Head of Legal

Location: Cape Town (4 days / week from the office, 1 day per week from home)

Reports To: CEO

Employment Type: Full-Time

Citra is a rapidly expanding, vertically integrated housing company transforming the residential real estate landscape. Leveraging our proprietary technology and integrated teams in construction, property development, design, and engineering, we are disrupting the housing market across Cape Town, Switzerland, and Austin, Texas. We are seeking a strategic and experienced Head of Legal to provide expert legal counsel and leadership as we continue our global growth.

Job Summary

The Head of Legal will be responsible for providing comprehensive legal advice and support to Citra across all aspects of its business operations, including real estate development, construction, technology, international expansion, and corporate governance. This role will ensure compliance with all applicable laws and regulations, manage legal risks, and provide strategic legal guidance to senior management.

The successful candidate must be a strategic architect of legal systems; while possessing the technical expertise to handle complex matters directly, their primary focus will be on evolving Citra’s Legal Quality Management System (QMS) and ensuring the department functions as a scalable, multidisciplinary engine.

Responsibilities

• Legal Strategy, Operations & Counsel:
  • Lead the transition of the legal function from an ad-hoc advisory service to a structured in-house department, enforcing the 'Front Door' instruction protocol to ensure legal resources are allocated strategically.
  • Develop and implement legal strategies to support Citra's business objectives.
  • Provide expert legal advice on a wide range of issues, including real estate transactions, construction contracts, corporate governance, intellectual property, and regulatory compliance.
  • Apply Agile workload management (specifically Weighted Shortest Job First / WSJF) to prioritize tasks based on objective business value and risk mitigation.
  • Anticipate, identify, and proactively mitigate legal risks.
• Real Estate and Construction Law:
  • Oversee all legal aspects of real estate acquisitions, development, and sales.
  • Draft, review, and negotiate construction contracts, leases, and other real estate-related agreements.
  • Provide legal oversight for the group’s communal scheme management operations, ensuring compliance with the STSMA and CSOS, and managing the legal complexities of the Developer Control Period to protect the group’s reputation and long-term interests in the communities it creates.
  • Manage disputes related to real estate and construction projects.
• Corporate Governance and Compliance:
  • Ensure compliance with all applicable laws and regulations in South Africa and international jurisdictions.
  • Develop and implement corporate governance policies and procedures.
  • Manage legal aspects of corporate transactions, including mergers, acquisitions, and joint ventures.
• International Legal Affairs:
  • Provide legal support for Citra's international operations in Switzerland and Austin, Texas.
  • Employ advanced project management skills to oversee, quality-control, and manage relationships with external legal counsel across South Africa, the US, and Switzerland.
  • Ensure compliance with international laws and regulations, adapting rapidly to foreign legal frameworks.
• Contract Management:
  • Architect and implement robust contract management processes and procedures.
  • Maintain and evolve the department's digital architecture, automating contract lifecycles and legal registers leveraging advanced Google Workspace capabilities, no-code/low-code tools, or dedicated Contract Lifecycle Management (CLM) platforms.
  • Draft, review, and negotiate a wide range of commercial and technology contracts.
• Intellectual Property:
  • Drive the strategy to protect Citra's intellectual property portfolio, including proprietary technology, patents, trademarks, and copyrights.
  • Instruct and manage relationships with external specialist counsel for IP registrations and related litigation.
• Litigation Management:
• • • Manage general litigation and dispute resolution matters globally.
    • Oversee relationships with external legal counsel.
• Team Leadership:
  • Build, scale, and lead a high-performing in-house legal team.
  • Provide mentorship and professional development opportunities to team members.
  • Manage legal department budget.

Qualifications

• Bachelor of Laws (LLB) degree from a recognized university.
• Admission as an attorney in South Africa. A post-graduate qualification or significant practical experience in Corporate Governance is highly advantageous.
• Minimum of 8-10 years of legal experience, preferably in the real estate, property development, construction, or technology industries. 
• Significant experience in corporate finance, including the negotiation of complex security structures and direct interface with commercial lenders, is highly advantageous.
• Strong understanding of South African laws and regulations.
• Ability and willingness to engage with and develop knowledge of applicable international laws and regulations (currently Austin, Texas and Switzerland).
• Excellent negotiation, communication, and interpersonal skills.
• Proven ability to provide strategic legal counsel to senior management.
• Experience managing complex legal transactions.
• Strong leadership and team management skills.
• Experience with international legal matters.
• Proven experience in establishing an in-house legal department or restructuring legal operations in a high-growth environment.
• Expert proficiency in Google Workspace; candidate must be highly adaptive to cloud-native collaboration and digital filing conventions.
• Expert-level knowledge of communal schemes (Homeowners Associations and Sectional Title), covering the full lifecycle from establishment and sales to the ongoing legal management and governance of schemes.

Preferred Qualifications (Highly Advantageous)

• A post-graduate qualification or significant practical experience in Corporate Governance.
• Significant experience in corporate finance, including the negotiation of complex security structures and direct interfacing with commercial lenders.
• Proven experience in establishing an in-house legal department or restructuring legal operations in a high-growth/scale-up environment.
• Specific experience in Legal-Tech implementation (e.g., building automated workflows, digital registers, CLM integration) to streamline legal operations.
• Experience working in a fast-paced, vertically integrated business model.
• A strong existing network of lawyers and law firms in Europe and the US.
• The ability to "hit the ground running" on high-volume technical work while simultaneously architecting the department's long-term operational structure.