Privacy Counsel

Nextdoor; San Francisco (CA); Hybrid; USD 220,000 - 260,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Health plans

OneMedical membership

Equity grants

Job summary

Nextdoor is looking for a Privacy and Regulatory Compliance Counsel in San Francisco. This role focuses on analyzing current laws affecting the Nextdoor platform and developing compliance strategies.

You’ll prepare risk assessments, advise on data governance, and work cross-functionally to implement compliance plans. Requirements include a JD, a minimum of 4 years' experience, and familiarity with data privacy laws like GDPR and CCPA.

Nextdoor offers a hybrid work environment and a competitive compensation package, including potential equity grants.

Qualifications

• Minimum 4 years of experience in a law firm or in-house counsel role.
• Active law license in any state in good standing.
• Familiarity with GDPR, CCPA, and other privacy laws.

Responsibilities

• Analyze laws impacting the Nextdoor platform.
• Prepare risk assessments and compliance reports.
• Advise teams on legal risks and compliance.

Skills

Data privacy familiarity

Excellent communication

Risk assessment

Legal research

Collaboration

Education

J.D. from a nationally recognized law school

Job description

#TeamNextdoor

Nextdoor (NYSE: NXDR) is the essential neighborhood network. Neighbors, public agencies, and businesses use Nextdoor to connect around local information that matters in more than 350,000 neighborhoods across 11 countries. Nextdoor builds innovative technology to foster local community, share important news, and create neighborhood connections at scale. Download the app and join the neighborhood at nextdoor.com.

Meet Your Future Neighbors

The Counsel team is a close-knit and collaborative team that supports the entire Nextdoor community. Each member of our team brings individual opinions, perspectives and expertise, and we work together to ensure excellence and consistency in legal advice and counsel across the company and globally. We are reliable, trustworthy, and innovative in our support of Nextdoor’s business goals, and Nextdoor’s purpose of cultivating connected communities and a kinder world.

At Nextdoor, we operate in an AI-first environment and expect every team member to actively use AI tools as part of their workflow. We aren't looking for prompt engineers; we’re looking for people who use tools like Claude, Gemini, ChatGPT, and Glean to challenge their own thinking and take full ownership of AI-assisted outputs.

We also offer a warm and inclusive work environment that embraces a hybrid employment model, blending an in office presence and work from home experience for our valued employees. This role is based in San Francisco.

The Impact You’ll Make

As Privacy and Regulatory Compliance Counsel, you’ll be responsible for analyzing current and developing laws that impact the Nextdoor platform and suite of products, developing practical and balanced compliance plans, and working cross-functionally with teams across the organization to put these plans into action. These laws cover a broad range of topics across all 11 jurisdictions in which we operate, including data privacy (GDPR, CPPA and similar US state privacy laws), AI, and online safety laws, including OSA and DSA. In addition, as part of the larger team, you’ll assist with other compliance and product advising areas that come with a platform hosting user-generated content, including IP, digital marketing, anti-spam laws, and Section 230. You’ll also assist with privacy and compliance related reviews, approvals, or responses to inquiries regarding our advertising and other products for businesses on Nextdoor. You may also interface with industry organizations, regulators, and legislators on Nextdoor’s behalf to advance the Company’s policy positions and support our business goals.

Your responsibilities will include:

• Preparing risk assessments, DPIAs, PIAs, transparency reporting, privacy and security reporting, and other documentation
• Draft privacy and regulatory compliance reports necessary for various reporting requirements, internal and external
• Investigate and respond to legislative and regulatory inquiries
• Advise user-facing teams on processes for responding to user inquiries, prepare templates, and manage escalations
• Develop and implement compliance plans that address legal risks in practical and business-centric ways and work in close collaboration with our cross-functional partners to implement those plans
• Advise commercial teams on data governance matters, including DPAs, data transfer agreements, and required privacy terms for vendors, service providers, and subprocessors
• Maintain and update essential privacy documentation, such as data processing addenda, privacy policies, and intergroup/intragroup data transfer agreements, and data mapping, including annual terms updates
• Advise on and model use of AI in a responsible and effective manner, including evaluating and advising on risks but also exploring and finding appropriate uses of AI for productivity gains
• Keep abreast of applicable legislation and legal developments in all relevant jurisdictions, including working independently and in conjunction with our trade associations to keep abreast of changes and opportunities for strategic engagement with pending legislation and regulations
• Participate in in-person Nextdoor events, trainings, off-sites, volunteer days, and other team building exercises
• Build relationships with team members across the company and contribute to Nextdoor’s culture
• And whatever else might come our way! We are a small legal team with fluid and flexible roles that allow for exploration and growth

What You’ll Bring To The Team

• Minimum of 4 years or experience in a law firm or in-house counsel role
• J.D. from a nationally recognized law school
• Active law license in any state in good standing
• Familiarity with data privacy, online content, online safety, moderation and other laws relevant to social media platforms, including GDPR, CCPA, VCDPA and other US state privacy laws
• Experience with responding to user, customer, and regulatory inquiries
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills, and experience communicating and explaining complex legal issues to business partners
• Ability to work independently on multiple projects, prioritize and organize workload
• Ability to assess and manage risk and act on imperfect information
• Comfortable and effective in a highly collaborative environment
• Ability to network and build relationships with colleagues and internal clients as well as with peers and partners at trade organizations

Bonus Points:

• 2+ years of in-house experience at a tech company, especially on smaller legal teams where each individual has broader scope
• 6+ years of legal experience
• Familiarity with laws and regulations governing AI models and systems, including the EU AI Act, US state legislation, and related global legislation
• Experience with legal issues impacting social media platforms and the digital advertising industry
• Familiarity with digital marketing, TCPA, CAN-SPAM, IP, Section 230, OSA, DSA, Canadian law, Australian law
• Litigation experience, especially involving user content
• Policy advocacy experience involving proposed legislation and regulation impacting social media platforms

Rewards

Compensation, benefits, perks, and recognition programs at Nextdoor come together to create our total rewards package. Compensation will vary depending on your relevant skills, experience, and qualifications. Compensation may also vary by geography.

The starting salary for this role is expected to range from $220,000 to $260,000 on an annualized basis, or potentially greater in the event that your 'level' of proficiency exceeds the level expected for the role.

We expect to award a meaningful equity grant for this role. With quarterly vesting, your first vest date will take place within 3 months of your start date.

When it comes to benefits, we have you covered! Nextdoor employees can choose between a variety of health plans, including a 100% covered employee-only plan option, and we also provide a OneMedical membership for concierge care.

At Nextdoor, we empower our employees to build stronger local communities. To create a platform where all feel welcome, we want our workforce to reflect the diversity of the neighbors we serve. We encourage everyone interested in our mission to apply. We do not discriminate on the basis of race, gender, religion, sexual orientation, age, or any other trait that unfairly targets a group of people. In accordance with the San Francisco Fair Chance Ordinance, we always consider qualified applicants with arrest and conviction records.

For information about our collection and use of applicants’ personal information, please see Nextdoor's Personnel Privacy Notice, found here.