Senior Corporate Counsel, Product

About the role

Join a small and dynamic legal team dedicated to revolutionizing cloud computing and AI at DigitalOcean, where you’ll act as a versatile, full-stack product counsel. You’ll advise product, engineering, and go-to-market teams across the entire product lifecycle—from first concept through global launch and beyond—guiding critical initiatives in cutting-edge product development, customer trust, and data-driven growth.

Responsibilities

• Serve as a trusted partner and primary point of contact for DigitalOcean’s technical and non-technical teams, including Marketing, Product, Engineering, and Operations.
• Conduct comprehensive assessments of legal risks in product development, addressing privacy, regulatory, licensing, and intellectual property concerns to support the product lifecycle from design and definition to global launch and post-release iteration.
• Identify, assess, and drive resolution of legal issues related to customer data, privacy, security, export control, open-source software, and responsible AI.
• Help shape the long-term strategy, structure, and priorities of the product counsel function.
• Advise on US and global privacy laws (such as CCPA and GDPR) and emerging AI regulations to ensure strict global compliance.
• Support the drafting and negotiation of complex commercial agreements and data protection agreements to facilitate product launches and safeguard corporate interests, including vendor agreements, technology partnership agreements, terms of service, product-specific terms, privacy policies, and acceptable use policies.
• Support legal strategy for critical incident response and regulatory investigations, partnering with Security, Privacy, and Communications teams.
• Co-develop scalable self-service legal playbooks, templates, and automated workflows to empower Engineering and Product teams.

Requirements

• Juris Doctor (JD) from an accredited law school and active bar membership in at least one U.S. state.
• 8+ years of legal experience with significant in-house experience supporting SaaS, PaaS, and/or IaaS product development teams.
• A track record of counseling AI product and engineering teams across the product development lifecycle, from design and definition through global launch and post-release iteration.
• A low-ego, roll-up-your-sleeves attitude to tackle projects large and small, a desire to learn, an appetite for feedback, and a "leave it better than you found it" growth mindset.
• Proven experience using strong business judgement to calibrate business and legal risk, and translating complex legal advice into actionable guidance for Product, Engineering, and Operations teams.
• A strong understanding of US and global privacy regulations, intellectual property, open-source software, artificial intelligence, and data security.
• Experience in drafting, reviewing, and negotiating complex commercial and technology agreements.
• Superlative communication and collaborative problem-solving skills with the ability to build positive, influential relationships with cross-functional partners and senior leadership.

Nice to Have

• Expertise in one or more specialized areas, such as U.S. and global privacy law (e.g., CCPA, GDPR), data security, IP and open source, or emerging AI/ML regulation.
• Familiarity with cloud security and compliance frameworks (e.g., FedRAMP, HIPAA, SOC 2) and experience translating them into practical engineering roadmaps.
• A focus on launching AI/ML products and advising on the legal and regulatory aspects of product development in that space.
• Experience supporting incident response or regulatory investigations.
• Experience in implementing self-service legal tooling, automation, or workflows for technical teams.

Pay

Compensation range: $180,000 - $225,000. You may qualify for a bonus in addition to base salary, determined based on company and individual performance. Eligible employees also receive equity compensation, including equity grants upon hire and the option to participate in our Employee Stock Purchase Program.

Benefits

• Reimbursement for relevant conferences, training, and education, plus access to LinkedIn Learning’s 10,000+ courses.
• Competitive benefits supporting well-being, including an Employee Assistance Program, Local Employee Meetups, and a flexible time off policy.
• Benefits may vary based on local regulations and preferences.