Lead Counsel Commercial

Semgrep; San Francisco (CA); On-site; USD 264,000 - 330,000; Full time

Job summary

Semgrep is hiring a Corporate Counsel to own and drive commercial transactions across the business, reporting to the COO and collaborating with the Legal Innovation and Contracts Manager to scale legal processes in a fast-moving, AI-driven environment.

The ideal candidate will oversee SaaS, MSAs, DPAs, and other agreements, while guiding internal teams on data privacy, security, and IP. A California bar admission and 3+ years in a high-growth SaaS or tech setting are preferred.

Qualifications

• 3+ years of legal experience in a high-growth SaaS or technology company.
• Understand data privacy, data security, software development, AI, and IP.
• Experience with developer tools, cybersecurity, open-source software, and infrastructure software.
• Ability to implement AI-based processes and legal tech.
• Self-starter with strong business judgment and independent ownership.

Responsibilities

• Lead negotiation and execution of customer and vendor agreements (SaaS, MSAs, DPAs, NDAs, procurement).
• Advise internal stakeholders, balancing legal risk with business priorities.
• Define commercial legal operations, contracting workflows, templates and playbooks.
• Evaluate and implement AI within legal workflows, including contract review and automation.
• Advise on legal issues related to SaaS, data privacy, data security, AI, and IP.
• Support Product, Security, and Engineering on customer-facing legal considerations.
• Stay current on AI, developer tools, cybersecurity, and open-source developments.
• Build cross-functional relationships and act as trusted advisor.

Skills

Legal negotiation

Business judgment

Communication

Independent ownership

AI/tech contracting

Education

J.D. with state bar (CA preferred)

Job description

About Semgrep

Semgrep, the leader in code security for builders, empowers invention without friction. Teams catch, flag, and fix real issues before they ship, powered by security that learns as they build. Semgrep secures code as it’s written and provides guardrails that pave the road for developers to move fast and stay secure. Built for builders and trusted by security, Semgrep lives where developers work, delivering fixes without breaking flow, and giving security teams visibility, control, and confidence. Semgrep gets smarter as you build, with AI that learns your context to cut false positives and prioritize reachable vulnerabilities, validated by 95% of security reviewers across 6M+ findings. Semgrep makes zero false positives a reality with AppSec teams triaging 80% fewer false positives across Code and Supply Chain, dramatically shrinking the backlog.

Founded in San Francisco and backed by Menlo Ventures, Felicis Ventures, Lightspeed Venture Partners, Redpoint Ventures, and Sequoia Capital, Semgrep is recognized by Gartner in Application Security Testing and is trusted by leading organizations, including Vanta, Lyft, and Dropbox. Learn more at semgrep.dev.

About the Role

Semgrep is hiring a Corporate Counsel to be an integral part of the company's legal function during a pivotal stage of growth.

This role will own and drive commercial transactions across the business, partnering closely with stakeholders to support a fast-moving, highly technical organization. This role will report to the COO and work closely with Semgrep’s Fractional General Counsel and the Legal Innovation and Contracts Manager to build scalable legal processes, improve contracting velocity, and shape how legal supports the business as the company grows.

The ideal candidate is excited to work at the forefront of AI-native software development and will leverage AI and automation thoughtfully to improve legal workflows, contracting efficiency, and legal operations.

The right person takes ownership, is highly responsive, business-minded, and comfortable operating independently.

What You’ll Do

• Lead negotiation and execution of customer and vendor agreements, including SaaS agreements, MSAs, DPAs, NDAs, procurement agreements, and related commercial contracts.

• Serve as a practical, solutions-oriented advisor to internal stakeholders, balancing legal risk with business priorities.

• Help define how commercial legal operates at Semgrep, including contracting workflows, templates, playbooks, and approval processes.

• Evaluate and implement practical uses of AI within legal workflows, including contract review, playbook development, knowledge management, and process automation.

• Advise internal teams on legal issues related to SaaS, data privacy, data security, AI, and intellectual property.

• Support Product, Security, and Engineering teams on customer-facing legal and compliance considerations.

• Stay current on evolving legal and regulatory developments affecting AI, developer tools, cybersecurity, and open-source software.

• Build strong cross-functional relationships and become a trusted advisor across the organization.

• Bring a generalist mindset and the ability to flex across legal disciplines as needed.

You’re a Good Fit If You

• J.D. and active membership in at least one U.S. state bar, with a preference to practice law in California.

• 3+ years of legal experience with a mix of law firm and in-house, preferably in a high-growth SaaS or technology company.

• Understand legal issues related to data privacy, data security, software development, AI, and intellectual property.

• Experience in developer tools, cybersecurity, infrastructure software, IP, and open-source software

• Self-starter, solutions-oriented, problem solver, not a task manager, and comfortable operating independently while taking ownership of outcomes and driving agreements to execution.

• Highly responsive, moves swiftly, curious, and communicates clearly.

• Have strong business judgment and provide pragmatic, actionable guidance in fast-moving environments.

• Enjoy building processes and improving systems rather than simply maintaining them.

• A history of implementing AI-based processes and legal technology is strongly preferred.

• Are naturally intellectually curious, thoughtful, and detail-oriented

• Thrive in environments with ambiguity, rapid growth, and evolving priorities.

• Comfortable operating in a fast-moving organization and partnering cross-functionally to support the company’s fast growth while managing risk.

Why This Role

• Opportunity to help shape the legal function at a category-defining code security for builders company.

• Direct partnership with a fractional general counsel and company leadership.

• Meaningful ownership and autonomy from day one.

• Exposure to cutting-edge legal issues at the intersection of AI, security, and developer tools.

• Collaborative, thoughtful, and high-agency culture.

Compensation

Salary Range: $264,000 - $330,000

Our compensation package includes equity and benefits in addition to salary.

Please note that the range listed is for someone based in the San Francisco Bay Area.

What we offer (FTE only)

Our goal is to competitively and fairly compensate every Semgrep employee with a system that equally rewards those who are vocal and those who are less comfortable making demands during the final steps of the hiring process. To that end, we generate internal compensation bands that are used when discussing and negotiating salaries. We update these based on market data to make sure they’re above the average for comparable roles.

We invest in our employees’ well‑being and long-term success through a competitive, market-aligned benefits program that meets or exceeds local market standards across all of the regions in which we hire. Benefits offerings vary by location to reflect local requirements and norms. For more detailed, location-specific information, please visit Semgrep Benefits.

Who we are

We bring together people from a wide range of backgrounds and disciplines—from physics and philosophy to formal methods research and full-fledged corporations. We’re new parents and new grads, dog lovers and dogfooders. We get together often to bike, bake, and meet up in parks. In our interactions, we believe respect and honesty go hand in hand, and prioritize both.

Semgrep is an equal-opportunity employer seeking a diverse range of backgrounds. We value who you are — including your cultural heritage, your socioeconomic status, your age, your race, your gender, your sexual orientation, your disabilities. We value what’s vitally important to you — your family, your religion, your politics. We value what you love in this world — your music, your weekend pursuits. We believe in welcoming varied professional backgrounds, educations, and interests. If you’re exceptional in your role, believe in Semgrep’s mission, and treat Semgrep’s values as your own, you belong here.

Please Note: For US-based roles open to remote work, we are currently able to hire employees in the following states only: Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, District of Columbia, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Missouri, Nebraska, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Oregon, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia, Washington, and Wisconsin.