Sr. Legal Counsel

Digital Realty Global; Dallas (TX); On-site; USD 140,000 - 190,000; Full time

Job summary

Digital Realty seeks a Senior Legal Counsel, Commercial Contracting to support North America and global platforms. You will draft and negotiate advanced commercial and leasing agreements, advise on risk and strategy, and partner with business teams across regions to advance objectives while protecting the company’s interests.

You will manage complex transactions, coordinate with design and operations, and mentor junior lawyers, with frequent interaction with executives and customers.

Qualifications

• Juris Doctor degree from an accredited law school, admission to practice in at least one U.S. jurisdiction, and active good standing.
• 8+ years of substantive commercial legal experience in a law firm, corporate legal department, or both.
• Experience negotiating complex commercial agreements including master services agreements, commercial real estate leases, license agreements, and technology‑related service agreements; data center leasing experience preferred.
• Experience negotiating with hyperscale, cloud, or other sophisticated global customers; technology, cloud services, digital infrastructure, or data centers knowledge preferred.
• Strong legal, business, and commercial judgment to advise on risk, terms, negotiation strategy, and alignment with commercial objectives.
• Demonstrated ability to independently own complex local and global transactions and manage risks.

Responsibilities

• Draft, negotiate, and advise on complex, multi-tiered agreements with hyperscale and global customers (MSA, leases, licenses, SLAs, orders, expansions, renewals).
• Provide legal support for large-scale development and leasing transactions, including JV and investment funds.
• Advise the Global Accounts Sales team on contract terms, negotiation strategy, and risk.
• Coordinate with Design, Engineering, Construction, Portfolio Management, Operations, and Sales to align contracts with timelines and objectives.
• Advise on capital improvements and customer-related matters, audits, escalations, and significant projects.
• Collaborate with the broader global Legal team to ensure regional consistency and proper risk elevation.
• Support executive engagements with customers, investors, and partners with clear legal guidance.
• Drive process improvements in templates and negotiations; enable cross-regional strategic projects.

Skills

Commercial contracts

Negotiation

Legal judgment

Cross-functional collab

Education

Juris Doctor

Job description

Description

Position Title:Sr. Legal Counsel

Location:Dallas, TX; Miami, FL

Your Role

As Senior Legal Counsel, Commercial Contracting, you will join Digital Realty's global Legal, Risk, Sustainability & Compliance team and serve as a key legal advisor supporting Global Account and Hyperscale customers across North America and Digital Realty's global platform. You will lead sophisticated commercial and leasing transactions, partner with business teams across functions and regions, and provide practical legal guidance that advances commercial objectives while protecting Digital Realty's legal and business interests.

What you’ll do

• Draft, negotiate, and advise on complex, multi-tiered, and multi-jurisdictional agreements with hyperscale and global customers, including master services agreements, colocation agreements, commercial leases, licenses, service agreements, service level agreements, orders, amendments, expansions, and renewals.

• Provide legal support for large-scale hyperscale development and leasing transactions, including projects and assets held through joint ventures and investment funds.

• Serve as a key legal advisor to the Global Accounts Sales team, taking ownership of sophisticated customer transactions and providing practical, business-oriented advice on contractual terms, negotiation strategy, customer positioning, and legal risk.

• Partner with Design, Engineering & Construction, Portfolio Management, Operations, Sales, and other stakeholders to align contractual obligations with project timelines, specifications, customer requirements, operational readiness, and commercial objectives while mitigating risk and unnecessary liability.

• Advise on capital improvements, portfolio initiatives, and customer-related matters, including inquiries, audits, escalations, and significant projects that support long‑term customer relationships and asset value.

• Work closely with the broader global Legal team to ensure consistency across regions, evaluate legal strategy for global customers, identify and mitigate risk, and appropriately elevate material issues or matters outside established parameters.

• Support executive‑level engagements with customers, investors, and joint venture partners by preparing clear legal advice and assisting senior Legal leaders as appropriate.

• Drive continuous improvement in templates, playbooks, policies, and legal processes; partner with the business to streamline negotiations, remove execution barriers, and deliver cross‑regional strategic projects involving commercial contracting, real estate, M&A, or other Legal Department priorities.

• Manage outside counsel efficiently and collaborate with non‑lawyer administrative and legal support professionals to complete projects and manage team workflows.

• In coordination with senior Legal leadership, help supervise, train, and develop Junior Legal Counsel by providing day‑to‑day guidance, reviewing work product, supporting professional development, and helping prioritize and manage workload; perform other duties assigned based on business needs.

What you’ll need

• Juris Doctor degree from an accredited law school, admission to practice in at least one U.S. jurisdiction, and active good standing.

• 8+ years of relevant substantive commercial legal experience in a law firm, corporate legal department, or a combination of both.

• Strong experience negotiating complex commercial agreements, including master services agreements, commercial real estate leases, license agreements, and technology‑related service agreements; data center leasing experience is strongly preferred.

• Experience negotiating with hyperscale, cloud, or other sophisticated global customers; experience in technology, cloud services, digital infrastructure, or data centers is preferred.

• Strong legal, business, and commercial judgment, with the strategic thinking and practical, solution‑oriented approach needed to advise on risk, legal terms, negotiation strategy, and alignment with commercial objectives.

• Proven ability to independently own complex local and global transactions, distinguish material issues from routine matters, exercise sound judgment, and appropriately elevate significant legal and commercial risks.

• Excellent written and verbal communication skills, with the ability to interact professionally and effectively with business leaders, customers, counterparties, investors, joint venture partners, and legal colleagues.

• Strong analytical, critical‑thinking, problem‑solving, organizational, and project‑management skills, with the ability to manage competing priorities, changing scope, and time‑sensitive matters while maintaining accuracy and attention to detail.

• Demonstrated ability to collaborate effectively across regions and functions in a fast‑paced global environment, including experience supervising, training, or mentoring junior attorneys and directing or partnering with administrative and legal support professionals; willingness to travel occasionally.

• A diligent, hands‑on, proactive, and self‑motivated approach, together with professionalism, integrity, resilience, adaptability, sound judgment, approachability, and the ability to follow matters through to timely and reasonable resolution.

A bit about us

Digital Realty brings companies and data together by delivering the full spectrum of data center, colocation and interconnection solutions. PlatformDIGITAL®, the company’s global data center platform, provides customers with a secure data meeting place and a proven Pervasive Datacenter Architecture (PDx®) solution methodology for powering innovation and efficiently managing Data Gravity challenges. Digital Realty gives its customers access to the connected data communities that matter to them with a global data center footprint of 300+ facilities in 50+ metros across 25+ countries on six continents.

To learn more about Digital Realty, please visit digitalrealty.com or follow us on LinkedIn and Twitter.

A bit about our team

Legal

Our Legal team works in a highly complex global business sector with a diverse range of local, regional and international organizations. From ensuring compliance in different jurisdictions to supporting business teams with customer and supplier contracts, we’re involved in a variety of projects. Working in a dynamic commercial environment, we collaborate with colleagues across different departments and always have a new challenge waiting for us.

What we can offer you

Our rapidly evolving business sector offers the opportunity to be part of a courageous and passionate team who work together to understand and meet the changing needs of our global customers.

Join us and you’ll be part of a supportive and inclusive environment where you can bring your whole self to work. As part of our team, you’ll get to work with people from different business areas, challenge the way we do things and put your ideas into action. We’ll also give you plenty of development opportunities so you can build a rewarding and successful career with us.

Apply today, take charge of your career and grow your talents with us.

Health and Safety

Safety isn't just a priority here at Digital; it's critical to everything we do. Safeguarding lives, protecting assets, and securing data aren't just ideals - they're essential pillars of our commitment to excellence for our people, our partners and our customers. We have a culture of care where every member of Team Digital embraces a relentless pursuit of working safely across Digital Realty. Together we are Safely Powering Progress.

Our Compensation Philosophy

Digital Realty offers its employees a highly competitive compensation package, excellent benefits, and an environment that recognizes and rewards your contributions. Central to our compensation philosophy is rewarding our employees for achieving the values and objectives aligned to the company's overall goals and values.