Senior Counsel, Commercial Transactions

Overview

This role is a senior legal position supporting commercial contracting and strategic business initiatives. Responsibilities include drafting, reviewing, negotiating, and advising on a broad range of customer-facing and strategic commercial transactions, 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 agreements.

Responsibilities

• Lead customer, procurement, and strategic commercial negotiations and technology-related legal work, including drafting, reviewing, and negotiating software, SaaS and hybrid, cloud services, AI-related offerings, and strategic partnership agreements.
• Collaborate with Sales, Finance, Security, IT, Compliance, Procurement, and other business stakeholders to deliver on time, clarify expectations, and problem-solve; manage stakeholder and customer communications as needed.
• Serve as a trusted advisor by providing creative, strategic legal advice and business counsel on commercial, operational, and strategic legal issues.
• Negotiate a challenging volume of contracts, ranging from straightforward to complex, including identifying issues and developing solutions.
• Engage with customers to ensure their needs are heard and addressed.
• Recommend and help implement process improvements (e.g., new standard forms or variations) to enhance efficiency and align with business and product requirements.
• Use AI-enabled legal technology tools effectively; understand which tools fit specific purposes and be willing to test and adapt as needed.
• Support and help lead 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.
• Maintain skilled working knowledge of AI tools (including legal technology tools) and proficiency with Microsoft O365, Salesforce, and Ironclad.

Requirements

• Juris Doctor from an accredited law school.
• Active bar membership in good standing.
• Strong organizational skills and attention to detail.
• Strong communications skills, with intelligence, flexibility, creativity, diligence, and responsiveness.
• 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, software, cloud services, professional services, data processing, strategic partnership, and 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.
• Demonstrated ability to research and analyze legal issues.
• Trained in and experience with contract negotiations, including commercial contracts, SaaS contracts, and related services and support agreements.
• 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 (state, federal, and local) and familiarity with GSA, SEWP, and FAR; basic knowledge of FedRAMP and its 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.
• 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.

Location

Remote/Hybrid