Corporate Counsel
Corporate Counsel will serve as AfterQuery’s first dedicated in-house lawyer, owning commercial contracting and employment-law matters while partnering with Sales, Finance, People, and outside counsel. The role requires a JD, active California bar admission, and 3–6 years spanning contracts and employment law.
About the job
Responsibilities
Commercial Contracts
- Draft, negotiate, and redline data acquisition and data licensing agreements with enterprise customers.
- Draft and negotiate Master Service Agreements (MSAs), Statements of Work (SOWs), and vendor agreements for compute/cloud infrastructure providers and other clients.
- Own data processing agreements (DPAs) and related data-rights provisions in customer and vendor contracts.
- Maintain and improve contract templates, playbooks, and redline positions to accelerate deal cycles.
- Partner with Sales/GTM and Finance on deal structuring, pricing terms, and contract risk tradeoffs.
Employment and Labor Law
- Draft and review independent contractor agreements, employment agreements, offer letters, and compensation/bonus plan language.
- Advise the People team on employment and labor law matters, including compensation agreements, equity administration, hiring, separations and terminations, leave, wage and hour issues, and handbook/policy compliance.
- Advise on worker classification and help manage related compliance risk across engagement types.
- Support HR compliance projects, including international hiring, policy updates, and state-specific requirements.
General Legal and Advisory
- Triage incoming legal questions across the business and resolve matters appropriately in-house.
- Identify when to escalate export control/sanctions reviews, corporate financing/cap-table matters, and data incident/privacy investigations to outside counsel.
- Help manage outside counsel relationships and budgets as in-house scope grows.
Requirements
- Juris Doctor (JD) degree.
- Active admission to the California bar.
- 3–6 years of experience spanning commercial contracts and employment law.
- Experience at a boutique technology/startup-focused or generalist business law firm; early-stage in-house technology company experience is preferred.
- Strong judgment regarding risk/reward tradeoffs and ability to provide decisive, business-oriented recommendations.
- Ability to work independently with minimal oversight and sound judgment about when to involve outside counsel.
- Strong written and verbal communication skills.
- Experience partnering cross-functionally with Sales, Finance, and People teams.
- Interest in hands-on individual-contributor work.
Nice-to-Haves
- Experience with AI/data companies, data or technology licensing, or technology transactions involving hyperscalers/cloud providers.
- Experience as the first or second legal hire at a startup, focused on contracts and/or employment law.
- Experience with equity administration tools such as Pulley or Carta.
- Experience with HRIS platforms such as Gusto.
Compensation and Benefits
- Annual salary: $225,000–$250,000.
- Medical, vision, and dental insurance.
- 401(k) with employer match.
- Daily Uber Eats stipend.
- Monthly wellness stipend.
- Commute covered.
Skills
Commercial Contracts, Employment Law, Labor Law, Data Licensing, Data Processing Agreements, Master Service Agreements, Contract Negotiation, California Bar, Worker Classification, Equity Administration, HRIS, Cloud Infrastructure
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