Legal Counsel

Counsel

Department: Legal

Supervisor: SVP, Legal & General Counsel

Location: Remote

Summary:

In this role, you will provide strategic legal advice and general legal support to our global and United States-based Apkudo teams.  You will help us review, evaluate multiple types of strategic and commercial agreements with key partners, support corporate governance matters (e.g. advising the board of directors, keeping board meeting minutes, and related materials), and research and advise Apkudo teams on compliance with an ever-expanding set of U.S. and global laws and regulations.  

You will work with executives and other team members, and in partnership with the General Counsel to select, engage, and manage outside counsel in a cost-efficient and strategic manner.  You embrace technology and come to the table with ideas on how to improve review efficiency and accuracy. Most importantly, you will provide top tier legal support to Apkudo’s business teams. You will also partner with the compliance team to ensure that we comply with all applicable legal and regulatory requirements.

What you will own (responsibilities):

Apkudo is agile and our days and duties can vary.  In this role, your primary responsibilities will be:

• Negotiate customer and vendor agreements from the initial drafting stage through final alignment and signature. 

• Create agreement term playbooks, templates and other resources that help Apkudo’s business teams accelerate and scale the engagement of key ecosystem partners.

• Research and product, technology and intellectual property legal and regulatory obligations and advise on associated compliance risks.

• Summarize contract deal terms, collaborate with business leaders, and ensure terms are communicated to and approved by leadership.

• Ensure that agreement negotiations move forward in an efficient manner including the tracking of contract terms, proactive followup to counterparties and internal business teams, and responding to contract inquiries.

• Assist with insurance, business licenses, filings, and related matters.

• Support M&A and fundraising activities.

• Support the compliance team in the research and assessments of laws and regulations related to IT security, privacy and safety. 

• Review external and customer-facing product descriptions, marketing materials, product web app Terms of Service, and Privacy Policies for legal compliance.

• Own our systems and processes of record for contracts, governance, and related matters.

What you will bring (experience and qualifications):

We “Apkudoers” come together to deliver for each other and our customers, and we know there are many paths to performing well. We will rely on you to come up to speed fast and to deliver great work.  We think you will need the following education, skills, and experience to excel:

• Juris Doctor from an accredited law school and active license to practice law in at least one U.S. jurisdiction are required.

• 4 to 7  years either in private practice or in the in-house legal function of a technology, telecommunications, or SaaS company. 

• A proactive approach to embracing and proposing technology or innovation in order to support the provision of legal support.

• Experience directly advising business leaders and teams on commercial, strategic partnership, or risk management-related matters. 

• Understanding of corporate governance and required processes, procedures, and documentation.

• Critical thinking and skills and the “chops” to identify and prioritize potential issues for resolution internally or through the engagement of external counsel–and then work with the team to provide solutions and options.

• Previous experience with operational personnel - providing support in a manner that enables them to execute their job functions while providing a level of oversight and compliance

• Self-starter, with a strong sense of personal accountability, attention to detail and expectation of others to do the same (and willingness to help others that do not yet have those competencies)

• Ambition

• Collaborative problem solver with a bias towards action, balanced with prior experience working in environments where security, safety, ethics, and reliability are paramount to success and are not sacrificed in order to find the “easy” solution.

• Expertise in Google Workspace strongly preferred.

What we expect from you:

What does it take to be successful at Apkudo? We expect ourselves and each other to be:

• Active listeners, available and responsiveness as appropriate, and to have an inherent sense of urgency to solve problems

• Genuine and Collaborative

• Kind, Considerate and Supportive of others

• Fair, Transparent, Firm, and Ethical

• Outcome Oriented to achieve company goals

• Engaged by personal and professional development

What you can expect from us:

Solving hard problems is challenging work, and we have designed Apkudo to support you in doing what no one else has done. We do this by setting the same expectations of ourselves as we do for you in the prior section.  Some additional examples of what we will provide you include:

• Competitive salaried compensation

• Competitive benefits including a strong 401K match

• Flexible work location and hours - we support remote work!

• Highly accessible leadership - we are available, listen, and respond!

• No-nonsense culture focused on transparency, authenticity, teamwork, and individuality

The fine print

You can work from anywhere - we have employees all over the world - as long as you can be productive from wherever you choose to work.  You will be expected to be available during “normal” working hours in your US time zone.  There will be times that your availability will be required outside of normal business hours based upon business needs.  Travel for this role may be anticipated based on business need.

The physical requirements include prolonged periods sitting at a desk and working on a computer (though we provide a tech benefit that you can use to buy a standing desk). 

We are an agile organization, and so the duties and description of this role (like every other at Apkudo) may change at any time as we adapt. 

This position is exempt under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA).