Manager-Legal and Compliances

Varaha is a global, leading, climate tech venture focused on carbon removal solutions such as - regenerative agriculture, afforestation, biochar, and enhanced rock weathering - that support smallholder land stewards at scale. In just the third year of operation, we are removing and avoiding more than 1 million tons of CO2 and distributing the majority of the revenues to more than 100,000 smallholder land stewards in South Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa. Backed by leading global investors, our founding and management team comes with a stellar track record of successfully scaling projects and products to millions of smallholder land stewards at leading Agriculture and tech businesses.

Job Description

Role Overview : We are looking for an experienced and strategic Manager - Legal and Compliances to lead Varaha’s legal function across carbon finance, environmental law, regulatory compliance, and corporate governance. This role will be responsible for defining the company’s legal strategy, advising senior leadership and the Board, managing legal risk across jurisdictions, and enabling Varaha’s scale-up through sound commercial and regulatory decision-making in global carbon markets.

Key Responsibilities

● Own and drive Varaha’s overall legal strategy in alignment with business goals, growth plans, and risk appetite.

● Lead legal structuring, review, and negotiation of carbon credit transactions, including ERPAs, forward sales, spot sales, offtake agreements, and other carbon-related commercial contracts.

● Provide strategic legal guidance on investment structuring for carbon projects, including SPV formation, jurisdiction planning, revenue-sharing mechanisms, blended finance, and project financing.

● Exercise senior commercial judgment on complex carbon finance trade-offs such as delivery schedules, vintage and methodology eligibility, pricing structures, make-good clauses, termination rights, buyer liability, and ring-fencing of risks.

● Ensure compliance with national and international carbon market regulations and standards (e.g., VCS, Gold Standard, CDM, ICVCM), and advise on Article 6 of the Paris Agreement and emerging national carbon trading frameworks.

● Oversee corporate legal matters including fundraising, investor agreements, corporate structuring, employment law, data protection, intellectual property, and ESG compliance.

● Ensure strong corporate governance practices, statutory compliance, regulatory filings, and effective engagement with regulators, government authorities, and external stakeholders.

● Manage, mentor, and develop the internal legal team, and oversee external counsels across jurisdictions to ensure quality, consistency, and alignment with business priorities.

● Lead dispute management, including litigation, arbitration, and negotiations related to carbon finance, commercial contracts, and corporate matters.

● Monitor changes in environmental, carbon finance, and corporate laws globally, proactively assessing impact and advising the business on risk mitigation.

• LL.B. (mandatory); LL.M. in Environmental Law, Business Law, or related fields (preferred).

• 4–7+ years of post-qualification experience in law firms and/or in-house roles, with significant exposure to carbon finance, environmental law, and corporate legal matters.

• Demonstrated experience advising senior leadership or boards in fast-growing, complex, or regulated environments.

• Strong understanding of carbon markets, climate finance structures, ESG regulations, and cross-border legal issues.

• Proven ability to exercise sound commercial judgment and balance legal risk with business objectives.

• Experience managing teams and external legal advisors across jurisdictions.

• Excellent analytical, negotiation, communication, and stakeholder management skills.