Lead Counsel, Strategic Alliances

Databricks Inc.; Washington; Hybrid; USD 180,000 - 320,000; Full time

Job summary

Databricks is seeking a talented Lead Counsel to support strategic technology partnerships and other specialty initiatives. This role will be hybrid, with in-office expectations, and local to Seattle, Bellevue, San Francisco, or Mountain View.

Reporting to the VP & Associate General Counsel, Strategic Alliances & Integration, you will navigate complex technology agreements, lead cross-functional deal teams, and provide pragmatic legal guidance to senior leadership in a fast-paced

Qualifications

• At least 10 years of experience at a national law firm or in-house tech legal team.
• Experience with AI model platforms and cloud partnerships.
• Familiarity with open source licensing models (e.g., Apache 2.0, MIT).
• Fluency in partnering models: OEM, resale, marketplace, and quote-to-cash implications.
• Ability to convey complex legal concepts clearly to senior leaders.

Responsibilities

• Lead all legal aspects of strategic alliance technology transactions, including term sheets, deal processes, and closing.
• Coordinate cross-functional input from Product, Finance, Security, and GTM teams for deal governance.
• Develop scalable processes and templates to support the strategic partner program.

Skills

Strategic partnerships

Negotiation

Cross-functional collaboration

Problem solving

Communication

Independent and proactive

Education

J.D. from a top-tier law school

Job description

GAQ128R4

Location: We're hiring for this role locally to our offices based in Seattle or Bellevue, San Francisco, or Mountain View. This will be a hybrid role with in-office expectations.

Databricks is looking for a talented and experienced Lead Counsel to support strategic technology partnerships and other specialty initiatives. This position offers a unique opportunity to play a leading role in providing business-focused legal support for some of the most strategic and complex matters fueling Databricks' growth.

You will report to the VP & Associate General Counsel, Strategic Alliances & Integration

Strategic partnerships are an essential pillar to Databricks' providing the world's leading data & AI platform, integrating the broadest range of the latest leading technologies from proven partner providers. In this role, you will work closely with Databricks Strategic Alliances and cross-functional stakeholders, orchestrating advice and contributions across internal and external experts, and innovating to provide solutions in a rapidly evolving landscape.

A successful candidate will have deep proven experience navigating and negotiating complex, highly operational agreements with technology partners, including leading AI Model Providers and global hyperscalers, working with a wide range of internal stakeholders at all levels, including regular direct engagement with senior leadership. You must be an agile, resourceful self-starter, comfortable working in a fast-paced and dynamic environment, and excellent at building strong relationships and giving clear, pragmatic advice. You have a bias for action, enjoy building, thrive on finding creative solutions to new challenges, and value seeing your direct impact on the business.

The impact you will have:

• Lead and manage all legal aspects of selected Strategic Alliance technology transactions, including term sheet negotiations, running deal processes and negotiations, reviewing, drafting, and negotiating documents, securing and coordinating engagement and contributions from cross-functional stakeholders, including Product, Finance, Security, Procurement, Commercial Legal, Product Legal, GTM Legal, and other internal and external experts
• Facilitate closing of agreements, coordinating with Corporate Legal and Finance for Board approvals where needed, provide expert legal guidance and business-focused advice to clients, cross-functional teams, and leadership throughout the strategic deal process, while ensuring compliance with internal policies and applicable laws and regulations, and addressing integration and advisory issues arising post-signing within Legal and across the company
• Drive or provide legal support for other strategic transactions or projects, including collaborating in developing new partnering motions, and developing new processes and templates to scale our strategic partner practice

What we look for:

• You have at least 10 years of experience at a nationally recognized law firm and / or in-house legal department at a high-tech company
• You have a J.D. from a top-tier law school, and are a Member of a state bar in good standing
• You understand AI/foundation model platform technology and related contract models, and have deep experience partnering around both open source and proprietary technologies, and cloud or data-platform product partnerships
• You have familiarity with open source licensing models (e.g., Apache 2.0, MIT, model-specific community licenses) and their use with open weight models
• You are fluent in various partnering models, including OEM, resale, and marketplace-driven transactions, and related quote-to-cash implications
• You are comfortable and enjoy partnering directly with cross-functional teams to understand, incorporate, and enforce operational requirements in our partnership structures
• You are a critical thinker comfortable in speaking up and brainstorming productively, with a demonstrated ability to convey complex legal concepts clearly and concisely, thinking of future needs/issues, while executing on current activities.
• You have a programmatic mindset, experience managing multi-faceted projects, and an understanding of how to develop and simplify processes.
• You apply a highly collaborative and positive approach to working with legal colleagues and business partners, building strong relationships with internal stakeholders across geos and functions to ensure effective communication and collaboration.
• You have a hands-on approach in executing, a builder mindset able to work independently but seeking and welcoming supportive input as appropriate.
• You are experienced at understanding challenging issues, navigating ambiguous situations, assessing risk, making concise and pragmatic recommendations to senior leaders in a fast-paced environment, and applying a practical, balanced mindset to legal problem-solving.
• You are a self-starter with the capability to operate independently and to interact confidently with senior management when required, applying a strong work ethic, excellent organizational skills, and managing workflow to execute in a fast-paced environment with minimal supervision