Principal Product Counsel

GitHub CELA is an innovative team of professionals, located across the U.S. and around the  world, who collaborate remotely, working closely together and across the business. The CELA team operates on the cutting edge of legal practice, developer policy, and social impact. Like the rest of the software world, we use GitHub itself to work more collaboratively, transparently, and efficiently. We believe strongly in working from first principles, practicing kindness and helping make each other and the team better, and being careful stewards of the unique GitHub culture we are developing together. We value diversity of thought and experience, excellence and rigor in our work, growth mindset and continuous improvement, cultivating a deep understanding of our products and services, intellectual curiosity, a passion for technology, and innovation in our practice. We require strong bias for driving results, and a commitment to prioritizing developer and customer trust in our platform.

Responsibilities: 

• Serve as primary legal advisor to various product development teams, supporting them by providing practical, action-oriented legal guidance on new products, services, and  programs, from inception to launch and beyond
• Provide and manage legal advice across a range of legal, policy, business and strategic issues related to GitHub’s products and services, including intellectual property rights, privacy and data security, novel issues regarding artificial intelligence and machine learning, and consumer protection
• Help GitHub’s business leaders anticipate and adapt to evolving legal, regulatory, and industry trends
• Collaborate with CELA, other GitHub teams, and, where appropriate, outside counsel and Microsoft stakeholders on all of the above, driving consensus with them when needed

Required qualifications: 

• J.D. or equivalent and a license to practice law in the United States
• 7+ years of practicing legal experience, including at a law firm and/or in-house experience
• Experience with product counseling involving software, cloud services, intellectual property law, privacy and data security
• Demonstrated success in issue spotting, problem solving, and the ability to be agile through periods of rapid change, and cross-team collaboration while driving issues to closure

Preferred qualifications: 

• Familiarity with using GitHub.com
• Commitment to provide high quality client service and a strong desire to build trusted  advisor relationships with key clients and executives
• Joy and passion for legal drafting that is clear, concise, and human readable, including an ability to simply describe complex legal and technical scenarios
• Desire and ability to perform as part of a diverse and inclusive team, and to foster a spirit of diversity, inclusion, and belonging across CELA

Minimum salary of $89,200 to maximum $236,600.