Senior Counsel (Product & Privacy)

WEKA; San Francisco (CA); On-site; USD 180,000 - 240,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

401(k)

Stock options available

Health insurance

Work from home opportunities

Parental leave

Professional development assistance

Laptop/PC and monitors

Job summary

WEKA is hiring its third lawyer to own the product-facing side of the legal function, partnering with Product, Engineering, and Security from design through post‑launch review. You will build a structured product review process and upgrade the privacy program to scale with WEKA’s growth.

You will report to the General Counsel and collaborate with the Senior Counsel on commercial contracting and marketing review, while owning privacy, data, and product positions in customer and partner agreements.

Qualifications

• Six to nine years of legal experience at a law firm, in‑house, or both, counseling product and engineering teams at a technology company.
• Experience building or upgrading a privacy program.
• Commercial contracting experience.
• Experience negotiating DPAs and responding to customer diligence.
• Experience supporting SOC 2 / ISO audits and security incident response.
• Familiarity with open‑source licensing and export controls.
• Experience supporting international operations and cross‑border data flows.

Responsibilities

• Build and own WEKA’s privacy program and framework, including data mapping, DPIAs, data subject requests, and processing records.
• Serve as the primary legal partner to Product, Engineering, Security, and Support through design, launch, and post‑launch review.
• Develop and run a risk‑tiered product‑review process for new features and releases.
• Provide backup on commercial matters such as NDAs and procurement contracts when needed.
• Manage outside counsel and vendors efficiently; partner with Senior Counsel on routine negotiations and questions.

Skills

Product counseling

Privacy and data protection

AI governance

GDPR/UK GDPR knowledge

Open-source review

Policy drafting

Commercial contracting

DPA management

Cross-functional collaboration

Education

J.D. from an accredited law school

Active bar membership

Tools

CLM tools

AI tools in legal workflows

Job description

• WEKA’s General Counsel joined in 2025 as the company’s first in-house lawyer, and a Senior Counsel focused on commercial contracting joined earlier this year
• We are now hiring our third lawyer to own the product-facing side of the legal function: how WEKA builds and ships its technology, and how it handles data
• This is a true build role. WEKA is at the stage where its legal infrastructure needs to be built for scale, starting with a structured product review process and an upgraded privacy program that can grow with the company. You will build both alongside a hands‑on GC rather than inherit a finished system
• You will report directly to the General Counsel and serve as the primary legal partner to Product, Engineering, and Security
• Product counseling: building and running a risk‑tiered legal review process for features and releases, so that Product and Engineering know when to involve Legal and can move quickly on routine launches
• Privacy and data protection: upgrading WEKA’s privacy program and building the infrastructure to scale it as the company grows, including the DPAs and security diligence that support customer deals
• You will work closely with the Senior Counsel, who owns commercial contracting and marketing review
• You will be the subject‑matter owner for the privacy, data, and product positions that show up in customer, neocloud, and partner agreements, and you will provide backup on commercial matters when the Senior Counsel’s queue is at capacity
• Build and run a risk‑tiered legal review process (light, standard, and deep review) for product features and releases, including an intake form, a launch checklist, and criteria for when Engineering should bring in Legal
• Serve as the primary legal partner to Product, Engineering, Security, and Support for NeuralMesh and WEKApod, from early design through launch and post‑launch review, including product terms and EULAs, support and maintenance policies, and end‑of‑life
• Partner with Product and Sales to develop customer‑facing materials on key product and legal topics, anticipate customer questions, and help move deals forward
• Advise on how products collect, process, and access data, including telemetry, diagnostics, and support access
• Review inbound and outbound open‑source use in the product and flag potential inventions to the General Counsel, who works with outside counsel on patent and trademark matters
• Counsel on AI governance in product development and business operations, working with IT and other teams to operationalize WEKA’s AI policy and track evolving regulatory requirements
• Partner with Product and Supply Chain teams on export classification and screening considerations for product releases
• Build and own WEKA’s privacy program and framework, and serve as the legal lead on AI governance in partnership with IT and Engineering
• Assess then upgrade it and build the infrastructure for scalable compliance: update privacy notices and policies, standardize the DPA, and maintain a subprocessor list
• Build the core program components: data mapping and records of processing, data subject request handling, vendor and subprocessor review, retention, and cross‑border transfer mechanisms
• Advise on GDPR and UK GDPR, CCPA/CPRA, and other U.S. state and international privacy laws, as well as emerging AI regulations and standards, as they apply to WEKA’s products, marketing, HR, and operations
• Own the DPA playbook and serve as the escalation point for privacy and security terms in customer deals, with the Senior Counsel handling first‑pass negotiation and routine security questionnaires, and use recurring customer questions to develop privacy collateral for use in the go‑to‑market process
• Partner with Security on incident response, breach assessment and notification, and SOC 2 / ISO audit support
• Work with HR on employee and candidate data, and with Marketing on website, events, and email practices
• Partner with Product, Sales, and Marketing to develop privacy‑focused customer materials for use in the go‑to‑market process
• Draft and maintain policies (privacy, data retention, AI use, and others as needed) and drive adoption across the company
• Build the templates, playbooks, workflows, intake forms and self‑service resources that let Product and Engineering move quickly with minimal legal touch on routine questions, using our CLM and AI tools where they fit
• Deliver practical training for Engineering and Product on privacy‑by‑design and on when to engage Legal
• Manage outside counsel and vendors efficiently, including support for the initial privacy program assessment
• Provide backup support on commercial matters, such as NDAs, procurement contracts, and partner agreements, when the Senior Counsel’s queue is at capacity. The Senior Counsel works with you on what to hand off, and product and privacy remain your primary focus

Benefits

• Care package received upon hire: backpack, multiple shirts etc.
• 401(k)
• Stock options available
• Cellular phone plan coverage
• On and off‑location meal perks
• Dental, vision, life & disability insurance
• Work‑related travel reimbursement
• Flexible spending account
• Parental leave
• Professional development assistance
• A tech stack with Laptop or PC of choice, up to 2 monitors, office phone, headset
• Work from home opportunities
• Health insurance
• Career development
• At least one offsite event per quarter with spontaneous office gatherings regularly

The ideal candidate is a practical, technically curious lawyer who enjoys working next to engineers, builds structure without bureaucracy, and gives clear answers rather than reflexive escalationsPrivacy law: Working knowledge of GDPR and CCPA/CPRA, and experience building or upgrading a privacy program, not only running a mature oneCustomer privacy and security terms: Experience negotiating DPAs and responding to customer security and privacy diligenceProduct counseling: Experience partnering with Product and Engineering on launches, ideally building or running a review process, and comfort translating legal requirements into terms engineers will useEducation & License: J.D. from an accredited law school and active bar membership in good standing6–9 years of legal experience at a law firm, in‑house, or both, with meaningful experience counseling product and engineering teams at a technology company. Prior in‑house experience at a startup or scale‑up where you built programs rather than only executing within established ones is strongly preferredOutside Counsel Management: Experience managing external counsel and vendors efficiently across specialized mattersExecutive Presence & Crisp Communication: Distills complex issues into clear recommendations and writes clearly for non‑lawyersProject Management: Has driven multi‑quarter initiatives to completion, such as a privacy program upgrade or a product review process rolloutComfort with AI Tools: Understands the risks and limitations of AI in legal practice and actively looks for risk‑appropriate ways to improve speed and qualityBuilder Mindset: Energized by creating programs, playbooks, and processes from scratchPractical Judgment: You decide what you can, elevate what you should, and explain risk in a way that helps the business move rather than slowing it downTechnical Fluency: Comfort engaging in technical discussions about how distributed systems, storage, data flows, and software releases actually work. A computer science or engineering background, or the ability to read architecture diagrams and understand how data is stored and moved, is a plusCIPP/US, CIPP/E, or a similar privacy or AI governance certification, or a desire to obtain oneExperience in enterprise software, infrastructure, data storage, cloud, HPC, or AIExperience supporting SOC 2 / ISO 27001 audits and security incident responseFamiliarity with open‑source licensing, export controls (including encryption classification), and the EU AI ActCommercial contracting experience, which helps with the backup support described aboveExperience supporting international operations and cross‑border data flows