Commercial Counsel

Khan Academy; United States; Remote; USD 143,000 - 171,000; Full time

Job summary

Khan Academy seeks a Commercial Counsel to negotiate contracts and enhance legal processes in the rapidly evolving EdTech landscape. The role requires a JD with 4-6 years of experience, focused on commercial sales and student data privacy. The ideal candidate will excel in a partnership-oriented environment and have a strong commitment to the mission of providing free world-class education.

Benefits

Competitive salaries

Ample paid time off

Remote-first culture

Generous parental leave

401(k) + 4% matching

Comprehensive insurance

Qualifications

• 4-6 years of legal practice experience, including in-house.
• Ability to manage expectations and build partnerships.
• Solid foundation in student data privacy regulations.

Responsibilities

• Negotiate commercial contracts for school district sales.
• Develop templates and playbooks for scaling legal processes.
• Provide support on NDAs, vendor agreements, and compliance.

Skills

Commercial sales contracting

Data protection

Privacy law expertise

Risk analysis

Project partnership

Education

JD from an accredited law school

Certification in privacy or data security (CIPP or similar)

Job description

ABOUT KHAN ACADEMY

Khan Academy is a nonprofit with the mission to deliver a free, world-class education to anyone, anywhere. Our proven learning platform offers free, high-quality supplemental learning content and practice that cover Pre-K - 12th grade and early college core academic subjects, focusing on math and science. We have over 181 million registered learners globally and are committed to improving learning outcomes for students worldwide, focusing on learners in historically under-resourced communities.

OUR COMMUNITY

Our students, teachers, and parents come from all walks of life, and so do we.Our team includes people from academia, traditional/non-traditional education, big tech companies, and tiny startups. We hire great people from diverse backgrounds and experiences because it makes our company stronger.We value diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging as necessary to achieve our mission and impact the communities we serve.We know that transforming education starts in-house with learning about ourselves and our colleagues. We strive to be world-class in investing in our people and commit to developing you as a professional.

THE ROLE

We’re a mission-driven team passionate about Education Technology (EdTech), responsible innovation, and student data privacy. As a Commercial Counsel, you won’t just help negotiate contracts - you’ll be a builder with a material impact. You’ll play a direct role in shaping our playbooks and processes that enable Khan Academy to scale our impact for learners, their families and schools. You will work with other members of our Commercial Legal Team, reporting into our Associate General Counsel. Fundamentally, we care about why and how things get done with high integrity, and not that they simply get done. If you thrive in ever evolving sectors, enjoy rolling up your sleeves, and want your legal work to make a difference, we invite you to consider joining our team.

What You’ll Do

• Negotiate commercial contracting for school district sales and vendor engagements - by drafting, reviewing, and negotiating service agreements and data processing addenda
• Be a doer by contributing to and building templates, playbooks, training materials, documentation generally, and workflows that unlock long-term scale
• Partner cross-functionally with Sales, Security, Support, and Philanthropy teams to negotiate partnerships with regulated entities
• Own the legal and compliance aspects of RFP submissions, including reviewing ancillary documents with internal parties
• Act as a first-line business partner to one or more functional teams within the organization
• Provide timely, thoughtful support on NDAs, vendor agreements, and other commercial matters
• Embrace the unknown by stepping into new challenges with a problem-solving mindset and help where help is needed

WHAT YOU BRING

• A JD from an accredited law school, with an active member in good standing of at least one state bar
• 4-6 years of practice legal experience, including in-house experience
• Strength in commercial sales contracting, including SaaS agreements and regulated industries, with attention to detail, consistency and efficiency
• A growth mindset and builder mentality
• Solid foundation in (or strong appetite for researching and developing expertise in) privacy, data protection, and security
• Ability to act as a partner with others on small and large scale projects, provide constructive feedback and learn from others in a nimble organization
• Adept at analyzing, assessing, and communicating risks by offering practical solutions to manage risk
• Able to manage expectations and build strong relationships cross-functionally
• Develop and maintain a deep understanding of student data privacy regulations (FERPA, COPPA and similar state laws) that impact our operations
• Interest in the education sector, and making a positive difference in the lives of millions of learners, parents, and teachers
• Certification in privacy or data security (CIPP or similar) is preferred but not required
• Motivated by the Khan Academy mission “to provide a free world-class education for anyone, anywhere"
• Proven cross-cultural competency skills demonstrating self-awareness, awareness of other, and the ability to adopt inclusive perspectives, attitudes, and behaviors to drive inclusion and belonging throughout the organization

THE INTERVIEW PROCESS

Here’s more information on what to expect from the interview process. The bulk of time will focus on you and your past experiences. We will be asking behavioral based questions that involve you giving examples of what you have done in the past. In your examples please be specific; describe the situation that led up to your actions, what you did (your behavior), and what happened as a result. Take your time. There are no right or wrong answers. We will leave some time at the end of our conversation for your questions. We will let you know after every step whether or not you’ll be moving forward.

The team will review your resume

Our Recruiter will hop on the phone with you for 30 minutes to learn more about your background and ask, “Why Khan Academy?”

You’ll engage in a conversation with our Associate General Counsel

You’ll provide feedback to a Google document

You’ll virtually meet the Legal team for a group interview

You’ll join the head of District Sales and the head of Security for a business partner interview

You'll connect with our General Counsel

Our Associate General Counsel will chat with your references

PERKS AND BENEFITS

We may be a non-profit, but we reward our talented team extremely well! We offer:

• Competitive salaries
• Ample paid time off as needed – Your well-being is a priority.
• Remote-first culture - that caters to your time zone, with open flexibility as needed, at times
• Generous parental leave
• An exceptional team that trusts you and gives you the freedom to do your best
• The chance to put your talents towards a deeply meaningful mission and the opportunity to work on high-impact products that are already defining the future of education
• Opportunities to connect through affinity, ally, and social groups
• And we offer all those other typical benefits as well: 401(k) + 4% matching & comprehensive insurance, including medical, dental, vision, and life

At Khan Academy we are committed to fair and equitable compensation practices, the well-being of our employees, and our Khan community. This belief is why we have built out a robust Total Rewards package that includes competitive base salaries, and extensive benefits and perks to support physical, mental, and financial well-being.

The target salary range for this position is $143,200 - $170,760 USD / $193,508 - $230,526 CAN. The pay range for this position is a general guideline only. The salary offered will depend on internal pay equity and the candidate’s relevant skills, experience, qualifications, and job market data. Additional incentives are provided as part of the complete total rewards package, in addition to comprehensive medical and other benefits.

MORE ABOUT US

• Sal’s TED talk from 2011
• Sal’s TED talk from 2015
• Sal's TED talk from 2023
• Our team: http://www.khanacademy.org/about/the-team

OUR COMPANY VALUES

Live & breathe learners

We deeply understand and empathize with our users. We leverage user insights, research, and experience to build content, products, services, and experiences that our users trust and love. Our success is defined by the success of our learners and educators.

Take a stand

As a company, we have conviction in our aspirational point of view of how education will evolve. The work we do is in service to moving towards that point of view. However, we also listen, learn and flex in the face of new data, and commit to evolving this point of view as the industry and our users evolve.

Embrace diverse perspectives

We are a diverse community. We seek out and embrace a diversity of voices, perspectives and life experiences leading to stronger, more inclusive teams and better outcomes. As individuals, we are committed to bringing up tough topics and leaning into different points of view with curiosity. We actively listen, learn and collaborate to gain a shared understanding. When a decision is made, we commit to moving forward as a united team.

Work responsibly and sustainably

We understand that achieving our audacious mission is a marathon, so we set realistic timelines and we focus on delivery that also links to the bigger picture. As a non-profit, we are supported by the generosity of donors as well as strategic partners, and understand our responsibility to our finite resources. We spend every dollar as though it were our own. We are responsible for the impact we have on the world and to each other. We ensure our team and company stay healthy and financially sustainable.

Bring out the joy

We are committed to making learning a joyful process. This informs what we build for our users and the culture we co-create with our teammates, partners and donors.

Cultivate learning mindset

We believe in the power of growth for learners and for ourselves. We constantly learn and teach to improve our offerings, ourselves, and our organization. We learn from our mistakes and aren’t afraid to fail. We don't let past failures or successes stop us from taking future bold action and achieving our goals.

Deliver wow

We insist on high standards and deliver delightful, effective end-to-end experiences that our users can rely on. We choose to focus on fewer things — each of which aligns to our ambitious vision — so we can deliver high-quality experiences that accelerate positive measurable learning with our strategic partners.

We are committed to equal employment opportunity regardless of race, color, ancestry, religion, sex, gender, gender identity or expression, national origin, sexual orientation, age, citizenship, marital status, disability, or Veteran status. We value diversity, equity, and inclusion, and we encourage candidates from historically underrepresented groups to apply.

As part of this commitment, Khan Academy will ensure that persons with disabilities are provided reasonable accommodations for the hiring process. If reasonable accommodation is needed, please contact [e-mail]