Privacy Counsel

Job Overview:

Legal and Compliance is responsible for managing all legal and regulatory matters, including contracts, corporate governance, general compliance, academic compliance, employment law matters, intellectual property, product counseling, government relations, and claims. The team includes dedicated teams that support every aspect of Coursera's platform, including university, enterprise, and industry partnerships.

Coursera is looking for a talented privacy lawyer to serve as our Privacy Counsel in the UK. The Privacy Counsel will work across the entire company, enabling compliance with global privacy laws as one of our subject matter experts within the Privacy team. A key responsibility of this role will be working in close collaboration with the rest of the Privacy team and cross functional stakeholders at all levels (including our Product, InfoSec, and Engineering teams) on the continuous development of our privacy program  and embedding privacy into our platform and products. The Privacy Counsel will also work with these stakeholders  on other key privacy issues such as data protection/privacy impact assessments,  incident response, data subject request management, regulator interactions, product counselling, and AI.  

We’re looking for a team member who is passionate about business growth and education. We want a candidate who is energized by the challenges of growing a mission-driven business globally and being a strategic business partner for a dynamic team experiencing rapid expansion. This role will engage with all levels of employees and management, so interpersonal and communication skills (written and verbal) are vital to strong working relationships.

Responsibilities:

1. EMEA subject matter expert: Serve as a key expert on EMEA privacy laws, including UK/EU GDPR, the e-Privacy Directive and other privacy adjacent laws, including by advising on legal and regulatory developments. 
2. Privacy Program: Help to continuously develop, implement, and scale our global privacy program, including by developing standardised policies, tools, processes and training. 
3. Delivering Legal Guidance: Support and advise key stakeholders on a broad range of complex privacy issues and provide pragmatic and risk-based solutions in accordance  with global privacy laws.
4. Policies and Standards: Develop,update, and implement privacy notices and internal privacy policies.
5. Incident reporting and investigation: Investigate and manage security incidents that impact personal information, together with Engineering, InfoSec and other stakeholders. 
6. Other Duties: Perform data protection/privacy impact assessments; train employees on global privacy laws and practices, conduct legitimate interest assessments; assist with reviewing and negotiating privacy terms in commercial contracts, and respond to requests and inquiries from data subjects and privacy regulators.

Basic Qualifications:

1. Qualified solicitor in the UK with 3+ years’ post-qualified legal experience.
2. In-depth knowledge of EMEA privacy laws (such as UK/EUGDPR, and the e-Privacy Directive)
3. Experience with building rapport with stakeholders at all levels of seniority across the business and the ability to analyse and explain complex concepts quickly and accurately.
4. Demonstrated experience with implementing/maintaining foundational aspects of a global privacy compliance program, including experience working with privacy compliance tools and developing processes to enforce internal privacy protocols.

Preferred Qualifications:

1. Prior in-house experience at a technology company with a product serving users across at least two of the following verticals across multiple international jurisdictions: consumer, enterprise, and education.
2. Demonstrated experience counseling global, cross-functional teams regarding data privacy, including in APAC and the Americas.
3. Excellent written and verbal communication skills and attention to detail. 
4. Possesses a practical approach to problem-solving and is able to counsel internal clients with clear, concise, and creative advice and exercise excellent judgement to meet business needs.
5. Operates autonomously while being a team player who brings a positive, “can do” attitude to the workplace and works collaboratively with other members of the Legal and Compliance team and with internal clients.
6. Works efficiently, meets demanding deadlines, and prioritises and thrives in a fast-paced, and ever-changing start-up environment.

If this opportunity interests you, you might like these courses on Coursera:

• Promote the Ethical Use of Data-Driven Technologies
• Artificial Intelligence Privacy and Convenience