Director, Legal

Overview

This role supports product legal functions for a technology organization, partnering with engineering, product management, and other business teams across all phases of the product development life cycle. The position requires strong judgment and the ability to understand products and business needs.

The role is based in Research Triangle Park, North Carolina, but other locations may be considered.

Responsibilities

• Partner with product teams across the product development life cycle, including conception, design, MVP definition, roadmap, commercial release, support, and end-of-life.
• Embed within the product organization to support legal compliance and other requirements.
• Advise Product Management on legal and regulatory topics, including open source, privacy by design, data inventory and flow, intellectual property protection, and product and data security (such as Executive Order).
• Build and participate in scalable, effective processes for legal review and launch of new products.
• Structure and draft product-specific terms for inclusion in standard commercial templates, including drafting custom templates (such as SDK licenses, API or specification licenses), terms of use, and product policies.
• Assist Product Management and Finance on revenue recognition, COGS, and other financial issues (including software, hardware, recurring services/SaaS, leases, etc.), and support updates to templates, processes, and playbooks as business models evolve.
• Identify interdependencies to support alignment and approvals across business, technical, and legal stakeholders; help balance enabling the business with managing associated risks.
• Advise, structure, draft, and negotiate technology transactions, including partner agreements, OEM relationships, inbound technology licenses, joint development and collaboration, joint solutions, strategic alliances, software-as-a-service, technology acquisitions, and professional/hosted services.
• Develop a legal framework for planned and unplanned feature and product deprecation and obsolescence.
• Drive consistency of terms flowing from upstream licensors to downstream customers, including response plans for epidemic failures and product recalls, and propagation through customer and vendor agreements.
• Assist the privacy legal team, Engineering, Sales, and Finance to evaluate data usage opportunities centered around products and services and optimize data rights for use.
• Assist the IP group to identify offensive and defensive patent gaps and opportunities from a product perspective.
• Maintain end-to-end bill of materials for each product/service.

Requirements

• JD and membership in good standing of at least one state bar in the US.
• 12–15 or more years of legal experience in a major law firm or in-house legal department supporting product-related legal issues and technology transactions/licenses.
• 5 or more years of people management experience.
• Strong work ethic and self-starter mindset.
• Flexibility in working hours in a global enterprise.
• Strategic thinking with strong attention to detail; ability to simultaneously manage multiple projects.
• Strong project management and organizational skills; ability to work well under pressure and meet deadlines.
• Excellent interpersonal skills and ability to work collaboratively.
• Strong communication skills, written and oral.
• Commitment to diversity, inclusion, and belonging.
• Ability to travel domestically and internationally.

Preferred Qualifications

None specified.

Compensation & Benefits

• Target salary range: 227,800 - 338,800 USD.
• Salary offered will be determined by location, qualifications, experience, and education and may be outside of this range.
• Final compensation packages are competitive and in line with industry standards and include a comprehensive benefits package. Benefits may include:
  • Health Insurance
  • Life Insurance
  • Retirement or Pension Plans
  • Paid Time Off
  • Various Leave options
  • Performance-Based Incentives
  • Employee stock purchase plan
  • Restricted stocks (RSUs)
• Benefits may vary by country and region and are subject to regional variations and governed by local laws, regulations, and company policies.

Location

• Research Triangle Park, North Carolina (other locations may be considered).

Equal Opportunity Employer

The employer is committed to Equal Employment Opportunity (EEO) and compliance with federal, state, and local laws prohibiting employment discrimination based on age, race, color, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, religion, disability or genetic information, pregnancy, protected veteran status, and any other protected classification.

Hybrid Work

A hybrid working environment is used for most roles, with some level of in-office and/or in-person expectations shared during the recruitment process.

Application & AI Disclosure

• Applications are reviewed through the organization’s website.
• For select roles, some stages of the hiring process may use artificial intelligence tools to help evaluate applications and candidate selection, supporting human decision-making.