Commercial Counsel

Company Description

Organizations everywhere struggle under the crushing costs and complexities of "solutions" that promise to simplify their lives. To create a better experience for their customers and employees. To help them grow. Software is a choice that can make or break a business. Create better or worse experiences. Propel or throttle growth. Business software has become a blocker instead of ways to get work done.

There's another option. Freshworks. With a fresh vision for how the world works.

At Freshworks, we build uncomplicated service software that delivers exceptional customer and employee experiences. Our enterprise-grade solutions are powerful, yet easy to use, and quick to deliver results. Our people-first approach to AI eliminates friction, making employees more effective and organizations more productive. Over 72,000 companies, including Bridgestone, New Balance, Nucor, S&P Global, and Sony Music, trust Freshworks' customer experience (CX) and employee experience (EX) software to fuel customer loyalty and service efficiency. And, over 4,500 Freshworks employees make this possible, all around the world.

Fresh vision. Real impact. Come build it with us.

Job Description

Freshworks is seeking a highly skilled and experienced Commercial Counsel to join our growing legal team. In this high-impact role, you will lead key commercial legal initiatives across our North America business, focusing on complex SaaS transactions, strategic partnerships, and scalable contracting processes. You'll report to the VP of Legal and work closely with cross-functional teams to support revenue growth while managing legal risk. 

This is an exciting opportunity for a hands-on, solution-oriented attorney who thrives in fast-paced, high-growth SaaS environments and is passionate about enabling the business with practical, customer-friendly legal support. 

What You'll Do: 

• Lead Strategic Transactions: Draft, review, and negotiate a broad range of commercial contracts, including enterprise SaaS, channel and reseller, managed services, marketplace, and data privacy agreements. 
• Partner with the Business: Act as a trusted legal advisor to Sales, Channels, Customer Success, Sourcing, and other teams on deal structuring, risk mitigation, and contract strategy. 
• Drive Efficiency and Scale: Improve and maintain commercial templates, playbooks, and legal processes that reduce friction and increase consistency across North America. 
• Cross-Functional Collaboration: Collaborate with stakeholders in Finance, Deals Desk, Professional Services, and Procurement to align legal support with business operations and timelines. 
• Support Global Legal Alignment: Coordinate with legal colleagues in other regions to ensure global consistency and knowledge sharing around commercial contracts and regulatory developments. 
• Legal Compliance & Insight: Stay informed of relevant legal developments and ensure compliance with regulations related to intellectual property, data privacy, security, and other laws across multiple jurisdictions. 

Please note this is a hybrid role with onsite expectations of 3x/ week (Tues - Thurs) from our San Mateo, CA headquarters. 

Qualifications

• 8-12 years of experience as a transactional attorney, preferably within an in-house legal department at a multinational company or at a leading law firm 
• Extensive experience drafting and negotiating SaaS agreements, partner and channel agreements, vendor contracts, data processing agreements, and professional service agreements
• Strong understanding of commercial contracts, intellectual property law, data privacy, and data protection regulations, with a proven ability to offer practical, business-oriented legal solutions
• Exceptional written and verbal communication skills, with the ability to interact and collaborate effectively with stakeholders across all levels and time zones 
• Ability to navigate complex, cross-jurisdictional legal issues and collaborate with teams across cultures
• A proactive, service-oriented approach with a demonstrated ability to manage multiple priorities, meet tight deadlines, and deliver high-quality work with meticulous attention to detail 
• Proven success in building strong working relationships with internal teams (e.g, Finance, Operations, Professional Services) and external partners, fostering a cooperative, solution-oriented environment
• Juris Doctorate (JD) from an accredited U.S. law school and licensed to practice law in California

Additional Information

Please note this is a hybrid role with onsite expectations of 3x/ week (Tues - Thurs) from ou