Senior Counsel

Akamai Technologies GmbH; Cambridge, Northern (MA, KY); On-site; USD 146,000 - 264,000; Full time

Job summary

Akamai is seeking a Senior Counsel, Network & Infrastructure Commercial Transactions to advise on complex contracts and strategic transactions supporting our global platform and services.

You will draft and negotiate data center leases, colocation, interconnection, and procurement agreements, while coordinating with engineering, procurement, and finance teams to mitigate risk and enable scalable growth.

Qualifications

• Have a JD from an accredited law school and active membership in good standing in at least one relevant U.S. state jurisdiction.
• Have 8 years of legal practice, ideally with law firm and in‑house experience, and relevant experience advising on technology, cloud, and network infrastructure legal issues.
• Have experience structuring, drafting, negotiating complex commercial and technology agreements, including procurement, data center leases, colocation, network services, HW/SW, IaaS/SaaS contracts.
• Have experience dealing with global clients and international regulatory issues related to cloud services, content delivery networks, and Internet‑related technologies.
• Possess analytical, communication, and organizational skills, with the ability to manage multiple complex transactions and advise senior stakeholders clearly and pragmatically.
• Have experience managing and coordinating outside counsel and collaborating on cross‑functional projects within an ever‑changing global technology environment.

Responsibilities

• Advising business, procurement, and engineering teams on complex commercial contracting and infrastructure matters supporting Akamai's global platform.
• Drafting, review, and negotiate data center leases, colocation, bandwidth, connectivity, interconnection, transit, peering, and various hardware and software procurement agreements.
• Identifying and advise on infrastructure transaction risks, including liability, indemnification, data security, compliance, operational dependencies, and other critical business considerations.
• Developing and maintain contract templates, playbooks, and negotiation positions for infrastructure, procurement, colocation, and other commercial transactions.
• Supporting strategic supplier relationships, including managing contract interpretations, renewals, amendments, escalations, and disputes.
• Providing practical, business‑oriented legal advice to senior stakeholders on transaction strategy, contracting processes, and risk management regarding global infrastructure.
• Monitoring legal and market developments relevant to network infrastructure, data centers, telecommunications, hardware procurement, supply chain, and related technology transactions.
• Providing legal support to the business in other commercial transactions, as needed.

Job description

Are you looking to work with an international team to solve problems on a global scale?

Do you want an opportunity to effect change at a leading technology organization?

Join our Global Legal team!

Akamai Legal is a highly‑experienced global team of professionals dedicated to advancing Akamai's business interests and next phase of growth, while simultaneously protecting its assets and reputation. We embrace the challenge of working at the intersection of rapid innovation and regularly evolving laws. The Legal team currently consists of nearly 70 professionals located around the world.

Partner with the best

You will work closely with our network infrastructure strategy and operations, engineering, global procurement, information security, product development and finance teams to provide strategic legal counsel on complex commercial transactions that underpin Akamai's global cloud computing, content delivery and network infrastructure and other procurement matters with critical technology and infrastructure suppliers.

As a Senior Counsel, Network & Infrastructure Commercial Transactions, you will be responsible for:

• Advising business, procurement, and engineering teams on complex commercial contracting and infrastructure matters supporting Akamai's global platform.
• Drafting, review, and negotiate data center leases, colocation, bandwidth, connectivity, interconnection, transit, peering, and various hardware and software procurement agreements.
• Identifying and advise on infrastructure transaction risks, including liability, indemnification, data security, compliance, operational dependencies, and other critical business considerations.
• Developing and maintain contract templates, playbooks, and negotiation positions for infrastructure, procurement, colocation, and other commercial transactions.
• Supporting strategic supplier relationships, including managing contract interpretations, renewals, amendments, escalations, and disputes.
• Providing practical, business‑oriented legal advice to senior stakeholders on transaction strategy, contracting processes, and risk management regarding global infrastructure.
• Monitoring legal and market developments relevant to network infrastructure, data centers, telecommunications, hardware procurement, supply chain, and related technology transactions.
• Providing legal support to the business in other commercial transactions, as needed.

Do what you love

To be successful in this role you will:

• Have a JD from an accredited law school and active membership in good standing in at least one relevant U.S. state jurisdiction.
• Have 8 years of legal practice, ideally with law firm and in‑house experience, and relevant experience advising on technology, cloud, and network infrastructure legal issues.
• Have experience structuring, drafting, negotiating complex commercial and technology agreements, including procurement, data center leases, colocation, network services, HW/SW, IaaS/SaaS contracts.
• Have experience dealing with global clients and international regulatory issues related to cloud services, content delivery networks, and Internet‑related technologies.
• Possess analytical, communication, and organizational skills, with the ability to manage multiple complex transactions and advise senior stakeholders clearly and pragmatically.
• Have experience managing and coordinating outside counsel and collaborating on cross‑functional projects within an ever‑changing global technology environment.

About us

At Akamai, we make life better for billions of people, trillions of times a day.
Whether you're streaming live events, scrolling social media, watching your favorite series, or managing your savings, we're the engine behind the scenes. We provide the world's most distributed platform from Cloud to Edge to help the giants of the digital world work faster and stay more secure, making the internet a better experience for everyone.
Our focus is simple:
Cloud and Edge: Running apps closer to users for instant performance.
Security: Neutralizing threats before they ever reach your data.
Content Delivery: Scaling the world's biggest moments without a glitch.
AI: Enabling our customers to build, secure, and scale AI apps on the world's most distributed cloud platform.
At Akamai, we don't just support the internet; we power and protect it, because behind every great digital experience is a massive hidden challenge. And we're the ones who solve it. When millions of people hit play or pay, Akamai ensures it just works.

Benefits at Akamai:

We support your health, well-being, finances, and life beyond work. See our benefits.

FlexBase adapts to your job's needs

Akamai's FlexBase program is yet another way we show our commitment to providing employees with an exceptional workplace experience. It's not about telling employees where to work; it's about supporting employees to do their best work.
We trust our incredible employees to work in ways that suit them best: at home, in an office, or a combination of both.

Compensation

Akamai is committed to fair and equitable compensation practices. For US based candidates only - the base salary for this position ranges from $146,400 - $263,600/year; a candidate’s salary is determined by various factors including, but not limited to, relevant work experience, skills, certifications and location. Compensation for candidates outside the US will vary. The compensation package may also include incentive compensation opportunities in the form of annual bonus or incentives, equity awards and an Employee Stock Purchase Plan (ESPP). Akamai provides industry‑leading benefits including healthcare, 401K savings plan, company holidays, vacation (in the form of PTO), sick time, family friendly benefits including parental leave and an employee assistance program including a focus on mental and financial wellness; Eligibility requirements apply.