Senior Counsel, Commercial Transactions

Relativity; Massachusetts; Hybrid; USD 183,000 - 275,000; Full time

Job summary

Relativity seeks a Senior Counsel, Commercial Transactions to draft, review and negotiate a broad range of customer-facing contracts, with a focus on SaaS, software licensing and cloud services. You will collaborate with Sales, Product, Security, Finance and Strategy to enable growth while managing legal risk.

Ideal candidates have 8+ years of experience in tech transactions, strong communication, and familiarity with AI-enabled offerings, data processing and government procurement

Qualifications

• Juris Doctor from an accredited law school and license to practice in the United States.
• Active bar membership in good standing.
• Strong organizational skills and attention to detail.
• Intelligence, flexibility, creativity, diligence, responsiveness, and strong communication skills.
• Ability to research and analyze legal issues.

Responsibilities

• Lead negotiations and drafting of software, SaaS, cloud services, AI-related and strategic partnership agreements.
• Provide strategic legal advice to internal stakeholders on commercial issues and contracting.
• Engage with customers to ensure responsiveness and problem-solving.
• Suggest process improvements and standard forms to increase efficiency.
• Leverage AI legal technology tools and MS Office to support contracting workflows.
• Support pricing initiatives and governance projects with Finance and operations.

Skills

Strong communication

Attention to detail

Research and analysis

Cross-functional collaboration

Education

Juris Doctor (JD)

Active bar membership

Tools

MS Office

Salesforce

Ironclad

Asana

Job description

Job Overview

The Senior Counsel, Commercial Transactions serves as a senior legal advisor supporting Relativity’s commercial contracting function and strategic business initiatives.

Posting Type

Hybrid

Primary Objective

Draft, review, negotiate, and advise on a broad range of customer-facing and strategic commercial transactions, with a primary focus on SaaS, software licensing, strategic partnership and go-to-market arrangements, cloud services, AI-enabled offerings, data processing, and other commercial arrangements.

Secondary Objective

Partner cross-functionally with Sales, Product, Partner, Customer Success, Strategy, Security, Finance, Procurement, and other business stakeholders to enable growth, manage legal risk, develop scalable contracting processes, and support strategic initiatives.

Role Responsibilities

• Lead customer, procurement, and strategic commercial negotiations and transactions and technology-related legal work by drafting, reviewing and negotiating software, SaaS and hybrid, cloud services, AI-related offerings, and strategic partnership agreements. Collaborate with the sales, finance, security, IT and compliance teams to deliver on time, clarify expectations and problem-solve; managing stakeholder and customer communications.
• Be a reliable and trusted advisor to our internal stakeholders by providing creative, strategic legal advice and business counsel on commercial, operational and strategic legal issues, as well as providing timely and accurate responses, and negotiating a challenging volume of contracts – with issues ranging from straight-forward to complex. Identify the issues, and then solve for them.
• Engage with our customers – make sure they feel listened to and heard, and above all, deliver.
• Suggest and work on improvements in processes, e.g. new standard forms or variations to enhance efficiency and align to business and product requirements.
• Exhibit agility and enjoyment working with AI legal technology tools by thriving on the efficiency they create. Know how to identify which ones work for what purposes, and why, and be willing and flexible about trying out new ones.
• Lead and support strategic pricing initiatives, pricing governance projects, and commercial model optimization efforts, while partnering with Finance, Global Business Operations, and business stakeholders.
• Participate in our internal approval workflow system, prioritize contracts, and respond to questions from stakeholders and clients.
• Skilled knowledge working with AI tools (including legal technology tools), Microsoft O365, Salesforce and Ironclad.

Preferred Qualifications

• Eight (8) or more years of relevant experience in-house and/or at a law firm supporting technology transactions.
• Extensive experience negotiating SaaS, software, cloud services, professional services, data processing, strategic partnership, and enterprise commercial agreements.
• Experience supporting complex commercial contracting environments.
• Strong understanding of technology, including legal technology, cloud services, software licensing models, information security, privacy, intellectual property, and regulatory considerations.
• Experience supporting AI-enabled products, and emerging technology issues.
• Strong organizational skills and attention to detail.
• Intelligence, flexibility, creativity, diligence, resourcefulness, responsiveness, and strong communications skills.
• Required: Trained in and experience with contract negotiations, including commercial contracts, SaaS contracts, and related services and support agreements.
• Required: Complex software, SaaS and hybrid cloud agreements, master agreements, professional services agreements and software development agreements.
• Desirable but not required: Basic knowledge of data privacy laws and practices in a SaaS context involving the security and processing of customer data that may include personal information.
• Desirable but not required: Experience with government technology procurement contracting, including at state, federal and local levels, and with regard to GSA, SEWP, and FAR; basic knowledge of FedRAMP and application to SaaS offerings and operations.
• Desirable but not required: Understanding of software development, computer technology, SaaS infrastructure and services, open-source communities, and intellectual property concepts and laws.
• JD degree from an accredited law school and license to practice in the United States.
• Ability to research and analyze legal issues.
• Solid proficiency with AI tools, legal technology tools, MS Office and legal research platforms and tools. Familiarity with Salesforce, Ironclad and Asana.

Minimum Qualifications

• Juris Doctor from an accredited law school.
• Active bar membership in good standing.
• Strong organizational skills and attention to detail.
• Intelligence, flexibility, creativity, diligence, responsiveness, and strong communication skills.
• Reasonable exposure to computer and software technology concepts.
• Solid proficiency with MS Office, Salesforce, and Contract Management Software.

Compensation

Relativity is committed to competitive, fair, and equitable compensation practices. This position is eligible for total compensation which includes a competitive base salary, an annual performance bonus, and long-term incentives.

The expected salary range for this role is between $183,000 and $275,000. The final offered salary will be based on several factors, including but not limited to the candidate's depth of experience, skill set, qualifications, and internal pay equity. Hiring at the top end of the range would not be typical, to allow for future meaningful salary growth in this position.