VP, Associate General Counsel, Zendesk
Commercial
Customer support across phone, chat, email and social media
Job no longer available
Customer support across phone, chat, email and social media
1001+ employees
Job no longer available
1001+ employees
Company mission
To help businesses deliver exceptional customer service
Role
Who you are
- 15+ years of substantive commercial legal experience, preferably in-house at a SaaS technology company
- 7+ years of experience managing a growing commercial legal team
- Deep subject matter expertise in commercial transactions, SaaS and enterprise B2B transactions, including key substantive legal matters relevant to SaaS contracting such as commercial, data privacy and export control laws as well as intellectual property disputes and open source matters. Experience in industry verticals such as financial services, healthcare and public sector is a plus
- Expertise in drafting and negotiating a wide variety of commercial agreements typical to the technology sector, such as Subscription Agreements, NDAs, Services Agreements, Data Processing Agreements and technology partnership agreements
- Strong experience developing the team's ability to optimize negotiations and to adapt legal requirements in balanced, creative and pragmatic ways to facilitate clear and open communication at all levels of the organization
- Deep familiarity and demonstrated experience with commercial contracts lifecycle management, procurement operations and driving automation and other efficiencies in the commercial space. Familiarity with creating, implementing, improving, simplifying and ensuring adherence to systems, processes and procedures
- Skilled and effective manager who can motivate and empower a team of legal professionals to achieve at a high level while building trusted relationships
- Ability to work collaboratively with internal stakeholders in the Sales, Finance and Security teams
- Ability to work in a high volume environment while remaining analytical and detail-oriented
- Strong professional judgment, practicality, and client service focus. Proactive and able to work efficiently, prioritize workflow, meet demanding deadlines, and manage multi-dimensional projects in a fast-paced environment
- Admitted into and in good standing with the bar of a U.S. state and familiarity with California law and its application to contracts
What the job involves
- This is a key role, leading and growing the global commercial legal team, supporting a heavy load of commercial transactions in sales, partner agreement and procurement negotiations
- As a global leader, you will be able to operate independently in a high growth environment and work collaboratively and proactively within the broader legal team, as well as cross-functionally and with business partners
- This position will report to our Senior Vice President and General Counsel
- Partner closely with our Sales, Professional Services, Sales Operations, Procurement, and other business teams on commercial and procurement matters
- Manage the drafting, negotiating, and maintaining various commercial and technology related agreements, including sales, procurement and data processing agreements
- Manage the growing global Commercial Legal team overseeing sales and procurement matters for the company
- Develop and automate processes to scale efficiencies in the legal support function to allow for support to the company as it scales across all sales segments and a larger procurement organization
- Work closely with the legal operations team, including process optimization and automation as well as data and metrics tracking
- Provide mentorship and management oversight to senior managers on the commercial legal team
- Provide practical guidance to other teams that take legal and business considerations into account
- Researching and implementing commercial, data privacy, security and regulatory practices and policies consistent with applicable laws and regulations in EMEA
- Develop and provide training to legal and sales teams enabling deal velocity and scale
Our take
Zendesk builds support, sales and customer engagement software. The company was founded in 2006 when its founders set out to create a user friendly, centralised and intuitive system for delivering customer service. The business has since grown considerably, and today Zendesk has over 3000 employees working across 20 global offices, supporting businesses including Uber, Tesco and the NHS.
The company offers a range of products, from customer support to an end-to-end sales suite, with a strong emphasis on customisability and plug-and-play solutions that offer an alternative to traditional CRMs, which can require weeks or even months to set up.
Whilst the global CRM market is crowded and dominated by heavyweights like Salesforce.com and Hubspot, Zendesk has proven that their chat-based approach is both popular and scalable. However, given rising pressure from investors over rejected takeover proposals, the company is looking to maintain its independence through making its own acquisitions, as well as seeking growth in the APAC region.
Kirsty
Company Specialist at Welcome to the Jungle
Insights
32% employee growth in 12 months
Company
Funding (last 2 of 4 rounds)
Sep 2012
$60m
SERIES D
Dec 2010
$19m
SERIES C
Total funding: $85.5m
Company benefits
- We know that great work comes from our people, not a place. That’s why we’ve adapted new ways to work together—even when we’re apart. And with our home-office stipend, we cover the costs to bring the office equipment to you
- Work should have perks. That’s why we offer plenty of PTO for full-time employees. And with generous retirement and stock options, at least 16 weeks of maternity/paternity leave, disability, and life insurance, we’ve got you covered for whatever else life throws your way
- Nurture your skills or take on a new challenge—we’re happy to reimburse full-time employees who attend professional conferences or take courses to develop skills within their careers. You learn. We pay. Nice
- Work from home opportunities
Company HQ
Mid-Market, San Francisco, CA
Leadership
Mikkel Svane
(CEO)Co-founded Zendesk in 2006 after working for companies to implement traditional systems for customer service.
Salary benchmarks
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