Legal Counsel

We are looking for

The Open Home Foundation is looking for a Legal Counsel based in Switzerland to join our Back Office team. This team is responsible for the day-to-day operations of the Foundation, offering support to the rest of teams to ensure the proper functioning of our entire organization.

In this role, you'd be the primary owner of the Open Home Foundation's legal function. This includes: the open-source licensing and trademark protection behind projects like Home Assistant, ESPHome, and Music Assistant; the commercial agreements that underpin our sponsorships and partnership;, the foundation's defense against patent and other legal claims; and the Swiss foundation (Stiftung) governance and cross-border employment matters that come with a globally distributed, non-profit organization.

Your work is what keeps the foundation and its projects legally sound, well-governed, and protected.

What you are going to do

• Own and build the Foundation's legal function — advising leadership across intellectual property, contracts, governance, employment, and compliance.

• Advise on open-source licensing, contributor agreements, and trademark protection for Home Assistant and the Foundation's other projects.

• Support the Foundation's defense against patent and other legal claims, coordinating with outside litigation counsel where needed.

• Draft, review, and negotiate the foundation's commercial agreements — sponsorships, partnerships, vendor contracts, NDAs, and event agreements.

• Engage, coordinate and manage external counsel as required, particularly in international/cross-borders matters.

• Advise on Swiss foundation (Stiftung) law and governance, and help meet the foundation's statutory and regulatory obligations.

• Develop reusable templates, policies, and processes, and manage relationships with external legal specialists efficiently.

What you need to have

• At least 3-5 years of post-qualification legal experience, ideally combining in-house and private practice.

• A Swiss legal qualification and a strong command of Swiss law.

• Experience with Swiss foundation (Stiftung) law and non-profit governance.

• Experience across intellectual property and commercial contract work.

• Professional Fluency in English: Excellent written and verbal communication skills in English.

• Professional proficiency in German for Swiss legal and governance work.

• Swiss Residency: You must currently be based and eligible to work within Switzerland.

It would be great if you also have

• A passion for smart homes and automation.

• Experience as a Home Assistant user.

• Experience in the technology sector or with open-source projects.

• The Swiss bar qualification (Anwaltspatent), which lets the foundation benefit from Switzerland's in-house counsel privilege.

• Familiarity with GDPR / data protection in a software context.

• Experience managing cross-border IP litigation.

What we offer you

The Open Home Foundation is a fully remote organization that uses Remote to employ people from all over the world. You will be a normal salaried employee in your country.

This is a full-time position for 40 hours per week. Because we are a fully remote company, there is no fixed schedule. For the purpose of team communication, we do try to ensure at least 3 hours of overlap in the workday. You will report to the Chair of Back Office, who is based in Spain.

Core to the establishment of the Open Home Foundation was the well-being of the people building the future of the smart home. We will provide all the benefits required by the country you reside in. However, we also want to make sure all our employees, regardless of country of origin, get at least a minimal set of benefits, including:

• Five weeks (twenty-five days) of paid time off.

• Fourteen days of paid sick leave if your country/laws treat them as unpaid.

• If you live in a country with less than 6 weeks of parental leave, six weeks of paid and six weeks of unpaid parental leave to be used in the first year after birth. We will provide the missing days if your country/laws do not provide such compensation.

• A budget for your work hardware once you start. After three years, you may keep this equipment for personal use.

• An annual smart home budget to ensure you keep up-to-date with the latest that smart homes offer.

• A 50% contribution to your internet connection fee at your home workspace.

• One day every two weeks to work on your personal projects.

• If you are currently working on Home Assistant-related side projects, you can spend work time maintaining them.

When first offering a position to a new member, the Open Home Foundation aims to provide a total compensation package that matches the 75th percentile for the new hire's role, seniority, and local market rates. For a Legal Counsel in Switzerland, the approximate yearly compensation will be 120-140.000 CHF.

These figures may be adjusted based on experience, qualifications, and work hours.

About us

The Open Home Foundation is a non-profit organization based in Switzerland, with the objective of fighting for the fundamental principles of privacy, choice, and sustainability for smart homes. It does this by supporting the development of open-source projects, and open connectivity and communication standards.

A big part of this is Home Assistant, the biggest open-source project in number of contributors, used by over two million households, but the Open Home Foundation also owns or collaborates with other projects important to promoting privacy, choice, and sustainability in the smart home, like:

• Open hardware tools (e.g., ESPHome, ESP Web Tools).

• Open standards (e.g., Python Matter Server, Z-Wave JS, ZigPy, BTHome, Improv Wi-Fi).

• Open voice (e.g., Rhasspy, Wyoming Protocol, Piper).

• Music Assistant.

The recruitment process

1. Apply for the role.

2. Our HR team will review your application with the hiring manager.

3. Interview with HR

4. Interview with the Chair of Back Office.

5. Interview with the Board of the Foundation.

6. Offer.

7. Join our team!