Senior Commercial Counsel

Freshworks Inc.; Bellevue (WA); Hybrid; USD 150,000 - 190,000; Full time

Job summary

A leading company in customer and employee experience software is looking for a Senior Commercial Counsel to join their team in Bellevue, WA. This role involves drafting and negotiating commercial agreements while ensuring compliance with legal regulations. The ideal candidate will have extensive experience in a legal department and a strong understanding of commercial law, especially relating to SaaS.

Qualifications

• Minimum 8 years experience as a transactional attorney.
• Extensive experience with SaaS agreements.
• Strong understanding of data privacy and protection regulations.

Responsibilities

• Lead the drafting and negotiation of commercial agreements.
• Provide legal counsel to internal teams on contract structuring.
• Ensure compliance with relevant laws across multiple jurisdictions.

Skills

Contract Drafting

Negotiation

Legal Compliance

Communication

Education

Juris Doctorate (JD)

Job description

Organizations everywhere struggle under the crushing costs and complexities of “solutions” that promise to simplify their lives. To create a better experience for their customers and employees. To help them grow. Software is a choice that can make or break a business. Create better or worse experiences. Propel or throttle growth. Business software has become a blocker instead of ways to get work done.

There’s another option. Freshworks. With a fresh vision for how the world works.

At Freshworks, we build uncomplicated service software that delivers exceptional customer and employee experiences. Our enterprise-grade solutions are powerful, yet easy to use, and quick to deliver results. Our people-first approach to AI eliminates friction, making employees more effective and organizations more productive. Over 72,000 companies, including Bridgestone, New Balance, Nucor, S&P Global, and Sony Music, trust Freshworks’ customer experience (CX) and employee experience (EX) software to fuel customer loyalty and service efficiency. And, over 4,500 Freshworks employees make this possible, all around the world.

Fresh vision. Real impact. Come build it with us.

Job Description

Freshworks is seeking a highly skilled and experienced Senior Commercial Counsel to join our expanding legal department. This role offers a unique opportunity to support and influence a wide range of commercial transactions across North America, while contributing to the development of legal frameworks that align with Freshworks' mission and long-term strategic objectives. You will play a key role in providing legal counsel on critical business matters and ensuring the company's compliance with applicable laws and regulations.

Key Responsibilities:

• Contract Drafting & Negotiation:Lead the drafting, review, and negotiation of a variety of commercial agreements, including SaaS (cloud), channel, reseller, managed services, marketplace, data protection, and professional services agreements.
• Strategic Legal Advice:Provide legal counsel to internal teams, including Partners, Channels, Strategic Alliances, and Sales, on matters relating to legal risk, business strategy, and contract structuring. You will also negotiate compliance-driven agreements, such as data processing and business associate agreements.
• Process Improvement:Develop, maintain, and enhance commercial contract templates, playbooks, and standard clauses to improve operational efficiency, ensure consistency, and support scalability across teams.
• Cross-Functional Collaboration:Partner closely with Sales, Finance, Deals Desk, and Professional Services to drive business objectives while ensuring compliance. Assist in the development of internal policies to optimize vendor onboarding and the contract review process.
• Legal Compliance & Insight:Stay informed of relevant legal developments and ensure compliance with regulations related to intellectual property, data privacy, security, and other laws across multiple jurisdictions.

Please note this is a hybrid role with onsite expectations of 3x/ week (Tuesday - Thursday) at our Bellevue, WA office.

Qualifications

• A minimum of 8 years of experience as a transactional attorney, preferably within an in-house legal department at a multinational company or at a leading law firm.
• Extensive experience drafting and negotiating SaaS agreements, partner and channel agreements, vendor contracts, data processing agreements, and professional services agreements.
• Strong understanding of commercial contracts, intellectual property law, data privacy, and data protection regulations, with a proven ability to offer practical, business-oriented legal solutions.
• Exceptional written and verbal communication skills, with the ability to interact and collaborate effectively with stakeholders across all levels and time zones.
• Ability to navigate complex, cross-jurisdictional legal issues and collaborate with teams across cultures and time zones.
• A proactive, service-oriented approach with a demonstrated ability to manage multiple priorities, meet tight deadlines, and deliver high-quality work with meticulous attention to detail.
• Proven success in building strong working relationships with internal teams (e.g., Finance, Operations, Professional Services) and external partners, fostering a cooperative, solution-oriented environment.
• Juris Doctorate (JD) from an accredited U.S. law school and licensed to practice law in Washington.

Additional Information

This role is based in Bellevue, WA and the expected base salary range for this position is as shown below. The actual base pay is dependent upon a variety of job-related factors such as professional background, training, work experience, business needs and market demand. Therefore, in some circumstances, the actual salary could fall outside of this expected range. This pay range is subject to change and may be modified in the future. This role is also eligible for a target bonus

At Freshworks, we are creating a global workplace that enables everyone to find their true potential, purpose, and passion irrespective of their background, gender, race, sexual orientation, religion and ethnicity. We are committed to providing equal opportunity for all and believe that diversity in the workplace creates a more vibrant, richer work environment that advances the goals of our employees, communities and the business.