Legal Counsel, Commercial

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. This position is remote in Singapore, with ability to  travel on occasion if requested by the Company. 

We are looking for a resourceful and team-oriented commercial lawyer with a passion for technology to support our go-to-market and commercial legal function, focusing primarily on our APAC sales region and global procurement contracts and processes. We are looking for an individual with excellent problem-solving skills and the ability to thrive in a fast-paced, ever-changing environment.

Responsibilities:

Drafting and Negotiation:

• 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. 
• Building and improving processes for inbound transactions in partnership with Couchbase’s procurement team. 
• Leveraging excellent writing and negotiation skills to present Couchbase’s positions persuasively and drive deals to close. 
• Creating, maintaining and improving Couchbase’s templates for inbound and outbound 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 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 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. 

Must Haves:

• Fluency in English (written and spoken) required
• Bachelor Degree in Law; Singapore-qualified lawyer with 2+ years PQE
• Passion for closing high-quality deals while working collaboratively with our customers.
• Excellent oral and written communication skills with significant attention to detail
• Demonstrated ability to be organized, work efficiently, prioritize workflow, meet deadlines, and manage cross-functional projects
• Sound and practical business judgment with an awareness of when issues need to be escalated
• Proven track record of learning quickly, taking initiative, working proactively, being resourceful and taking on additional responsibility.
• Demonstrated 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 APAC, US and Europe 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 preferred.
• 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.   
• Experience in negotiating English law and US law governed agreements.