Senior Legal Counsel - Commercial (South)

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PURPOSE AND OBJECTIVE

 

SAP is seeking an experienced Senior Legal Counsel to join our Field Legal Organization in the Americas region.  As a member of the North America Field Legal Team, you will provide legal support to SAP and our business teams, particularly SAP’s sales and business teams in the Southern United States, the South Market Unit. Your primary responsibilities will entail drafting and negotiating multiple complex technology cloud services, licenses, and related agreements. These efforts will be directed towards advancing SAP’s business growth strategies and objectives while adhering to SAP’s risk management policies and legal compliance requirements.

 

You will serve as the main point of contact for the relevant sales and business teams and provide legal advice and counseling focusing primarily on cloud agreements, as well as on a wide variety of matters, including contract strategy and interpretation, data privacy, artificial intelligence, cybersecurity, intellectual property, and license compliance. In addition, the position may support other internal lines of business areas such as marketing, third-party licensing, bankruptcy, and procurement.

 

You will need to demonstrate the ability to draft and negotiate complex agreements, collaborating with SAP’s Commercial Business Partners and Commercial Finance teams in their drafting of cloud agreements (focusing on the legal aspects), work with sales and services professionals, pricing and revenue recognition teams, and others, in a dynamic environment. The ability to work with a team across a wide organization is critical.  This position spends a significant amount of time in customer facing negotiations. Experience in the cloud (software-as-a-service) sector is strongly preferred.

 

Key accountabilities of the role are to:

• Effectively structure, draft, redline, and negotiate complex terms and agreements with customers, including cloud agreements, software licensing, professional services agreements, and data processing agreements, to support SAP’s cloud and software business.
• Collaborate closely with internal Sales, Pricing, Revenue Recognition, and Commercial Business Partner deal support teams throughout the drafting and negotiation process. 
• Serve as an escalation point for the Commercial Business Partners and Sales Teams for legal and contracting issues.
• Support SAP’s corporate business goals and objectives by serving as a true business partner, balancing legal risks appropriately against the commercial objectives.
• Identify contractual risks and propose alternatives leading to optimal solutions; work cross-functionally with sales, finance, security, and operations teams to ensure compliance with legal, regulatory, company policies, and risk preferences.
• Integrate legal, business, technical, and practical analysis with high motivation.
• Assist in managing various field and corporate legal matters, including privacy, security, intellectual property, template and playbook management, and dispute resolution.
• Undertake special projects as assigned by the Assistant General Counsel.

 

EDUCATION & SKILLS

• Juris Doctor from an A.B.A. accredited law school.
• Over 7 years of relevant legal experience in the cloud and technology sector.
• Expertise in negotiating key provisions of cloud agreements, such as data privacy, security, artificial intelligence, compliance/regulatory issues, and indemnities and limitation of liability clauses.
• Proven experience in providing legal counsel to sales teams.
• Strong interpersonal, leadership and communications skills.
• Active membership in at least one state bar.

 

LOCATION 

 

• Must be hybrid, with at least three days per week onsite at a U.S. location near an SAP office—preferably in Atlanta, Newtown Square, or Chicago.

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