Senior Legal Counsel

Your opportunity

As Senior Legal Counsel, you will join our dedicated, collaborative global legal team supporting diverse commercial matters, including growth across the APJ region with particular focus on Japan. You will have a voice that is heard and respected, while encouraged to grow in your abilities and curate your own career path. If you have a drive for supporting sales teams and revenue growth, with expertise as a transactional lawyer negotiating contracts in the Software-as-a-Service industry, read on!

In this role, you will primarily support New Relic's commercial activities by structuring, negotiating, and closing contracts. You will also build upon scalable processes to manage those matters. You will be responsible for both direct and partner contract negotiations, including related privacy and security topics. We'll need you to have excellent communication skills, tailoring messaging to both internal departments and external business clients while addressing complex issues with attention to accuracy and detail. This is a great opportunity if you have a passion for technology, excellent problem-solving skills, and an ability to thrive in a fast-paced, changing environment.

What you’ll do

• Draft, review, and negotiate SaaS contracts, and other commercial agreements in support of our go-to-market efforts;
• Support and coach sales teams on deal structure, contract negotiations, and customer contract disputes;
• Analyze and advise internal stakeholders and leadership teams on risk in contracts in the APJ (Asia Pacific and Japan) regions in connection with our commercial, partner, and privacy commitments, exercising sound judgment and strategic decision-making to benefit the future of the business;
• Act as a central point of contact for any new and updated agreement templates, including master agreements, amendments, and data processing agreements. Template management includes primary responsibility for all Japanese form agreements;
• Partner with Contract Managers and Deal Desk to drive execution of agreements and order forms, and be a point of escalation and source of mentorship/collaboration for decisions requiring counsel authority;
• Partner with Privacy Legal to drive understanding, risk tolerance, and standardization of responses with respect to global privacy regulatory regimes particularly in Japan;
• Work closely with the Partner sales team and the Partner business team to set up and grow New Relic business through Partners such as resellers, distributors, managed service providers, and system integrators;
• Serve as a trusted advisor and business partner by providing practical guidance for accomplishing New Relic's overall business objectives that balances business objectives and legal risk, taking into account companies policies and positions;
• Gain an understanding of New Relic’s SaaS and business, including our product-led growth strategy and consumption-based model, and stay informed about our rapidly evolving technology, buying programs, and laws that impact our business;
• Stay at the forefront of legal issues and opportunities, including leveraging AI as a work tool, negotiating terms that govern AI in the product, and monitoring relevant regulatory frameworks as they evolve;
• Review and advise the marketing and procurement teams on requests related to miscellaneous Japanese commercial contracts;
• Drive operational excellence via continuous development of our processes, workflows, templates, playbooks, and how we support go-to-market efforts across multiple jurisdictions; and
• Support company initiatives, including new product launches, monetization, special projects, and enablement for internal teams.

This role requires

• Japanese qualified attorney with 5 - 7 years experience post-qualification, including time in an English speaking jurisdiction and experience negotiating commercial contracts with a solid knowledge of technology, contract law, and revenue recognition principles
• Fluent English speaker with high-level written English skills to enable strong communications and negotiations, both verbal and written
• Proficiency negotiating topics such as artificial intelligence, privacy, security, and data protection in the commercial contract context;
• Strategic, hands-on approach to supporting execution of Sales’ deals in APJ (Asia Pacific and Japan) region;
• Experience negotiating and advising on partner contracts e.g. through resellers or global system integrators;
• Ability to work on your own and prioritize multiple, often competing, deliverables while managing expectations meeting deadlines;
• Outstanding interpersonal skills and the ability to coordinate effectively and gain trust and confidence with personnel at many different levels;
• Ability to work as a team member of the legal department in a scalable, autonomous and accountable manner, and demonstrating flexibility across matter types and time zones;
• Attention to detail and excellence in contract drafting and dispute management, as well as ability to communicate in a precise, effective manner with various teams and customers; and
• Eager to chip in wherever and whenever help is needed.

Bonus points if you have

• 10+ years of professional experience;
• 4+ years of in-house experience;
• An eagerness to leverage AI, with a deep understanding of AI products, LLMs and the related legal issues;
• Understanding of software development, design, or product management processes;
• Industry specific knowledge in any of the following: Financial Services, Healthcare, Telecoms, Insurance and/or Consumer; and
• CIPP/A certification or similar privacy law experience.

Please note that visa sponsorship is not available for this position.

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