Senior Counsel, Technical Infrastructure

Google; Chicago (IL); On-site; USD 275,000 - 383,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Health insurance

Dental insurance

Vision insurance

Life insurance

Disability insurance

401(k) with company match

Paid time off (vacation)

Sick time

Maternity leave

Baby bonding leave

13 paid holidays

Job summary

Google is hiring a Corporate Counsel to serve as a senior legal advisor for its Technical Infrastructure. The role focuses on complex, high-value commercial transactions involving data centers, energy procurement, colocation, and global networks.

You will partner with Google executives and internal teams to shape policy, risk management, and execution across multiple jurisdictions. As Senior Counsel, you will provide expert legal guidance, lead major procurements, and influence strategic

Qualifications

• JD, LL.B., or equivalent degree.
• Admitted to the bar and in good standing in the state where the position is located.
• 10 years of attorney-level experience in government, in-house, or at a law firm, with a focus on cloud, data center, energy, or network infrastructure transactions.

Responsibilities

• Review, draft, and negotiate complex commercial agreements supporting Google’s infrastructure procurement and operation.
• Advise senior executives and business leaders, guiding on high-sensitivity legal issues and strategic decisions.
• Develop long-term legal strategies for challenging and undefined issues across regulatory and business scopes.
• Coordinate across Legal, Technical Infrastructure, and Cloud teams to ensure consistent legal approaches.
• Manage relationships with external counsel and oversee cost-effective delivery.

Education

JD/LL.B./equivalent degree

Admitted to the bar in the relevant state

Job description

In accordance with Washington state law, we are highlighting our comprehensive benefits package, which is available to all eligible US based employees. Benefits for this role include:

• Health, dental, vision, life, disability insurance
• Retirement Benefits: 401(k) with company match
• Paid Time Off: 20 days of vacation per year, accruing at a rate of 6.15 hours per pay period for the first five years of employment
• Sick Time: 40 hours/year (increased to 69 hours/year for Seattle) including 5 discretionary sick days per instance
• Maternity Leave (Short-Term Disability + Baby Bonding): 28-30 weeks
• Baby Bonding Leave: 18 weeks
• Holidays: 13 paid days per year
  

Note: By applying to this position you will have an opportunity to share your preferred working location from the following: Seattle, WA, USA; Atlanta, GA, USA; Austin, TX, USA; Chicago, IL, USA; Reston, VA, USA; Washington D.C., DC, USA.

Minimum qualifications:

• JD, LL.B., equivalent degree, or equivalent practical experience.
• Admitted to the bar and in good standing or otherwise authorized to practice law (e.g., have registered in-house status) in the state in which the position is located.
• 10 years of attorney-level experience in government, in-house, or at a law firm, with a focus on cloud, data center, energy, or network infrastructure transactions.

Preferred qualifications:

• Experience reviewing, drafting, and negotiating commercial agreements for the build, deployment, and operation of major technical infrastructure.
• Understanding of global regulatory ecosystems, compliance issues (e.g., network supply chain, national security agreements), and competition law dynamics related to cloud and infrastructure.
• Ability to operate with a high degree of autonomy, consistently exhibiting strong judgment and comfort across challenging and ambiguously defined legal and business situations.
• Ability to influence, drive consensus, and resolve highly sensitive conflicts or policy matters.
• Excellent communication, organizational, and project management skills, with a track record of executing multiple high-priority projects under tight deadlines.

About The Job

As Corporate Counsel at Google, you work on the most exciting legal issues as disruptive technological innovations require creative and proactive legal guidance. You're part of a whip-smart group of in-house lawyers and the projects and cases you take on challenge you to think big and differently. You are collaborative -- ready to partner in initiatives that influence all aspects of the business and work with Googlers from all over the company. As an integrated part of the team, you proactively assess legal risks and advise on products that will not only move information into the 21st century, but move information law forward as well.

As Senior Counsel, you will serve as a legal subject matter expert and the "go-to" advisor for Google's Technical Infrastructure. You will focus on highly complex, high-value commercial transactions to build, procure, and operate the physical infrastructure enabling Google to deliver its global services. This includes major projects and agreements involving data center acquisitions and operations, gigawatt-scale energy procurement, utility-scale renewable energy projects, colocation, dark fiber networks, and global submarine cable systems.

Operating with a high degree of autonomy, you will advise senior executives, manage legal services for large-scale Google initiatives, and help set the strategic direction of your practice area. You will proactively address undefined, ambiguous legal issues, cultivate innovative policies, and perform nuanced legal analysis to complete complex assignments independently. Based on an expert-level understanding of the broader legal, business, and regulatory landscape, you will advise on compliance, risk mitigation, and execution, balancing significant legal risk with Google's strategic business goals.

20th century laws don't always solve 21st century problems, and Google Legal crafts innovative approaches for working with some of the toughest legal challenges of the information age. Whether you're a patent attorney, an intellectual property expert or an engineer headed to law school, Google Legal lets you address unanswered legal quandaries and create new precedents. Our innovative services raise challenging questions that demand creative and practical answers. We provide those answers by working at the crossroads of the law and new technology, helping Google build innovative and important products for users around the world.

Individual pay is determined by factors including job-related skills, experience, and relevant education or training.

US: $275000 - $383000 (USD) + 25% bonus target + equity + benefits

Responsibilities

• Review, draft, and negotiate a range of highly complex, high-impact commercial agreements supporting Google’s technical infrastructure procurement and operation, including data center development, energy and water procurement, renewable energy transactions, colocation, dark fiber, and global submarine cable projects.
• Advise Google senior executives and business leaders, driving principled, rational decisions on issues of high sensitivity and impact, and develop long-term legal strategies for the most challenging, undefined, and complex legal situations, distilling detailed analyses into actionable business guidance.
• Build and influence cross-organizational collaborations across Google's Legal, Technical Infrastructure, and Cloud teams to ensure consistent legal approaches and share feedback.
• Oversee and manage relationships with external legal counsel, ensuring optimal delivery on both substance and cost.
• Create, operationalize, and lead continuous improvements in legal processes, policies, and regulatory compliance frameworks spanning multiple jurisdictions.
  

Google is proud to be an equal opportunity workplace and is an affirmative action employer. We are committed to equal employment opportunity regardless of race, color, ancestry, religion, sex, national origin, sexual orientation, age, citizenship, marital status, disability, gender identity or Veteran status. We also consider qualified applicants regardless of criminal histories, consistent with legal requirements. See also Google's EEO Policy and EEO is the Law. If you have a disability or special need that requires accommodation, please let us know by completing our Accommodations for Applicants form .