, ideally within a consumer, food or retail. Experience within fast-scaling brands is criticial. Experience managing commercial, regulatory, and food-safety-related legal risk within an organisation delivering a quality, food-safety-critical consumer product. A track record of operating effectively in a fractional, part-time, or multi-client capacity, balancing competing priorities across organisations. A credible reputation, with the presence and standing to support Frive's profile with investors, partners, and regulators Experience of Employment Law and its commercial impact. Personal Attributes

Understands and buys into Frive's philosophy of making healthy eating convenient, delicious, and accessible, whilst championing locally sourced and organic ingredients. Able to translate legal complexity into clear, commercially relevant advice for a non-legal executive audience. Able to contribute to the development of a mutually supportive and collaborative relationship with a wide range of stakeholders, including customers, suppliers, and shareholders. A strong relationship builder, both internally and externally, able to listen carefully and understand the different motivations of leaders and stakeholders. Comfortable offering support and challenge in equal measure; confident, credible, and calm in complex or sensitive situations. Energised by entrepreneurial, fast-moving businesses rather than purely administrative legal roles, and willing to be engaged and value-adding within a limited time commitment. Competencies & Style

Commercially minded, with the ability to identify pragmatic solutions to legal risk rather than simply flagging problems. Acts as a role model both internally and externally, demonstrating sound judgment and integrity. Supportive but willing to be direct where risks are serious; advisory in style, with the confidence to push for action when issues become material. Practical, experienced, and credible with founders, executives, Board members, and external stakeholders. Knowledge & Skills

Strong working knowledge of UK commercial, corporate, employment, data protection, and consumer/food regulatory law. Excellent drafting and negotiation skills across a broad range of commercial agreements. Strong track record of shaping and supporting business, strategic, and financial decisions on a basis that takes due account of and mitigates legal risk. An understanding of the difference between providing good legal counsel and governance oversight, and the direct management of business issues. What Success Looks Like

A well-managed legal risk profile with clear visibility of key exposures and mitigations. A supported and better-informed executive team, able to move quickly on commercial opportunities. Robust governance and compliance foundations appropriate to Frive's stage of growth. Stronger external credibility with investors, partners, and regulators. A General Counsel relationship that adds meaningful value to the business, beyond routine contract review.