Sr. Legal Counsel (API Sales)

Who we are:

Vonage is a global cloud communications leader that helps businesses accelerate their digital transformation through our fully programmable Unified Communications, Contact Center Applications, and Communications APIs.

Why this role matters:

Vonage’s Legal Department seeks a talented Commercial Senior Legal Counsel to support its fast-growing and dynamic API communications division. The role involves supporting complex, strategic transactions with our customers, partners, and suppliers worldwide, whilst serving as a trusted advisor on commercial, compliance, data protection, and legal matters in connection with the product and sales cycle. Additionally, the Senior Legal Counsel will play a key role in improving the efficiency and effectiveness of contracting processes. You will oversee a pipeline of commercial deals, manage existing customers relationships and contracts, and provide legal guidance to a global business team.

In this role, you’ll:

• Review, negotiate, create and manage commercial contracts with customers, partners, and resellers to protect company interests and ensure legal compliance.
• Support continuous improvement in streamlining and simplifying processes for contract negotiations, operational processes and the provision of legal support to all other areas of the company.
• Engage with Vonage customers to address needs, resolve questions and negotiate contract terms.
• Advise internal teams (e.g., product, security, compliance) and senior leaders on solutions to support company growth.
• Support the sales teams by reviewing RFPs, assisting indirect sales and advising on new market opportunities.
• Provide legal guidance on the development of new products and services.
• Enhance and standardize contract templates, processes and procedures for a global framework that enables cross-selling across services.

What you’ll bring:

Required

• JD from an accredited law school and active member in good standing of at least one US state bar; Minimum of 5-7 years of relevant in-house legal experience, ideally in technology, SaaS, or cloud communications.
• Experience leading customer negotiations and drafting complex SaaS and commercial contracts; Support the development, commercialization, and licensing of technology and IP assets
• Serve as a subject matter expert on domestic and international privacy and data security within our Legal team
• Develop and refine processes, runbooks, and systems to ensure efficient and scalable contracting operations.
• Develop and implement legal strategies to effectively and efficiently manage a large portfolio of litigated matters in a wide variety of jurisdictions.
• Advise on copyright, trademark, trade secret, and patent matters in the context of software and technology transactions.
• Advise on consumer protection, marketing, and advertising matters to ensure compliance with applicable laws and regulations
• Maintain standards, procedures, and internal controls designed to promote ethical conduct, foster commitment to compliance with the law, and prevent and detect violations of law and other misconduct
• Monitor and stay updated on relevant laws and regulations, communicate with stakeholders about regulatory initiatives, and assist with implementation of regulatory changes
• Assess, develop, communicate and advance Vonage’s global revenue generation strategy and commercial transaction support, including efficient processes for negotiating and managing transactions, and superior negotiation judgment.
• Provide advice and support to the product team, local legal teams, support functions, Vonage management, and the Legal, Risk, and Compliance Department
• Serve as a subject matter authority on business development and partnership/reseller management matters within the legal department and collaborate with other legal functions as needed (e.g., Intellectual Property, Compliance, Data Privacy and Products/Regulatory Law group)
• Experience with artificial intelligence and machine learning technology and regulatory compliance and strategy
• Structure, draft and negotiate key supplier contracts (both on Vonage and supplier paper) such as inbound license agreements, consulting, marketing, professional service, SaaS, and data processing agreements
• Ability to work on a wide range of mission-critical projects, under tight time constraints, with minimal supervision
• A combination of top law firm and in-house experience; 

Desirable

• Thrives in an environment where urgency, results driven mindset and accountability are key behaviors.
• Effective communicator, skilled at engaging with internal stakeholders, and external lawyers,