Job Title: Senior Product Counsel – Software & Multi-Channel Sales
Location: UK (hybrid/remote working)
Department: Legal
Position Overview:
We are seeking an experienced and strategic Product Legal Counsel with expertise in software and technology, preferably with multi-channel sales experience to join our global team. In this role, you will provide comprehensive legal guidance to support the development, commercialization, and distribution of software products across multiple sales channels, including direct sales, partnerships, and online platforms. You will work closely with product, sales, marketing, and engineering teams to ensure our software products comply with all legal, regulatory, and commercial requirements while supporting the company’s growth in various markets.
Key Responsibilities:
Legal Advisory on Software Development: Provide legal counsel on issues related to software product development and distribution, including licensing of a variety of technologies across multiple deployment methods and compliance with global software and technology specific law and regulation.
Multi-Channel Sales Support: Advise on legal issues related to selling software products through various channels, including, B2B, channel partners, e-commerce platforms, and OEMs. Ensure compliance with sales, licensing, and distribution law and regulation for each channel and
Contract Drafting & Negotiation: Support development of strategy and templates for multi-channel sales, including software licensing agreements, reseller agreements, SaaS agreements, terms of service, distribution contracts, and third-party vendor agreements. Review and negotiate agreements specific to the work streams within the team which may change in line with business requirement and strategy.
Compliance and Regulatory Oversight: Ensure that software products and their distribution comply with domestic and international regulations, such as data privacy laws (e.g., GDPR, CCPA), competition laws, export controls (with internal R&C team), and specific software industry standards as relevant.
Data Privacy, Security and Release Management process: Collaborate with the data privacy, product and engineering teams to ensure relevant coverage of data protection and security best practices into product licenses and terms of use. Ensure compliance with existing processes for release management.
Multi-Jurisdictional Compliance: Provide legal guidance for selling and distributing software products across multiple regions, ensuring compliance with local laws and regulatory requirements.
Risk Assessment & Mitigation: Proactively identify and mitigate legal risks associated with software distribution, third-party integrations, platform-specific terms, and evolving regulatory environments in different channels.
Dispute Resolution: Work with internal stakeholders to manage software specific disputes and license compliance as needed, including software licensing conflicts, regulatory inquiries, and contractual disagreements related to software sales and distribution.
Cross-Functional Collaboration: Work closely with product, sales, marketing, and business development teams to understand business goals and provide legal support for global expansion and multi-channel sales strategies.
Policy Development & Training: Develop and implement internal policies related to software licensing, distribution agreements, and compliance for multi-channel sales. Provide training to relevant teams on legal considerations for software sales across various platforms.
Qualifications:
Education: degree from an accredited law school; admission to practice law in the relevant jurisdiction.
Experience: 10+ years of legal experience, with significant experience with a focus on software products, technology law, and multi-channel sales or distribution. Experience at a technology (OEM) company or SaaS provider is preferred.
Sales Channel Expertise: In-depth knowledge of legal issues related to selling software across multiple channels, including direct sales, channel partners and online marketplaces.
Technical Knowledge: Strong understanding of software development, licensing models (e.g., SaaS, PaaS), open-source software compliance, and product lifecycle management.
Regulatory Expertise: Experience with relevant legal frameworks, including data privacy (GDPR, CCPA), export control laws, antitrust regulations, and emerging regulation around artificial intelligence, the Cloud Act (EU) and the Data Act (EU) would be an advantage.
Problem-Solving: Ability to navigate complex legal challenges quickly, providing practical solutions to support software development, commercialization, and multi-channel distribution.
Communication Skills: Strong communication and negotiation skills, with the ability to convey complex legal concepts to cross-functional teams and external stakeholders.
Attention to Detail: Excellent organizational skills with the ability to manage multiple projects and priorities in a fast-paced environment.
The following experience would be an advantage:
Experience with global software distribution, including compliance with regional regulations (e.g., in the EU, Asia-Pacific, or Latin America).
Experience in drafting and negotiating agreements related to SaaS, cloud-based services, and software integration partnerships.
Familiarity with agile product development and sales processes in a technology setting.
Prior experience working in a high-growth tech company or startup environment.
An understanding of the use and integration of open-source software within products, ensuring compliance with licensing requirements and minimizing associated legal risks.
A working knowledge of intellectual property, copyright, trademark and patent protection with regard to software products.
