Senior Counsel, Commercial Transactions

Overview

This role provides senior legal counsel for commercial transactions and strategic business initiatives. The Senior Counsel, Commercial Transactions drafts, reviews, negotiates, and advises on customer-facing and strategic commercial agreements, with a primary focus on SaaS, software licensing, strategic partnership and go-to-market arrangements, cloud services, AI-enabled offerings, data processing, and related commercial matters.

The position is Remote/Hybrid.

Responsibilities

• Lead customer, procurement, and strategic commercial negotiations and transactions, including technology-related legal work such as drafting, reviewing, and negotiating:
  • software, SaaS, and hybrid cloud services agreements
  • AI-related offerings agreements
  • strategic partnership agreements
• Partner with internal stakeholders (including Sales, Finance, Security, IT, and Compliance) to:
  • deliver on time
  • clarify expectations
  • problem-solve
  • manage stakeholder and customer communications
• Serve as a trusted internal advisor by providing creative, strategic legal advice and business counsel on commercial, operational, and strategic legal issues, while managing a challenging contract volume ranging from straightforward to complex matters.
• Identify issues and develop solutions.
• Engage with customers to ensure they feel listened to and heard, and to deliver on commitments.
• Recommend and implement improvements to contracting processes (e.g., new standard forms or variations) to enhance efficiency and align with business and product requirements.
• Use and evaluate AI legal technology tools to improve efficiency; stay agile and willing to try new tools as appropriate.
• Support strategic pricing initiatives, pricing governance projects, and commercial model optimization efforts in partnership with Finance, Global Business Operations, and business stakeholders.
• Participate in internal approval workflows, prioritize contracts, and respond to questions from stakeholders and clients.
• Demonstrate skilled working knowledge with AI tools (including legal technology tools), Microsoft O365, Salesforce, and Ironclad.

Minimum Qualifications

• Juris Doctor (JD) from an accredited law school.
• Active bar membership in good standing.
• Strong organizational skills and attention to detail.
• Intelligence, flexibility, creativity, diligence, responsiveness, and strong communications skills.
• Reasonable exposure to computer and software technology concepts.
• Solid proficiency with MS Office, Salesforce, and Contract Management Software.

Preferred Qualifications

• Eight (8) or more years of relevant experience in-house and/or at a law firm supporting technology transactions.
• Extensive experience negotiating:
  • SaaS and software agreements
  • cloud services agreements
  • professional services agreements
  • data processing agreements
  • strategic partnership agreements
  • enterprise commercial agreements
• Experience supporting complex commercial contracting environments.
• Strong understanding of technology, including legal technology, cloud services, software licensing models, information security, privacy, intellectual property, and regulatory considerations.
• Experience supporting AI-enabled products and emerging technology issues.
• Required: Trained in and experience with contract negotiations, including commercial contracts, SaaS contracts, and related services and support agreements.
• Required: Experience with complex software, SaaS and hybrid cloud agreements, master agreements, professional services agreements, and software development agreements.
• Desirable but not required: Basic knowledge of data privacy laws and practices in a SaaS context involving the security and processing of customer data that may include personal information.
• Desirable but not required: Experience with government technology procurement contracting, including at state, federal and local levels, and with regard to GSA, SEWP, and FAR; basic knowledge of FedRAMP and application to SaaS offerings and operations.
• Desirable but not required: Understanding of software development, computer technology, SaaS infrastructure and services, open-source communities, and intellectual property concepts and laws.
• JD degree from an accredited law school and license to practice in the United States.
• Ability to research and analyze legal issues.
• Solid proficiency with AI tools, legal technology tools, MS Office and legal research platforms and tools; familiarity with Salesforce, Ironclad and Asana.

Compensation & Benefits

• Eligible for total compensation including a competitive base salary, an annual performance bonus, and long-term incentives.
• Expected salary range: $183,000 to $275,000.
• Final offered salary will be based on factors including depth of experience, skill set, qualifications, and internal pay equity. Hiring at the top end of the range would not be typical to allow for future meaningful salary growth in this position.