Manager Legal Counsel

About IONOS

IONOS is one of Europe's largest web-presence and cloud providers, giving millions of customers the tools to build and grow their online presence. In North America — the US, Canada, and Mexico — we're the challenger: competing to become the clear alternative to the largest incumbents, and taking share as we grow.

Job Purpose:

You will combine hands-on legal delivery with ownership of the US legal function, providing legal guidance across complex commercial, regulatory, compliance, and privacy/data protection matters, and partnering closely with senior stakeholders to enable compliant, sustainable growth.

You will handle and/or have oversight and final responsibility for certain legal matters for IONOS Inc. and its affiliated companies in the United States which includes issues related to customer compliance (i.e. trademark and copyright, complaints, civil and criminal subpoenas, search warrants and preservation letters). Maintain US risk management practice. Work closely with the corporate legal team in Germany on legal matters as appropriate. Be a trusted legal partner with business leaders to educate, prevent, or resolve issues related to the company’s day-to-day operations and mitigate risk to the organization.

Responsibilities:

Operational, Commercial & Regulatory Legal Support

• Draft, review and negotiate complex commercial agreements, including customer terms, hosting/cloud services, reseller and partner agreements, software licensing, DPAs and strategic supplier contracts.
• Provide senior legal advice on product launches, go-to-market activities, marketing and advertising, consumer protection law, IP, sanctions/export controls, privacy/data protection, and information security.
• Identify and communicate legal and regulatory risks, proposing pragmatic mitigations aligned with commercial objectives.
• Work with business leaders and decision makers to improve processes/procedures with the goal of reducing future risk
• Prepare updates and/or presentations on risk profile/outages/successes to senior management
• Have broad insight and provide expert guidance to customer care leadership on litigation threat mitigation.

Legal Function Ownership

• Line manage and mentor the paralegal function on staff, providing clear direction, feedback and development.
• Set priorities for the US legal function, delegate where appropriate, and engage in risk-based decision making and delivery against business objectives.
• Act as escalation point for complex or high-risk legal matters.
• Drive continuous improvement of legal processes, templates, playbooks and contract lifecycle management.
• Provide recurring compliance testing on risk management practice across the business
• Work with business leaders and decision makers to improve processes/procedures with the goal of reducing future risk
• Prepare updates and/or presentations on risk profile/outages/successes to senior management
• Coordinating the activities of outside counsel.

Compliance, Governance & Strategy

• Support corporate governance activities, including corporate housekeeping and maintenance of accurate records.
• Advise on strategic initiatives such as AI governance, NIS2 readiness (as applicable) and information security programs
• As needed, design and deliver training for stakeholders on legal, compliance and data protection topics, promoting a strong culture of integrity and accountability.

Qualifications:

Required

• Active license to practice law in good standing in at least one US state or jurisdiction with approximately 3–6 years of post-bar practice or equivalent in-house counsel experience; admission to the Pennsylvania Bar strongly preferred.
• Strong working knowledge of US state privacy laws (e.g., CCPA/CPRA, CPA, VCDPA), with practical experience supporting privacy compliance or privacy officer responsibilities.
• Excellent stakeholder management and communication skills, with the ability to translate legal risk into clear, practical guidance.
• Strong organization, prioritization and time management with high attention to detail and a solutions oriented approach.
• Ability to travel domestically and internationally on an as needed basis.
• Ability to work in our Philadelphia office on a hybrid basis (3X a week)
• Strong foundation in pre-litigation dispute resolution

Desirable

• Familiarity with domain industry frameworks and regulators
• Experience line managing or mentoring a legal professional or para professional.
• Experience working for or advising US based technology, hosting, cloud or online service providers.
• Experience with corporate governance, entity management, and state/federal corporate filings (e.g., Secretary of State annual reports).
• Experience supporting AI, information security and/or certification initiatives (e.g., ISO 27001).
• Experience supporting or managing litigation and pre‑action disputes, including instructing and coordinating external counsel
• Commercial contracting expertise across various types of vendor supplier agreements.
• Experience in early case assessment, evaluating pre-litigation claims and cease-and-desist notices, and negotiating cost-effective, practical business resolutions.
• Specialized Industry Knowledge (Significant Plus): Working familiarity with online intermediary liability (CDA § 230 and DMCA § 512 safe harbors), statutory law enforcement disclosures (Stored Communications Act / ECPA), general intellectual property principles, and modern state comprehensive data privacy frameworks (e.g., CPRA/VCDPA).