Legal Counsel, Commercial EMEA

Couchbase’s Legal Team leverages its business-minded and practically oriented expertise to support stakeholders across the organization, advocate for the company’s best interests, and scale the business at a rapid pace. This position is an exciting opportunity to join an incredible legal team, reporting to our VP, Associate General Counsel. Remote applicants will be considered; if located in London, ability to travel to London office is preferred. Occasional travel may be required if requested by Couchbase. We are looking for a resourceful and team-oriented commercial lawyer with a passion for technology to support our EMEA business function. The right candidate has excellent problem-solving and communication skills and an ability to thrive in a fast-paced, ever-changing environment.

Responsibilities:

Drafting and Negotiation:

• Leveraging excellent writing and negotiation skills to present Couchbase’s positions persuasively and drive deals to close. 
• Proven experience in drafting and negotiating a wide range of inbound (vendor) and outbound (sales) commercial contracts, including large-scale enterprise software license agreements, SaaS agreements, order forms, professional services, channel partner, non-disclosure and other commercial and technology related agreements. 
• Creating, maintaining and improving Couchbase’s templates for outbound and inbound transactions, contract negotiation playbooks and legal processes to allow Couchbase to continue scaling globally. 
• Negotiating data processing agreements (DPAs) and other similar agreements directly with customers, partners and vendors to support Couchbase’s sales, operations and compliance obligations.
• Advising on deal terms and contract structure with multinational customers, including understanding nuances between English, US, and other governing laws. 

Strategic Advising and Leadership:

• Serving as a trusted legal advisor and business partner on a variety of complex, cross-functional projects in furtherance of Couchbase’s overall strategy and goals. 
• Using excellent judgment and communication skills to partner with both internal business stakeholders, as well as external customers and partners to address complex issues across diverse subject matters. 
• Leading cross-functionally to drive deals to close, improve Couchbase’s internal processes and procedures, and achieve company objectives. 
• Providing advice and guidance related to new and existing features and products, privacy compliance, intellectual property and other legal matters as needed by the business.
• Supporting and driving improvements in Couchbase’s regulatory compliance programs.
• Remaining current on applicable laws and regulations surrounding privacy, security and IP.
• Supporting ad hoc requests from across the organization of almost any size and type.

Operational Rigor: 

• Understanding, demonstrating and honing operational best practices set by the Couchbase Legal Team while striving for constant improvement and efficiency.
• Continuously improve the design and implementation of internal Couchbase processes as the business scales.
• Providing training to stakeholders on various relevant topics.
• Solving complex issues cross-functionally and creatively from start to finish.
• Working effectively with colleagues in multiple time zones across APAC, US and Europe as needed. 

Expectations:

Within 30 days, understand Couchbase inbound and outbound agreements, order form and statement of work templates; understand key commercial and legal positions and approval escalation procedures; drive some inbound agreement and order form reviews with supervision; understand key policies and procedures; collaborate with sales and procurement personnel with significant contributor roles in commercial matters; and build and maintain trusted relationships with key stakeholders within your assigned region.  

Within 60 days, drive 100% of order reviews for your assigned region; drive inbound and outbound agreement negotiations with some supervision; understand when to escalate key risks or action items for decision; demonstrate ability to clearly communicate business risk while proposing effective solutions; and establish being the point of contact with collaborating teams for commercial legal matters within your assigned region.

Within 120 days, drive 100% of inbound and outbound deals independently for your assigned region; serve as the key point of contact to manage and collaborate with teams for all commercial legal matters within your assigned region; act as key contributor and liaison to other teams for cross-functional projects; begin assisting on strategic projects within commercial matters. 

Requirements:

• UK, French or Common Law qualified lawyer
• Fluency in English (written and spoken) required
• Minimum 2 years of post qualification experience with strong academic credentials
• Experience in negotiating English law and US law governed agreements
• Passion for closing high-quality deals while working collaboratively with our customers
• Excellent oral and written communication skills with significant attention to detail
• Ability to operate independently and effectively across a variety of operational areas in several jurisdictions and within multiple time zones
• Flexibility to work with colleagues in Europe, APAC and the US to accommodate meetings and deadlines aligned to their time zones

Nice to Haves:

• Experience in technology contracts, including software licensing, SaaS or DbaaS and cloud service agreements 
• Experience working in either the technology transactions or commercial practice of a law firm, and/or working in-house at a technology company
• Experience in handling issues related to intellectual property and data privacy 
• Fluency in other European languages highly desirable