Senior Legal Counsel, Product

Vercel; San Francisco (CA); On-site; USD 270,000 - 300,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Equity-based compensation

Health benefits

Company bonus potential

Job summary

Vercel is seeking a Senior Counsel in San Francisco to enable product innovation and support cross-functional teams with legal guidance. You’ll provide all aspects of legal support in product development and ensure compliance with regulations.

This role requires 8+ years of experience, including significant exposure to product legal in software. Ideal candidates will possess strong judgment, risk mitigation skills, and an ability to thrive in fast-paced environments.

Qualifications

• 8+ years of legal experience including 4+ years in product legal at a software company.
• Strong understanding of cloud services, SaaS, PaaS, IaaS business practices.
• Experienced in advising on regulatory aspects of software development.

Responsibilities

• Partner closely with EPD teams on product initiatives balancing risk and trust.
• Identify and resolve legal issues related to privacy, data security, AI.
• Translate laws and market expectations into actionable guidance.

Skills

Legal experience

Product legal experience

Risk management

Communication skills

Negotiation skills

Education

Admitted to the California Bar

Computer science degree

Job description

About Vercel

Vercel is the agentic infrastructure company. We free people and agents to ship what’s next.

For more than a decade, Vercel has shaped how the web is built. As the team behind Next.js, v0, and AI SDK, we create products that help builders move from idea to production with speed, security, and exceptional developer experience.

Now, software is entering a new era, and the next generation of products will not just be used by people. They will be built, extended, and operated by agents.

We are building the platform for that future, trusted by companies like OpenAI, PayPal, Ramp, Supreme, and millions of developers worldwide. Whether you’re building our products, supporting our customers, growing our community, or shaping our story, you’ll help define what comes next.

About the Role

We are looking for an experienced, technical, and business-minded Senior Counsel to enable Vercel’s product innovation and shipping velocity. You will partner closely with Engineering, Product and Design (”EPD”), Security, and other cross-functional teams to provide all aspects of legal support throughout the product development lifecycle, while also building out processes and programs as a foundational member of the Legal team. This is a senior individual contributor role that focuses on product counseling, and may also support commercial transactions from time to time. This position reports to the VP of Legal. This role is based in SF where we have a 3 day/week in-office requirement.

What You Will Do

• Partner closely with EPD teams to enable cutting-edge product initiatives, balancing innovation and speed with responsible risk management and customer trust.
• Identify and drive resolution of issues related to privacy, data security, AI, platform safety, marketing, competition, intellectual property, and other legal and regulatory areas.
• Help translate evolving laws and market expectations into practical, actionable guidance.
• Work with cross-functional teams to build scalable processes and draft/maintain templates that allow Vercel to ship faster and smarter over time.
• Engage on special projects and provide legal support to sales, partnerships, procurement, M&A, and other teams as needed, particularly in transactions where nuanced product knowledge is critical.

About You

• Admitted to the California Bar or eligible for Registered In‑House Counsel exception and in good standing.
• 8+ years of legal experience, including 4+ years of product legal experience at a software company.
• Significant experience counseling product and engineering teams through the product development lifecycle from conception to launch and advising on the legal and regulatory aspects of product development in the software industry.
• Strong understanding of cloud services and general SaaS, PaaS, IaaS business practices and relevant global regulatory requirements.
• Able to quickly form and convincingly communicate a point of view, under time pressure and with imperfect information.
• Loves being a generalist and avoids silos. Will take on additional responsibilities and explore subjects outside of your core expertise where no job is too big or too small.
• Strong judgment and risk‑assessment and mitigation skills, adapting legal requirements in creative and pragmatic ways.
• Can independently manage and negotiate technology agreements with customers, technology partners, and technology vendors.
• Prefers fast‑paced, highly variable environments, with a proven track record of building new or improving existing processes at other hyper‑growth companies.
• Enjoys mentoring and advising Legal teammates regardless of formal reporting lines.

Bonus If You Have

• Computer science degree or technical background in software engineering for the web.
• Experience with commercial transactions, intellectual property, open source, platform safety
• Used Vercel’s products and services.

The San Francisco, CA base pay range for this role is $270,000-$300,000. Actual salary will be based on job‑related skills, experience, and location. Compensation outside of San Francisco may be adjusted based on employee location. The total compensation package may include benefits, equity‑based compensation, and eligibility for a company bonus or variable pay program depending on the role. Your recruiter can share more details during the hiring process.

Vercel is committed to fostering and empowering an inclusive community within our organization. We do not discriminate on the basis of race, religion, color, gender expression or identity, sexual orientation, national origin, citizenship, age, marital status, veteran status, disability status, or any other characteristic protected by law. Vercel encourages everyone to apply for our available positions, even if they don't necessarily check every box on the job description.