Legal Counsel

Emerald Cloud Lab; Austin, Northern (TX, KY); Hybrid; USD 140,000 - 210,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Competitive salary and equity

Health, dental, vision benefits

PTO, 401(k), professional development

Job summary

Emerald Cloud Lab is seeking a resourceful Corporate Counsel to join its legal team, reporting to the General Counsel. You will support commercial, product, and corporate operations, drafting and negotiating agreements, and guiding internal teams on legal risk in a fast-moving tech environment.

You will help develop playbooks, templates, and policies, assist with fundraising and strategic transactions, and coordinate with outside counsel to optimize legal spend. This is a growth path in-house.

Qualifications

• D. from an accredited law school and licensed to practice.
• 3–10 years of relevant legal experience (law firm + in-house preferred).
• Strong drafting and negotiation of commercial contracts.
• Familiarity with IP and technology licensing concepts.
• Ability to translate complex legal issues into practical business guidance.

Responsibilities

• Draft, review, and negotiate commercial agreements (customer, vendor, NDAs, partnerships, licensing).
• Advise internal stakeholders on day-to-day legal questions.

Skills

Drafting contracts

Negotiation

Contract law

IP licensing

Regulatory awareness

Cross-functional collaboration

Risk assessment

Education

J.D. from an accredited law school

Tools

CLM software

Job description

Emerald Cloud Lab (ECL) is the world's leading remote life sciences laboratory, allowing scientists to run experiments 24/7/365, from anywhere in the world, revolutionizing the approach to lab work for research,product development and QC testing. The entire lab is driven through a single software interface, forming one continuous workflow from test design to execution in the lab and analysis of resulting data. Scientific methods are translated into code, then executed in our state-of-the art laboratory. With ECL handling the manual completion of experiments, scientists can spend more time on the science - designing experiments and interpreting results.

About the Role

Emerald Cloud Lab is seeking a resourceful, business-minded Corporate Counsel to join its legal team, reporting directly to the General Counsel. This role provides broad, hands-on legal support across the company's commercial, product, and corporate operations. You will partner closely with engineering, product, sales, and business teams to help the company build and scale responsibly, drafting and negotiating commercial agreements, supporting corporate governance, and managing legal risk in a fast-moving technology environment. This is an excellent opportunity for a pragmatic attorney seeking broad exposure to technology law and a growth path within an in-house legal function.

Key Responsibilities

• Draft, review, and negotiate a wide range of commercial agreements, including customer agreements, vendor and procurement contracts, NDAs, partnership agreements, and licensing arrangements.
• Advise internal stakeholders (sales, product, engineering, marketing, HR) on day-to-day legal questions, escalating novel or high-risk issues to the General Counsel.
• Contribute to the development and maintenance of internal legal playbooks, templates, policies, and processes to help the legal function scale efficiently.
• Assist with the legal aspects of fundraising, M&A due diligence, and other strategic transactions as they arise.
• Help manage outside counsel on specialized or high-volume matters, ensuring efficient and cost-effective use of external resources.

Potential Supplemental Responsibilities

• Support internal Quality Team developing innovating next generation FDA GxP compliance program
• Support data privacy and security compliance efforts (e.g., GDPR, CCPA/CPRA) in partnership with the security and engineering teams.
• Assist with intellectual property matters, including trademark and copyright protection, open-source software usage review, and IP assignment agreements.
• Support corporate governance matters, including board materials, subsidiary management, and corporate recordkeeping.
• Support employment-related matters and policies in coordination with People/HR, as needed.

Qualifications

• D. from an accredited law school and an active license to practice law (or eligibility to register as in-house/corporate counsel in the relevant jurisdiction).
• 3-10 years of relevant legal experience, ideally including a mix of law firm and in-house experience.
• Strong drafting and negotiation skills, with demonstrated experience handling commercial contracts independently.
• General familiarity with IP and technology licensing concepts.
• Ability to translate complex legal issues into clear, practical guidance for non-legal business partners.
• Strong judgment and comfort operating with a degree of ambiguity in a fast-paced, resource-constrained environment.
• Excellent communication, organization, and project management skills.
• A collaborative, service-oriented mindset and a genuine interest in learning the company's business.

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience negotiating large procurement contracts in the life sciences industry.
• Experience supporting a B2B SaaS or enterprise software business.
• Prior experience managing outside counsel relationships and legal spend.
• Familiarity with legal or regulatory considerations in life sciences, laboratory services, or other regulated industries (e.g., FDA, GMP) is a strong plus, but not required.

What We Offer

• Competitive salary and equity compensation.
• Comprehensive health, dental, and vision benefits.
• Additional benefits, including PTO, 401(k), and a professional development stipend.
• Direct mentorship from the General Counsel and meaningful ownership over your practice area.

Emerald Cloud Lab is an equal opportunity employer. We celebrate diversity and are committed to creating an inclusive environment for all employees.