Commercial Legal Counsel

About This Role

This legal counsel role leads day-to-day commercial legal support as Tailscale grows, partnering closely with various internal teams to facilitate business, manage risk, and develop scalable contracting practices. The position reports to the Head of Legal and is suitable for an experienced commercial counsel seeking broader ownership, a senior counsel skilled in complex transactions, or a commercial legal leader capable of shaping the function while remaining hands-on.

Responsibilities

• Own and negotiate a broad range of commercial agreements, including enterprise customer, vendor, partner, marketplace, technology, data protection, and confidentiality agreements
• Advise Sales and other go-to-market teams on deal structure, contracting strategy, risk, and escalation paths
• Translate legal issues into clear options and recommendations that help teams make timely decisions
• Build and improve templates, playbooks, fallback positions, approval thresholds, intake processes, and self-service resources
• Partner with Security, Privacy, Product, and Engineering on customer commitments involving data, security, product functionality, integrations, artificial intelligence, and emerging technologies
• Work with Finance and Revenue Operations on pricing terms, revenue considerations, procurement, insurance, and other commercial matters
• Support international transactions and coordinate with outside counsel when local or specialized expertise is needed
• Identify patterns in negotiations and use data to improve cycle time, consistency, and the experience of customers and internal teams
• Contribute to other legal priorities as the company and legal function evolve

Requirements

• A law degree and active membership in at least one applicable bar or equivalent authorization to practice law
• Meaningful experience advising technology companies on commercial transactions, including in-house experience or equivalent experience working closely with technology clients
• Experience helping a legal function, contracting program, or business process scale in a startup or high-growth environment
• Strong judgment and the ability to distinguish material business risk from issues that can be addressed through practical guardrails
• A record of leading negotiations with sophisticated customers, partners, vendors, or counter parties
• Clear, concise communication and the ability to build trust across Legal, Sales, Finance, Security, Product, and executive teams
• Comfort working independently, prioritizing competing demands, and making progress with incomplete information
• A collaborative approach that creates appropriate ownership

About the Company

Tailscale makes safe connection effortless by delivering software that securely interconnects people and their devices. Founded in 2019 and fully distributed, the company is backed by Accel, CRV, Insight, Heavybit, and Uncork Capital.