Commercial Counsel

Pogo; New York (NY); On-site; USD 175,000 - 250,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Unlimited PTO

20 days vacation policy

Job summary

Pogo is hiring its first in-house Commercial Counsel to scale our commercial contracting and lay the foundations of our legal function. You’ll partner with our GTM team to negotiate agreements with some of the world’s largest companies, while owning internal resolution of legal questions across the business.

With 4–8 years of legal experience and a JD plus active US license, you’ll craft templates, playbooks, and workflows; handle MSAs, DPAs, NDAs, and enterprise SaaS deals; and help the company

Qualifications

• JD from an accredited law school.
• Active license to practice law in the US.
• Experience independently negotiating complex enterprise technology, SaaS, and data agreements.

Responsibilities

• Own commercial contracting end-to-end, including MSAs, Order Forms, DPAs, NDAs, vendor and partnership agreements.
• Partner with GTM to close complex enterprise deals while balancing risk and speed.
• Build templates, playbooks, workflows, and automations to scale the legal function.
• Support broader legal matters across privacy, product, data, employment, corporate, insurance, compliance, IP, and disputes.
• Take increasing ownership of Pogo’s legal function as we grow.

Skills

Commercial contracting

Negotiation

SaaS agreements

Data agreements

AI and automation

Education

JD

US bar admission

Job description

About Your Role

We’re hiring our first in-house Commercial Counsel to help Pogo scale our commercial contracting and build the foundations of our legal function.

You’ll partner closely with our GTM team to negotiate agreements with some of the world’s largest companies, while increasingly becoming the go‑to person for legal questions across Pogo. You’ll work alongside experienced fractional and specialist outside counsel when needed, but you’ll own getting legal problems solved internally.

• Own commercial contracting end-to-end, including MSAs, Order Forms, DPAs, NDAs, vendor and partnership agreements.
• Partner with GTM to get complex enterprise deals across the finish line while balancing risk, speed, and commercial reality.
• Build templates, playbooks, workflows, and automations that help Pogo scale.
• Support broader legal matters across privacy, product, data, employment, corporate, insurance, compliance, IP, and disputes — bringing in specialists when needed.
• Take increasing ownership of Pogo’s legal function as we grow.

About You

• You have 4–8 years of legal experience, ideally combining strong law firm training with in‑house experience at a high‑growth technology company, with a focus on commercial contracting.
• You have a JD from an accredited law school and active license to practice law in the US.
• You have significant experience independently negotiating complex enterprise technology, SaaS, and data agreements.
• You have excellent legal and commercial judgment — you know what matters, what doesn't, and when to elevate.
• You communicate complex legal issues clearly and give practical, actionable recommendations.
• You’re comfortable in front of customers. You can represent Pogo confidently in negotiations, build trust with customer legal and procurement teams, and work through difficult issues without creating unnecessary friction.
• You thrive with ownership and ambiguity and enjoy building systems rather than waiting for established processes.
• You’re excited to use AI and automation to build a modern legal function.

Bonus: Experience with privacy/data/product counseling, legal ops and automation, or broader matters across employment, corporate, insurance, compliance, and IP.

Why you might be excited about this opportunity

• You're currently one lawyer on a larger legal team and are ready to become the person internally responsible for making sure legal problems get solved.
• This is our first dedicated in‑house legal hire. You'll have an opportunity to shape our playbooks, processes, tools, outside‑counsel relationships, and ultimately how the legal function operates.
• We sell to sophisticated enterprise customers, which means you'll be directly involved in negotiations that matter to Pogo's growth.
• You’ll have the opportunity to take on increasingly broad legal ownership, while still having experienced fractional counsel and specialists to lean on when you need support or deeper expertise.
• We're excited about using AI, automation, and thoughtful processes to keep legal lean and highly effective as Pogo grows.
• We're looking for someone who can be an excellent Commercial Counsel today and wants their scope to expand substantially as Pogo scales.

Why you might not be excited about us

• There’s very little structure (yet). As our first in‑house lawyer, you’ll be expected to build the playbooks, processes, templates, and systems that form the foundation of our legal function as we scale.
• This isn’t a “quarterback outside counsel” role. You’ll have access to experienced fractional and specialist counsel when needed, but you’ll be expected to be hands‑on — drafting, redlining, negotiating, advising the business, and building the legal function yourself. If you’re looking for a GC‑style role where you primarily manage outside firms to execute the work, this probably won’t be the right fit.
• You’ll need to thrive in ambiguity. Legal questions at Pogo won’t always have obvious answers or established precedent. We’re looking for someone who can assess the risk, develop a point of view, and help the business move forward.
• You’ll wear a lot of hats. Commercial contracting will be your core focus, but you’ll also encounter questions across privacy, product, employment, corporate, insurance, compliance, IP, and more. If you prefer a highly specialized legal role with narrow ownership, this probably won’t be the right fit.
• We expect more than 9 to 5. Raw hours make an impact at our current stage. That said, we trust each team member to create a flexible schedule that allows them to be most productive while accommodating priorities outside of work. We also strongly encourage time off: in addition to unlimited PTO, we have a minimum 20‑day vacation policy.

Compensation Range: $175K - $250K