Senior Counsel (Strategic Partnerships)

Coursera; Ireland; Hybrid; EUR 120,000 - 180,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Tuition coverage

Medical insurance

Parental leave (up to 16 weeks)

Make-a-thon events

Flexible time off

Hybrid/Remote work options

Stock options

Job summary

Coursera seeks a senior in-house commercial lawyer to own and drive complex agreements across global B2B, channel, and technology alliances. You will partner with GTM leadership, Product, and Legal to enable scalable, compliant growth while balancing risk and commercial objectives in fast-moving deal environments.

You will lead drafting and negotiation of licensing, API, integration, and distribution agreements, advise on go-to-market structures, and help build scalable templates and approval

Qualifications

• Must be a qualified lawyer with substantial post-qualification experience.
• Experience negotiating complex B2B technology agreements, including GSI, channel, reseller, alliance, and enterprise platform deals.

Responsibilities

• Draft, review, and negotiate complex commercial agreements across global partner ecosystems.
• Advise senior stakeholders on deal structuring, risk allocation, and commercial terms.

Skills

Transactional expertise

Commercial pragmatism

Executive communication

AI governance

Stakeholder influence

Education

Law degree

Legal qualification

Tools

Contract management systems

AI tools usage

Job description

• This is a senior in-house legal role for a commercially driven lawyer ready to take commercial legal programs work with partners and negotiate technology deals
• The role reports directly to the Head of Commercial Legal, Strategic Growth
• We operate a hybrid go-to-market model that combines demand-led direct sales, solution-led growth, and indirect distribution through a tiered partner and channel ecosystem
• We reach organizations globally through technology alliances, GSI relationships, channel partners, and reseller arrangements — powering learning and capability-building at scale. Legal sits at the center of all three motions
• You will be a dedicated legal partner for B2B Enterprise, Technology Alliances, and Channel and Distribution Partnerships, supporting the development and negotiation of the indirect partner ecosystem that underpins our scalable distribution
• Take primary ownership of drafting, reviewing, and negotiating complex commercial agreements across global system integrator arrangements, channel partner and reseller agreements, technology alliance and co-sell agreements, enterprise SaaS and platform licensing, API and technical integration agreements, and distribution and go-to-market partnerships
• Advise senior business stakeholders, including GTM leadership, and Product teams, on deal structuring, risk allocation, commercial terms, and multi-jurisdictional GTM considerations, serving as the day-to-day legal lead who positions Legal as a genuine business enabler
• Partner with the Product Legal team to develop and refine legal frameworks that support a self-serve and low-touch commercial motion, including API access agreements, developer terms, usage-based licensing structures, and SMB onboarding frameworks, contributing to a standardized, scalable approach that enables businesses to engage and onboard with speed and minimal friction
• Provide clear, solution-focused guidance on AI-related commercial arrangements, data-sharing agreements, and emerging technology implementations as they enter the enterprise deal mix
• Own and continuously develop the suite of enterprise and channel contracting templates, playbooks, negotiation guidelines, and approval frameworks used across the partnerships function
• Design scalable legal infrastructure that empowers fast-moving deal teams to execute efficiently while maintaining sound risk controls across both direct and indirect channels
• Act as a primary legal partner for the commercialisation of GTM products, advising on go-to-market structures, route-to-market models, pricing and packaging frameworks, and the legal terms that govern how products are brought to market directly and through third parties
• Draft and negotiate agreements that govern the embedding, bundling, or distribution of our products within third-party platforms, marketplaces, and ecosystems, including white-label arrangements, OEM agreements, co-branded offerings, and platform integration terms
• Advise on licensing boundaries and revenue-sharing constructs as the product suite evolves and is commercialised through an expanding range of direct and indirect channels
• Work closely with Product, Product Legal, Marketing, and Sales to ensure commercial and legal structures keep pace with product development and new route-to-market initiatives, flagging and resolving legal considerations early in the product lifecycle

Benefits

• Coursera covers the cost of tuition so you can earn a free master’s degree and develop new skills. That’s on top of free, lifelong access to courses and certificates on the platform
• We offer medical, dental, and vision insurance for you and your dependents. Plus, free access to counseling and mental health services
• Get up to 16 weeks of fully-paid parental leave when you grow your family and bring a new child into your life
• We host Make-a-thon events twice a year to promote community and innovation. During Make-a-thon, you’ll dedicate time to attend workshops, work on passion projects, and pursue ideas outside of your day-to-day work
• Take paid time off when you need it. We have time off policies that promote flexibility so you can tailor your work schedule when life calls
• Our flexibility extends to where you work. You can choose to work from home, work from one of our offices, or try a combination of the two
• Employees earn company stock, so you can own what we build together and share in our success

• This is a role for someone who combines deep transactional expertise with strong business instincts, operates with a high degree of independence, and is ready to grow into broader leadership responsibility within a scaling legal function
• A track record of using approved AI tools to increase legal productivity, and staying current on AI governance obligations
• Executive-level communication skills: able to distill complex issues into clear, actionable guidance and influence stakeholders from SMB to large enterprise and C-suite
• Exceptional business judgement and a proven ability to balance legal risk with commercial objectives in fast-moving deal environments
• An effective communicator and influencer, comfortable advising and challenging senior stakeholders across Sales, Product, and Executive leadership
• A collaborative team player who understands their place in a broader legal function and actively supports those around them, including upward to leadership
• A proven track record negotiating complex B2B technology agreements including GSI, channel, reseller, alliance, and enterprise platform deals, ideally within or alongside global organisations
• Demonstrable experience advising on product commercialisation, route-to-market strategy, or third-party distribution and embedding arrangements
• Highly organised and self-directed, with a demonstrated ability to manage a high-volume deal workload across competing priorities and deadlines with minimal supervision
• Qualified lawyer with 10+ years of post-qualification experience, including meaningful in-house tenure at a technology, SaaS, or enterprise software company
• Comfortable operating across both high-touch enterprise deals and high-volume standardised indirect channel frameworks, understanding that each requires a different legal posture
• Genuinely commercial in your approach: able to identify and manage risk pragmatically, find workable solutions under pressure, and avoid being a blocker to growth