Counsel, Commercial Transactions

Relativity; Massachusetts; Hybrid; USD 158,000 - 236,000; Full time

Job summary

Relativity is seeking a Counsel, Commercial Transactions to support its commercial contracting function and strategic business initiatives. The role focuses on drafting, reviewing, negotiating software, SaaS and hybrid cloud agreements, AI offerings, and data processing contracts.

You will partner with Sales, Security, Finance, Procurement and other stakeholders to enable growth, optimize contracting processes, and manage legal risk while leveraging AI legal tech tools.

Qualifications

• Juris Doctor from an accredited law school and active bar membership.
• Experience negotiating SaaS, software, cloud services, professional services, data processing, and enterprise commercial agreements.
• Experience supporting complex commercial contracting environments.
• Understanding of technology, cloud services, software licensing models, privacy, security and regulatory considerations.
• Experience supporting AI-enabled products and emerging technology issues.

Responsibilities

• Lead customer, procurement, strategic negotiations, and technology-related agreements including SaaS, cloud services, AI offerings, and strategic partnerships.
• Provide legal advice and business counsel on commercial and operational issues with a high-volume contract workload.
• Engage with customers to ensure they feel heard and deliver.
• Suggest and implement process improvements and standard forms to improve efficiency.
• Leverage AI legal tech tools to improve efficiency and adapt to new tools.
• Support pricing initiatives, governance projects, and commercial model optimization with Finance and business leads.
• Navigate internal approval workflows, prioritize contracts, and respond to stakeholder questions.
• Proficient with AI tools, Microsoft O365, Salesforce, Ironclad.

Skills

Commercial transactions

SaaS

ai-enabled offerings

Legal advisory

Stakeholder management

Contract negotiations

Cross-functional collaboration

Regulatory considerations

Education

Juris Doctor (JD)

Tools

MS Office

Salesforce

Ironclad

Asana

Legal research platforms

Job description

Job Overview

The Counsel, Commercial Transactions serves as a legal advisor supporting Relativity’s commercial contracting function and strategic business initiatives.

Posting Type

Remote/Hybrid

Primary Objective

Draft, review, negotiate, and advise on a broad range of customer-facing and strategic commercial transactions, with a primary focus on SaaS, software licensing, go to market arrangements, cloud services, AI-enabled offerings, data processing, and other commercial arrangements.

Secondary Objective

Partner cross-functionally with Sales, Partner, Customer Success, Security, Finance, Procurement, and other business stakeholders to enable growth, manage legal risk, develop scalable contracting processes, and support strategic initiatives.

Job Description And Requirements

Welcome to a different kind of legal team. We don't slow business down — we help it move forward. This is a team of legal professionals who are as invested in outcomes as the business teams we support. We're looking for an attorney who is excited to work at the intersection of law and business — someone who is motivated to help find a path forward using their legal expertise and by collaborating with others. You draft and negotiate with confidence, you're energized by complexity, and you want to bring solutions to the table. The ideal candidate looks at issues like puzzles to solve, knows how to turn ambiguity into clarity, surfaces issues early, and comes ready with recommendations. You treat process improvement as a competitive advantage and approach every challenge with a positive, collaborative instinct. If you're a critical thinker with a genuine love for the craft of legal work, this is your team.

Role Responsibilities

• Lead customer, procurement, strategic commercial negotiations, transactions, and technology-related legal work by drafting, reviewing and negotiating software, SaaS and hybrid, cloud services, AI-related offerings, and strategic partnership agreements. Collaborate with the sales, finance, security, IT and compliance teams to provide timely deliverables, clarify expectations and problem-solve; managing stakeholder and customer communications.
• Be a reliable and trusted advisor to our internal stakeholders by providing legal advice and business counsel on commercial, and operational legal issues, as well as providing timely and accurate responses, and negotiating a challenging volume of contracts – with issues ranging from straight-forward to complex. Identify the issues and then solve for them.
• Engage with our customers – make sure they feel listened to and heard, and above all, deliver.
• Suggest and work on improvements in processes, e.g. new standard forms or variations to enhance efficiency and align to business and product requirements.
• Exhibit agility and enjoyment working with AI legal technology tools by thriving on the efficiency they create - be flexible about trying out new ones.
• Support strategic pricing initiatives, pricing governance projects, and commercial model optimization efforts, while partnering with Finance, Global Business Operations, and business stakeholders
• Participate in our internal approval workflow system, prioritize contracts, and respond to questions from stakeholders and clients.
• Skilled knowledge working with AI tools (including legal technology tools), Microsoft O365, Salesforce and Ironclad.

Preferred Qualifications

• Four (4) to six (6) years of relevant experience in-house and/or at a law firm supporting technology transactions.
• Required: Experience negotiating SaaS, software, cloud services, professional services, data processing, and enterprise commercial agreements.
• Required: Experience supporting complex commercial contracting environments.
• Understanding of technology, including legal technology, cloud services, software licensing models, information security, privacy, intellectual property, and regulatory considerations.
• Required: Experience supporting AI-enabled products, and emerging technology issues.
• Required: Strong organizational skills and attention to detail.
• Required: Intelligence, flexibility, creativity, diligence, resourcefulness, responsiveness, and strong communications skills.
• Desirable but not required: Basic knowledge of data privacy issues and common practices in a SaaS context involving the security and processing of customer data that may include personal information.
• Desirable but not required: Experience with government technology procurement contracting, including at state, federal and local levels, including GSA, SEWP, and FAR; basic knowledge of FedRAMP and application to SaaS offerings and operations.
• Desirable but not required: Understanding of software development, computer technology, SaaS infrastructure and services, open-source communities, and intellectual property concepts and laws.
• JD degree from an accredited law school and license to practice in the United States
• Ability to research and analyze legal issues
• Solid proficiency with AI tools, legal technology tools, MS Office and legal research platforms and tools. Familiarity with Salesforce, Ironclad and Asana.

Minimum Qualifications

• Juris Doctor from an accredited law school.
• Active bar membership in good standing
• Strong organizational skills and attention to detail.
• Intelligence, flexibility, creativity, diligence, responsiveness, and strong communications skills.
• Reasonable exposure to computer and software technology concepts.
• Solid proficiency with MS Office, Salesforce, and Contract Management Software

Compensation

Relativity is committed to competitive, fair, and equitable compensation practices. This position is eligible for total compensation which includes a competitive base salary, an annual performance bonus, and long-term incentives. The expected salary range for this role is between following values: $158,000 and $236,000. The final offered salary will be based on several factors, including but not limited to the candidate's depth of experience, skill set, qualifications, and internal pay equity. Hiring at the top end of the range would not be typical, to allow for future meaningful salary growth in this position.