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GRC Lead

Wordsmith· G&A
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EdinburghFull-timePosted 3mo ago

About the role

Senior leader responsible for security, privacy, and regulatory compliance across Wordsmith, setting strategy and hands-on execution to scale IT security, compliance programs, AI governance, and privacy operations for a fast-growing SaaS product.

Responsibilities

  • Own Wordsmith's multi-year IT security and compliance roadmap — setting priorities, budget, and tooling decisions in partnership with Engineering and company leadership.
  • Own security architecture across corporate IT and infrastructure — identity & access management, endpoint protection, and cloud/network security — and lead incident response when issues arise.
  • Own SOC 2 Type II, ISO 27001/27017/27018, and ISO 42001 end-to-end — policies, controls, audit evidence, and the audits themselves.
  • Run our AI governance program, including AI Impact Assessments and model/AI-vendor risk reviews, ensuring responsible, compliant AI use across the product.
  • Own privacy operations end-to-end — GDPR and other regulatory obligations, DPIAs, RoPA maintenance, sub-processor management, and Data Subject Request fulfilment.
  • Assess vendors and AI tools for security, privacy, and AI risk before they're adopted, and put the right contractual safeguards in place at a program level.
  • Build the people, process, and tooling the function needs as it scales — starting as the senior owner of the program today, with a mandate to build out a team as Wordsmith grows.
  • Own risk and compliance reporting to leadership and, as we scale, the board — translating technical risk into business terms.
  • Act as the senior voice on security for enterprise deals — security questionnaires, DPAs, and our Trust Center — partnering with Sales, Customer Success, and Legal to unblock deals without cutting corners.
  • Build lean, automation-first tooling (e.g. Vanta) for evidence collection and ongoing compliance monitoring, so the program scales without scaling headcount unnecessarily.

Qualifications

  • 8-10+ years in security, IT, or compliance roles, including a track record of owning a security or compliance function end-to-end at a fast-growing SaaS or tech company.
  • Proven experience building or scaling a security/compliance program from an early stage — ideally including time as the sole or founding owner of the function.
  • Deep, hands-on expertise across SOC 2, the ISO 27000 series, and ideally ISO 42001.
  • Strong grounding in core IT security fundamentals — identity & access management, endpoint/device security, and cloud or network infrastructure security.
  • Practical, working knowledge of GDPR and related privacy regulation (ePrivacy or similar).
  • Experience presenting security posture, risk, and roadmap to executives, boards, or investors.
  • Experience building and/or managing a team — or a clear point of view on how you'd grow one as the function scales.
  • Comfortable owning budget and vendor decisions at a strategic level, not just executing against someone else's plan.
  • A strong cross-functional operator and executive communicator, bridging Security, IT, Legal/Privacy, Engineering, and GTM.

Skills

Required:Security strategy & leadershipSecurity architecture (IAM, endpoint, cloud/network)Compliance & certifications (SOC 2, ISO 27001/27017/27018, ISO 42001)AI governance & riskPrivacy operations (GDPR, DPIAs, RoPA, DSR)Vendor risk management & contractingTeam building & leadershipExecutive communication & reporting

Benefits

  • Competitive compensation, benefits, and meaningful equity.
Last updated Sep 9, 2026. Interested? Apply on the company site.
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About Wordsmith

Wordsmith — AI for In-House Legal Teams

Wordsmith is the AI platform built for in-house legal teams. Draft, review, and research contracts faster — with answers your team can trust.

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