Senior Counsel

Overview

This role involves serving as the first in-house Senior Counsel for a growing AI-native platform focused on audit, advisory, and assurance workflows. The organization supports sophisticated audit and accounting firms operating in highly regulated environments, emphasizing data confidentiality, professional liability, and regulatory compliance. The Senior Counsel will own the legal function end-to-end, managing commercial agreements, building legal infrastructure, and advising cross-functional teams.

Responsibilities

• Negotiate and execute all commercial agreements including Master Service Agreements (MSAs), SaaS subscription agreements, Data Processing Agreements (DPAs), Business Associate Agreements (BAAs), and Non-Disclosure Agreements (NDAs) with enterprise accounting firm customers.
• Develop a risk tiering framework to calibrate legal review based on deal size and complexity, enabling the go-to-market team.
• Build and maintain a contract playbook with tiered clause positions and a standard document library to streamline contract creation.
• Utilize AI and agentic solutions to scale legal operations and build institutional memory.
• Lead AI and data licensing negotiations covering data use rights, model risk provisions, output ownership, intellectual property indemnification, and maintain the AI commercial policy framework and open source compliance program.
• Review and maintain employment agreements, contractor agreements, and offer letters; provide legal advice on multi-state and international employment compliance.
• Act as the primary legal liaison to the board on corporate governance matters, including board documentation, equity records, and corporate filings in coordination with Finance.
• Manage relationships with outside counsel for specialized legal matters such as IP litigation, securities, and M&A.

Requirements

• Juris Doctor (J.D.) degree from an accredited law school with active bar admission in good standing.
• 8-10 years of legal experience, including 3-4 years at a law firm handling diverse client types and deal structures, followed by 5-6 years in-house at a B2B SaaS company, preferably at Series B-D stage.
• Deep expertise in commercial SaaS contracts (MSAs, DPAs, BAAs, SLAs) with substantive experience in AI and data licensing negotiations.
• Proven ability to negotiate AI vendor agreements, advise on model and IP risk, and understand underlying AI technology sufficiently to negotiate effectively.
• Demonstrated experience with data privacy regulations including GDPR, CCPA, and SOC 2; credible in negotiating DPAs with enterprise customers.
• Track record of building legal infrastructure from scratch, including contract templates, playbooks, contract lifecycle management (CLM) implementations, or compliance programs that reduce cycle time and create institutional memory.
• Comfortable operating as the sole legal counsel, providing practical, business-oriented guidance and managing legal risk as a trade-off.

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience at a B2B SaaS company serving professional services, fintech, or regulated industries.
• Familiarity with agentic AI or AI infrastructure agreements.

Compensation & Benefits

• Salary range: $200,000 - $260,000 annually.
• Competitive compensation packages with meaningful equity ownership.
• Flexible paid time off.
• 401(k) retirement plan.
• Wellness benefits.
• Technology and work-from-home reimbursement.
• Flexible work schedules.

Location

Remote-first position with the company headquartered in San Francisco, CA. The role supports remote work from anywhere.