Associate General Counsel

Canals; New York (NY); Remote; USD 180,000 - 280,000; Full time

Job summary

Canals, a growing software company serving wholesale distributors, is seeking its first General Counsel to own the commercial contracts function end-to-end and advise across the business on risk and opportunity.

You’ll draft complex enterprise SaaS/AI agreements, build templates and a negotiation playbook, manage privacy, data governance, and vendor agreements, and partner with Sales, Product, Engineering and Finance.

Qualifications

• JD from an accredited law school, and an active state bar membership in good standing
• 4-8 years of experience, including at least 2-3 years at an Am Law 100 law firm in the transactional/commercial practice area
• Deep expertise in commercial contract drafting and negotiation—you’ve handled complex deals and know where the real risk lives
• Demonstrated ability to work independently, prioritize competing demands, and make judgment calls without hand-holding
• Clear, direct communicator—you write and speak in plain language

Responsibilities

• Draft, negotiate, and close enterprise SaaS/AI agreements, including relevant addenda and schedules (think DPAs)
• Build and maintain contract templates and a negotiation playbook that empowers the sales team to move deals faster
• Triage inbound redlines efficiently and establish contract review SLAs
• Own day-to-day privacy compliance and data governance strategy
• Manage vendor and partner agreements, including software licenses and professional services contracts
• Serve as the embedded legal partner for Sales & Marketing, Product, Engineering and Finance
• Identify legal risks early in the product development cycle and advise on mitigation without killing velocity
• Build and refine the legal ops infrastructure, including contract management tooling and intake processes
• Help to identify when to use outside counsel, and manage those relationships

Skills

Commercial contracts drafting

Negotiation

Plain language communication

Independent work

Judgment under pressure

Education

Juris Doctor (JD)

Job description

About Canals

Canals builds software for wholesale distributors, helping them operate more efficiently through automation and AI.

Our customers are the companies responsible for moving the materials that power the real economy; electrical supplies, plumbing products, roofing materials, HVAC equipment, and more. Every day, thousands of people rely on Canals to help process orders, manage purchasing, handle accounts payable, and streamline critical business workflows.

We're a profitable, rapidly growing company with a team of roughly 140 people distributed across North and South America. We care deeply about building great products, hiring exceptional people, and creating an environment where talented individuals can do the best work of their careers.

The Opportunity

Our legal function is a competitive advantage—not a bottleneck—and we're looking for someone who lives that philosophy. As our first AGC, you'll be the second lawyer in the building. You'll own our commercial contracts function end-to-end, handle a wide range of legal matters across the business, and build the processes and playbooks that let us scale without slowing down. You'll advise every vertical within the business, translating legal risk and business opportunity into plain, approachable language. As the General Counsel's principal legal partner, you will receive broad exposure to commercial, corporate, employment, compliance, and strategic legal matters, creating an exceptional opportunity to develop the skills and judgment necessary to become a future General Counsel.

This is not a role for someone who needs clear swim lanes. You'll draft complex enterprise agreements in the morning and help a non-lawyer understand a data processing addendum in the afternoon. You'll be comfortable saying "good enough to sign" when that's the right call, and "we need to push back here" when it isn't. Perfection should rarely be the enemy of good enough, but your attention to detail must never waiver.

What You'll Own

• Draft, negotiate, and close enterprise SaaS/AI agreements, including relevant addenda and schedules (think DPAs)
• Build and maintain contract templates and a negotiation playbook that empowers the sales team to move deals faster
• Triage inbound redlines efficiently and establish contract review SLAs
• Own day-to-day privacy compliance and data governance strategy
• Manage vendor and partner agreements, including software licenses and professional services contracts
• Serve as the embedded legal partner for Sales & Marketing, Product, Engineering and Finance
• Identify legal risks early in the product development cycle and advise on mitigation without killing velocity
• Build and refine the legal ops infrastructure, including contract management tooling and intake processes
• Help to identify when to use outside counsel, and manage those relationships

Qualifications

• JD from an accredited law school, and an active state bar membership in good standing
• 4-8 years of experience, including at least 2-3 years at an Am Law 100 law firm in the transactional/commercial practice area
• Deep expertise in commercial contract drafting and negotiation—you’ve handled complex deals and know where the real risk lives
• Demonstrated ability to work independently, prioritize competing demands, and make judgment calls without hand-holding
• Clear, direct communicator—you write and speak in plain language

Preferred

• In-house experience at a high-growth tech company (Series A-C)
• Familiarity with SaaS/AI business models, cloud infrastructure agreements, and API/platform contracts
• Experience with federal, state and international data privacy frameworks and standard DPA negotiations
• Experience building in-house data privacy compliance frameworks
• Exposure to equity compensation, venture financing documentation, or M&A (even in a supporting role)

What Makes Someone Thrive Here

• Default to "here's how we get this done" vs. "here's why we can't"
• Energized by ambiguity, not paralyzed by it—you can build the framework while also shipping the deal
• Know when to go deep and when to go fast
• Take ownership seriously and proactively—if something falls through the cracks, you notice and fix it
• Can earn trust quickly with stakeholders who have little patience for slow legal processes

Why Join Canals

We're building software that solves real problems for an industry that keeps the world running. Our customers rely on our platform every day to operate their businesses.

We've found strong product-market fit and continue to grow quickly, creating opportunities for people who want to have a meaningful impact on the trajectory of a company.

We believe great people build great companies. That's why we invest heavily in hiring, development, and creating an environment where talented individuals can do the best work of their careers.

You'll work alongside ambitious, thoughtful teammates who care deeply about what they do, challenge each other directly, and have a lot of fun along the way.

We value ownership, transparency, and continuous improvement. Good ideas can come from anywhere, and people are trusted to make things happen.

We're remote-first, flexible, and distributed across North and South America, bringing together talented people from a wide range of backgrounds and experiences.

Canals.ai is an equal opportunity employer. In addition to EEO being the law, it is a policy that is fully consistent with our principles. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to status as a protected veteran or a qualified individual with a disability, or other protected status such as race, religion, color, national origin, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, genetic information, pregnancy or age.