Director of Legal

Overview

The organization is seeking its first dedicated in-house Legal Director to own the commercial contracting function that keeps deals moving across client insertion orders, NDAs, DPAs, and partner and vendor agreements—almost entirely under US law.

This role reports directly to the CEO. Responsibilities include triaging employment and general legal matters as they arise and managing the outside firms relied on for matters beyond day-to-day commercial contracts. The position also works within the legal standards of the parent company and partners with the parent legal team on cross-entity and higher-complexity matters.

Responsibilities

Commercial Contracting

• Draft, negotiate, and close client insertion orders (IOs), NDAs, and partner and vendor agreements under US law
• Own data processing agreements (DPAs), balancing client and regulatory requirements against the organization’s actual data flows and vendor stack
• Build and maintain a library of templates, playbooks, and fallback positions for IOs, NDAs, and DPAs to reduce turnaround time for common deal types
• Build and run AI tools and workflows to process template-driven documents (e.g., NDAs), keeping legal review for non-standard terms

Legal Operations & Outside Counsel

• Triage incoming employment and general legal questions; resolve straightforward matters directly and route the rest to outside counsel with clear scoping
• Manage outside law firms by controlling spend, scoping matters, and holding firms accountable to timelines and cost
• Serve as the first point of contact for legal questions across the organization, providing the CEO and leadership team with clear risk visibility before issues become decision points

Growth & Partnership

• Partner with sales, partnerships, and finance to understand deal structures and vendor relationships well enough to identify issues before they reach contract stage
• Coordinate with the parent company’s legal team on matters that cross entities or require broader legal support
• Build the judgment and track record to expand the legal remit as organizational needs scale

Requirements

Must-Have

• JD and active bar admission in at least one US state
• At least 3 years of post-JD experience in commercial or transactional practice (in-house or law firm), with hands-on drafting and negotiation of commercial agreements (IOs, NDAs, MSAs, or equivalent)
• Direct experience negotiating DPAs and working knowledge of US state data privacy frameworks (including CCPA) and GDPR as they apply to vendor and partner data flows
• Demonstrated ability to operate independently under US law (one-person legal function reporting directly to the CEO, with no internal legal team for day-to-day support)
• Experience managing or coordinating with outside counsel, including scoping matters and controlling spend
• Ability to manage commercial disputes and aspects of negotiations with minimal supervision

Nice-to-Have

• Working familiarity with employment law fundamentals in California, New York, and other states where the organization has or expects significant headcount (enough to triage confidently, not necessarily to resolve independently)
• Experience at a media, adtech, SaaS, or programmatic advertising company where IOs and partner agreements are high-volume, recurring contract types
• Prior in-house experience

Location

• Bay Area, CA preferred; New York, NY is equally good
• Los Angeles and Las Vegas are also acceptable
• Fully remote is possible for the right candidate, but co-location with the executive team is preferred

Compensation & Benefits

• Compensation and benefits are not specified in the provided job description.