Sr. Associate General Counsel

Databases are the beating heart of every business in the world.

Cockroach Labs is the creator of CockroachDB, the most highly evolved cloud-native, distributed SQL database on the planet that scales fast, survives anything, and thrives anywhere. We created CockroachDB to unshackle teams from the constraints of their database. Join us on our mission to enable every developer to build world-changing applications!

About the Role

The Sr. Associate General Counsel, Commercial (EMEA) will be a critical member of the Legal team here at Cockroach Labs and also an important partner to our global Go-to-Market (GTM) org, with a particular focus in EMEA. You will be responsible for a broad portfolio of cutting-edge and complex cross-border licensing and contractual matters. You will work closely with internal stakeholders at all levels of leadership to assess legal and business risks and make sound decisions under tight deadlines. The Sr. Associate General Counsel will be the first member of the legal team in EMEA on the ground floor building our EMEA support function at a high-growth startup, and will have significant opportunities for growth and leadership. This role will be based in our London office.

You Will

• Lead complex, cross-border, commercial negotiations with some of the biggest brands in technology, e-commerce, banking, gaming, logistics, and other industries, as well as strategic partnerships, primarily in the UK and EU regions.
• Build best-in-class runbooks and processes to allow our rapidly growing sales team to scale their go-to-market efforts quickly and responsibly.
• Partner with revenue operations teams to drive more efficient use of legal resources in international sales efforts.
• Provide policy recommendations to ensure compliance with a variety of laws and regulations impacting database offerings, including intellectual property, privacy, security, and government contracting.
• Continually improve our standard form agreements and online T&Cs, legal processes, policies, and training, including localizing contract templates for regional markets as needed.
• Participate in calls during US business hours occasionally, and travel internationally 2-4 times a year for Legal team offsite and other internal business engagements.

In your first 30 days, you will develop a strong understanding of our product offerings, sales cycle, and the structure of our various internal functions.  You will meet and begin to develop relationships with leaders within our GTM and Finance organizations, and begin to build an engagement model with our EMEA regional sales team in particular. You will become very familiar with our contracts and policies. You will begin drafting and negotiating various customer contracts.  

In your first 60 days, you will have a firmer understanding of Cockroach Labs’ GTM teams’ legal needs. You will begin to integrate more closely with the EMEA regional sales functions, attending various of their team meetings and meeting with functional leaders. You will lead negotiations on various commercial contracts. You will begin identifying the legal requirements for the regional markets you support, which may include identifying areas of improvement for legal support in EMEA, and updates to internal policies, processes, and our customer-facing T&Cs. 

After 3 months, you’ll be fully integrated into the Legal team and begin serving as the primary touchpoint for commercial legal matters in EMEA. You will be working on the Legal team’s core priorities and start identifying new opportunities for the team’s initiatives. You will closely track functional objectives and plan ahead to ensure Legal is prepared to effectively support those objectives where needed.  You will regularly liaise with key stakeholders in Cockroach’s GTM functions and continue growing as the go-to legal support for the EMEA markets.

You Have

• Significant experience successfully supporting fast-moving global sales teams to negotiate and close complex, cross-border enterprise software license and SaaS contracts with large enterprise customers, global systems integrators and other strategic partnership arrangements, in EMEA and other global markets. 
• Strong leadership capabilities and are a self-starter who’s able to work independently yet collaboratively, and meet tight deadlines in a dynamic and demanding environment.
• A proven track record of working on cross-functional initiatives, including previous working experience with sales operations and finance on contract lifecycle management, new templates, and sales enablement.
• Working knowledge of intellectual property, international contracting, data governance, and privacy matters. Working knowledge of EU regulations (e.g., GDPR, DORA, NIS2) are a big plus.
• A passion for implementing and improving processes and systems that drive operational efficiencies.
• Excellent negotiating skills with both legal and financial/commercial issues. 
• Exceptional interpersonal and presentation skills and an ability to communicate effectively with others at all levels of the organization. 
• An entrepreneurial spirit and passion for technology and team building.
• Ability to offer clear and concise business-minded guidance and risk assessment around legal issues.
• UK-qualified lawyer with a minimum 8 years of directly relevant experience, preferably at both a top-tier law firm and in-house legal department. Prior technology industry experience is a plus.

The Team

Reporting to Melissa Lor - Deputy General Counsel, Commercial & Product

Melissa has always enjoyed collaborating on innovative solutions to paradigm shifts confronted by technology companies. At Cockroach Labs, she leads the commercial and product legal support functions to address such challenges, and is dedicated to helping others achieve their growth potential. When not working, Melissa can be found spending quality time with her young kids, traveling, playing tennis, and trying new restaurants.

Our Benefits

• Office day lunch stipend
• Paid Parental Leave
• Flexible PTO
• Private Health Insurance

Cockroach Labs is proud to be an Equal Opportunity Employer building a diverse and inclusive workforce. If you need additional accommodations to feel comfortable during your interview process, please email us at [email protected].