Senior Counsel

About the Role

We're hiring our first in‑house attorney to build Descript's legal function from the ground up. As Senior Counsel, you’ll own most of Descript's day‑to‑day legal operations, with outside counsel supporting complex matters. This is a high‑autonomy, pragmatic generalist role where you’ll define how the legal function operates, creating processes, templates, and frameworks that scale with the company.

Responsibilities

• Commercial contracts: Draft, review, and negotiate SaaS agreements, licensing deals, partnership agreements, and vendor contracts.
• Enterprise sales support: Review and negotiate customer enterprise agreements to accelerate deal velocity.
• Employment matters: Oversee offer letters, separation agreements, equity grants, and day‑to‑day employment questions (California + multi‑state).
• IP coordination: Manage trademark and patent matters in partnership with outside counsel.
• Privacy & data protection: Own DPAs, data subject requests, and cross‑border data transfer requirements.
• AI & product counsel: Advise product and engineering teams on legal implications of AI/ML features, including model licensing, training data usage, generated content rights, and emerging AI regulations.
• Compliance & risk management: Track and support the company's compliance posture across key frameworks (SOC 2, GDPR, CCPA); monitor regulatory developments affecting AI/ML products, flag emerging risks to leadership, and coordinate cross‑functional responses. Own the compliance calendar (renewals, certifications, audits, regulatory filings).
• Corporate governance: Support board minutes, equity plan administration, and consent actions.
• Outside counsel management: Interface with outside counsel on complex matters (fundraising, M&A, litigation, regulatory), managing scope and spend.
• Build the legal function: Design and implement scalable legal processes from scratch—contract templates, playbooks, intake workflows, and a contract lifecycle management system.

Requirements

Required

• JD from an accredited law school; active member of the California Bar (or ability to waive in).
• 7–10 years of legal experience, including at least 2–3 years in‑house at a technology or SaaS company.
• Law firm background (BigLaw or strong mid‑market) plus in‑house experience.
• Strong commercial contracts experience—able to run a deal end‑to‑end without supervision.
• Working knowledge of employment law (California required; multi‑state a plus).
• Familiarity with IP basics (trademarks, patents) and privacy/data protection (DPAs, GDPR, SOC 2).
• Experience building or maintaining a compliance program (SOC 2, privacy frameworks, or similar).
• Comfortable operating as a solo legal practitioner with outside counsel as a resource, not a crutch.
• Pragmatic judgment—knowing when to push back and when to move fast.

Nice to Have

• Familiarity with enterprise sales contracts and procurement processes.
• M&A due diligence experience (even if not leading transactions).
• Experience at a company of similar stage (Series C‑D, 100‑500 employees).

Compensation

• Base salary range: $225,000 – $275,000 (final offer considers experience, expertise, location, etc.).

Why Descript (Benefits & Perks)

• Build the legal function from zero; define processes, tools, and culture.
• Direct executive access—report to the VP of Finance & Operations and advise cross‑functionally across sales, product, finance, and engineering.
• Work on novel AI/ML licensing, product counsel, and regulatory questions rarely encountered in other legal roles.
• Growth trajectory toward Head of Legal / General Counsel as the company scales.
• Mission‑driven work democratizing video and audio creation for millions of creators.
• Generous healthcare package, 401(k) matching, catered lunches, and flexible vacation time.
• Hybrid/remote work options with occasional in‑person collaboration; headquarters in San Francisco’s Mission District.

About Descript

Descript is building a simple, intuitive, fully‑powered editing tool for video and audio—an editing tool built for the age of AI. With a team of ~150 and backing from investors such as OpenAI, Andreessen Horowitz, Redpoint Ventures, and Spark Capital, Descript has product‑market fit and the raw materials for growth while remaining early enough for each employee to have a measurable influence on the company’s direction.

Descript is an equal‑opportunity workplace dedicated to diversity and inclusion across race, color, ancestry, religion, sex, national origin, sexual orientation, age, citizenship, marital status, disability, gender identity, and veteran status.