As Junior Legal Counsel, you will play a key role in supporting ecoinvent’s operations by providing practical legal support to our internal teams. You will help ensure efficient contract review, consistent risk management and regulatory updates across the organization, with a particular focus on licensing agreements and data supplier agreements. You will work closely with our Senior Commercial Legal Counsel and General Counsel, supporting legal frameworks and strategic initiatives as needed.

We are looking for a proactive, business-minded lawyer who enjoys contract work and has a strong interest in data licensing, intellectual property in data, and data protection. This is a hands-on role where you will contribute to both day-to-day contracting and to key organizational projects, such as product releases and contract migrations.

Responsibilities

• Draft, review, and negotiate international commercial agreements, with a focus on licensing agreements, including developer agreements, reseller agreements, and other standard commercial contracts.

• Draft, review, and negotiate data supplier agreements, editor agreements, and consulting agreements in collaboration with the Database team.

• Provide timely and pragmatic legal support to internal stakeholders, including contract interpretation and guidance throughout the contracting lifecycle.

• Support the implementation and improvement of contract templates, negotiation playbooks, and internal legal processes.

• Support to Product Releases & Legal Frameworks Support legal workstreams related to product releases.

• Assist in legal research and risk assessments relating to commercial contracting, licensing models, intellectual property, and database rights.

• Data Protection & Compliance Support the team on data protection topics relevant to ecoinvent’s operations (Swiss FADP and GDPR where applicable), including: contractual data protection clauses confidentiality and transfer provisions privacy and compliance-related inquiries from stakeholders

• Help maintain legal documentation, internal guidance, and compliance resources aligned with evolving requirements.

• Provide legal support on residual topics in coordination with the legal team, including ad hoc matters with HR and Finance (e.g., NDAs, vendor contract review, procurement-related clauses).

• Contribute to internal legal trainings and promote legal awareness among business teams, especially regarding contract management and common negotiation topics.

Qualifications

• Swiss law degree (MLaw / lic. iur. / equivalent; admission to the bar is a plus but not required).

• 2+ years of experience in a law firm and/or in-house legal role, ideally in a technology, data-driven, or IP-heavy environment.

• Solid knowledge of Swiss contract law, and interest in or exposure to: intellectual property (especially data / licensing) database law and data rights data protection (Swiss FADP and/or GDPR)

• Demonstrated experience drafting and negotiating commercial contracts, ideally with exposure to licensing and/or data supplier agreements.

• Strong organizational skills and ability to manage multiple priorities in a fast-paced environment.

• Sound judgment and ability to provide clear, business-oriented legal advice.

• Fluent in English and German; any other language is a plus.

Why ecoinvent?

As a fast-growing team based in Zürich with over twenty nationalities, we embrace diversity and promote a collaborative and adventurous mindset. We are committed to building an inspiring work culture that nurtures creative thinking, transparency, and reliability.

Our benefits include flexible and hybrid work, employee professional growth plans, and our most vital asset: our community. We value transparency, flexibility, and a diverse working environment that encourages learning and continuous improvement. Collaboration is at the heart of what we do. Join us and make an impact.

Our Mission

ecoinvent is an internationally active, mission-driven organization devoted to supporting high-quality, science-based environmental assessments. Its activities include publishing and maintaining the ecoinvent database—a comprehensive life cycle inventory database that provides reliable and transparent information on the environmental impacts of various products and services. It is used by companies, researchers, and policymakers to analyze the environmental impacts of their operations and make informed decisions.