Legal Director - San Francisco (883-SLS) at Solutus Legal Search, LLC

Our client, a well-funded private technology company with marquee investors, seeks to hire a Legal Director to lead their in-house legal function. Reporting to the company’s CEO, this attorney will lead the legal function and help ensure that the company is making the correct decisions to advance and protect the company’s business and legal interests.

Our client’s headquarters are in San Francisco. This hire may will be expected to be in the San Francisco office 3-4 days per week and as necessary.

The ideal candidate will have 9-12+ years of legal experience, with prior or current experience in Enterprise SaaS and/or EdTech industries. Management consulting experience is a plus but is not required. This person will have responsibility for day-to-day transactional work and counseling on general corporate matters such as employment, governance, and various business initiatives.

The ideal candidate will be a first principles thinker—not a playbook follower. They will be an independent thinker, with a point of view that incorporates high IQ and EQ. This person will be comfortable advocating for a position, and then committing to the direction chosen. They will be a problem solver, operate with a sense of urgency, and will be a hard worker who is proactive and takes ownership of their responsibilities and actions. This person, who by virtue of experience and commitment to success, does what is right without close oversight.

Responsibilities

• Advise the executive team, senior management, and the board on various matters such as risk mitigation, employment law, and general compliance.
• Prepare legal documents such as employment contracts, employment and separation agreements, vendor agreements, etc.
• Maintain up-to-date information on the company’s operations in order to craft and review legal strategies as needed.
• Act as a liaison with outside counsel and internal teams to provide legal and strategic support across the company.
• Oversee all company legal activities and analyze legal risks and opportunities for the company considering evolving and dynamic regulatory and competitive environments.
• Develop internal legal processes based on the company’s needs.

Required Qualifications

• Juris Doctor from an accredited law school and admitted to practice law (or RIHC) in California.
• Generalist with strong background in contracts (experienced producing contracts from scratch for new products).
• Extensive experience with employment law, with at least 2+ years of experience working in-house at a small to mid-sized tech company and with minimal reliance on outside counsel.
• Not required, but candidates with experience in-house at a startup company in a regulated space (e.g., lending, payments) will be advantaged.
• Knowledge of laws, legal codes, and government regulations with exceptional research skills as it pertains to remaining updated on those laws and regulations.
• Ability to review, summarize, and provide guidance to leaders concisely.
• Experience analyzing information and evaluating results to solve complex business problems.
• Demonstrated experience successfully developing a legal team from the ground up.
• Comfortability working in a fast-paced environment doing cross functional work while maintaining a high sense of urgency with a strategic approach to prioritizing requests.
• Exemplify a leadership style that is inclusive, collaborative, and encouraging while also maintaining an ownership mindset in terms of driving deliverables.
• Excellent verbal and written communication skills.
• The role is expected to be in-office (downtown San Francisco) 3-4 days per week.

This is an incredible opportunity to join a rapidly growing company poised for significant success. Compensation is targeted at a base salary range of $240,000 to $280,000, plus bonus, equity and benefits. Base salary and overall compensation will be determined by number of years of directly relevant experience and history of success.

Solutus has been retained as the exclusive representative for this desirable search. Resumes submitted directly to our client will be forwarded to Solutus for review and evaluation.

Given the heavy volume of applicants, we will only respond directly to applicants if their background is aligned with our client’s hiring criteria. We appreciate your understanding.

Ref. #883-SLS