Corporate Counsel

Spectro Cloud; San Jose (CA); Hybrid; USD 189,000 - 218,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Competitive compensation

Equity

Medical benefits

PTO & holidays

Family leave

Office in San Jose

Job summary

Spectro Cloud seeks a Senior Corporate Counsel to support commercial transactions, corporate matters, privacy, IP, and employment for a global AI infrastructure software business. The role partners with sales, finance, product, engineering, marketing, and People teams to own matters end-to-end and scale the legal function.

You will shape playbooks, templates, and processes, and drive practical risk decisions in a fast-paced startup environment.

Qualifications

• J.D. from an accredited US law school and active membership in good standing of at least one US state bar.
• 4–8 years of post-JD legal experience, with a mix of top-tier law firm and in-house preferred.
• Experience drafting and negotiating SaaS/technology commercial agreements (MSAs, DPAs, order forms).
• Working knowledge of US privacy laws (CCPA/CPRA) and EU/UK GDPR as applied to B2B SaaS.
• Strong commercial instincts — translate legal risk into practical business advice and move deals forward.
• Excellent written and verbal communication, including explaining legal concepts to non-lawyers.
• Comfort operating with ambiguity, shifting deadlines, and prioritization.
• Experience leveraging AI systems.
• Ability to operate effectively with remote teams.

Responsibilities

• Draft, review, and negotiate a broad mix of commercial agreements (MSAs, DPAs, orders).
• Serve as day-to-day legal partner to sales, finance, procurement, and revenue ops.
• Support corporate matters including entity management, governance, and financings.
• Advise on privacy and data protection under US state laws and GDPR regimes.
• Support employment matters with People team (offers, separations, international hiring).
• Build and maintain contract playbooks, templates, and self-serve tools.
• Support IP matters including trademark management and OSS license review.
• Manage outside counsel (scoping, budgeting, quality control).
• Respond to legal inquiries, subpoenas, regulatory requests, disputes.
• Proactively improve processes and training to scale the legal function.

Skills

Commercial instincts

Verbal communication

Remote collaboration

Decision making

Education

J.D. (US law school)

US bar admission

Tools

CLM tooling

Job description

Who We Are

Spectro Cloud helps platform teams and cloud providers modernize and manage infrastructure for the AI era without adding more tools or operational complexity. With PaletteAI, enterprises, public sector organizations, neoclouds and sovereign clouds can build, govern and operate full-stack environments across VMs, Kubernetes, edge, regulated and air-gapped locations, and AI infrastructure. PaletteAI Launchpads help teams start quickly with urgent outcomes such as VMware migration, token cost control or edge modernization, then scale into enterprise-wide lifecycle management, governance and fleet operations on the same platform.

About the job

We are looking for a Senior Corporate Counsel to support commercial transactions, corporate matters, privacy, employment, IP, and the steady stream of questions that come with scaling a global infrastructure software business.

This is a high-impact, broad-scope role. You will partner directly with sales, finance, product, engineering, marketing, and people teams, and you will be expected to own matters end-to-end. We are looking for someone who is comfortable making decisions, knows when to elevate, can adapt quickly to changing priorities and needs, and treats the legal function as a business enabler rather than a checkpoint.

The team

Today, Legal is a team of one. You will be the second reporting to the Head of Legal Counsel. You will get to help shape how the Legal function operates — playbooks, templates, processes, escalation rules, and the tools we use to scale. If you are looking for a role where you can step in, build, and leave a fingerprint on a company, this is it.

What You'll Do

You will succeed in this role by embracing the realities of a startup: not everything can get done, priorities shift, and the answer is rarely in a form book. We are looking for a problem solver who is comfortable making practical, risk-calibrated calls with incomplete information, and who is willing to roll up their sleeves and go a step beyond the four corners of the role to move things forward.

Job responsibilities

• Draft, review, and negotiate a broad mix of commercial agreements, including customer subscription agreements (MSAs, EULAs, order forms), partner and reseller agreements, vendor and procurement contracts, NDAs, and DPAs.
• Serve as a day-to-day legal partner to sales, finance, procurement, and revenue operations on deal structuring, contract questions, and escalations.
• Support corporate matters including entity management, board and stockholder governance, equity administration, and financings, working closely with the Head of Legal and outside counsel.
• Advise on privacy and data protection matters under US state privacy laws, GDPR, and UK GDPR, including DPA negotiation, vendor risk review, and customer privacy inquiries.
• Support employment matters in coordination with the People team, including offer letters, separations, contractor engagements, equity and compensation questions, and international hiring.
• Help build and maintain the company's contract playbooks, templates, and self-serve tools so that the business can move quickly without sacrificing risk discipline.
• Support IP matters, including trademark portfolio management, open-source license review, and IP clauses in commercial and employment agreements.
• Manage outside counsel on discrete matters — scoping, budgeting, and quality-checking work product.
• Help respond to legal inquiries, subpoenas, regulatory requests, and disputes as they arise.
• Take initiative on the things that don't have an obvious owner — process improvements, training the business, building new playbooks — and help the legal function scale with the company.
• Research areas of the law that may not be your area of strength.

Minimum Qualifications

• J.D. from an accredited US law school and active membership in good standing of at least one US state bar.
• 4-8 years of post-JD legal experience, with a meaningful mix of top-tier law firm and in-house experience preferred.
• Demonstrated experience drafting and negotiating SaaS / technology commercial agreements, including MSAs, DPAs, and order forms.
• Working knowledge of US privacy laws (CCPA/CPRA and other state regimes) and EU/UK GDPR as applied to a B2B SaaS business.
• Strong commercial instincts - able to translate legal risk into practical business advice and move a deal forward.
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills, including the ability to explain legal concepts to non-lawyers in plain English.
• Comfort operating with ambiguity, competing priorities, and shifting deadlines - and the judgment to prioritize when not everything can get done.
• Self-starter who is willing to take initiative beyond the strict bounds of the role to help the company move forward.
• Strong organizational skills and a track record of managing a high-volume workload without dropping balls.
• Experience leveraging AI systems and technologies
• The ability to operate effectively with remote teams and manage your time efficiently.
• High integrity, sound judgment, and a sense of humor.

Preferred Qualifications

• In-house experience at a venture-backed B2B SaaS or infrastructure software company.
• Experience supporting an open-source software business, including OSS license review.
• Familiarity with cloud, Kubernetes, AI/ML, or container ecosystems - enough to talk to engineering and product without a translator.
• Experience supporting US federal and public-sector sales motions (e.g., FedRAMP, GSA, DFARS / FAR flow-downs).
• Experience with international commercial transactions and cross-border data transfer frameworks (SCCs, UK IDTA).
• Experience using contract lifecycle management (CLM) tooling and building self-serve legal workflows.
• Experience supporting corporate development activity (M&A, strategic investments, partnerships).

What We Offer

• Competitive Compensation: The On-Target Earnings for this role is $189,000-$218,000 (Base + Bonus) + Equity, commensurate with experience.
• Comprehensive Benefits: Medical, dental, and vision insurance, including 100% employer-paid base-level coverage for employees.
• Retirement Savings: Access to a company-sponsored retirement savings plan.
• Time Off: Flexible paid time off (PTO), 12 paid company holidays, and volunteer time off to support the causes you care about.
• Paid Family Leave: Up to 12 weeks of paid maternity leave and 8 weeks of paid paternity leave.
• Office Perks: Catered lunches on in-office days and a collaborative, team-oriented work environment. This location for this role is San Jose, CA. We are in office 3X a week with optional WFH the remainder of the week. Visa Support: Applicants are required to be eligible to lawfully work in the country of work; the employer is unable to provide sponsorship for this opportunity. #2026-204