Director, Legal

Overview

This role supports product legal functions and partners 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 product and business needs.

The role is based in Research Triangle Park, North Carolina, and will also consider other locations.

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 help ensure 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 to be incorporated into standard commercial templates; draft 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 (e.g., software, hardware, recurring services/SAAS, leases). Partner on updates to templates, processes, and playbooks as business models evolve.
• Identify interdependencies across stakeholders to support alignment and approvals among business, technical, and legal groups; help balance enabling the business with managing associated risks.
• Lead legal work involving technology transactions, including partner agreements, OEM relationships, inbound technology licenses, joint development/collaboration/joint solutions, strategic alliances, software-as-a-service, technology acquisitions, and professional/hosted services.
• Develop the legal framework for planned and unplanned feature and product deprecation and obsolescence.
• Drive consistency of terms flowing from upstream licensors to downstream customers, including establishing response plans for epidemic failures and product recalls and propagating them through both customer and vendor agreements.
• Assist privacy legal, Engineering, Sales, and Finance to evaluate data usage opportunities centered around products and services and optimize data rights.
• Assist 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.

Qualifications Required

• 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 with growth mindset.
• Flexibility in working hours in a global enterprise.
• Strategic thinking with strong attention to detail; ability to manage multiple projects simultaneously.
• Strong project management and organizational skills; ability to work well under pressure and deadlines.
• Excellent team player and interpersonal skills.
• Strong personal communication skills, written and oral.
• Commitment to diversity, inclusion, and belonging.
• Ability to travel domestically and internationally.

Compensation & Benefits

• Target salary range: 227,800 - 338,800 USD.
• Salary offered will be determined by candidate location, qualifications, experience, and education, and may be outside of this range.
• Final compensation packages are competitive 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, and/or restricted stocks (RSU’s). Benefits are subject to regional variations and governed by local laws, regulations, and organization policies.
• Benefits may vary by country and region; additional details will be provided during recruitment.

Location

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

Equal Opportunity

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 other protected classifications.

Hiring Process Notes

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