Lead Counsel, Commercial

About this role

Chainguard is the trusted source for open source. By delivering hardened, secure, and production-ready builds of all the open source software engineers and AI agents rely on, Chainguard helps organizations build faster, stay compliant, and eliminate risk.

Our customers include Fortune 500 enterprises and global industry leaders, including Anduril, Canva, Fortinet, Hewlett Packard Enterprise, OpenAI, Snap Inc., and Snowflake.

Chainguard is venture-backed by leading investors, including Amplify, IVP, Kleiner Perkins, Lightspeed Venture Partners, Mantis VC, Redpoint Ventures, Sequoia Capital, and Spark Capital.

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_*]:min-w-0 gap-3 standard-markdown"> The role, in a nutshell

We are seeking a Lead Counsel, Commercial Legal to lead Chainguard's US commercial legal team, reporting to the Director of Commercial Legal who oversees the global commercial legal function. This is a people leadership role with real deal ownership. You will manage a team of legal professionals while remaining a hands-on negotiator and trusted partner to our US Go-To-Market organization.

The ideal candidate is a seasoned commercial attorney who has made the transition into legal management and knows how to lead a high-performing team without losing their edge as a practitioner. You are organized, decisive, and business-minded, equally capable of coaching a team member through a difficult negotiation and closing a deal yourself. You thrive in high-growth environments, operate with a strong degree of autonomy, and bring the judgment and credibility to earn the trust of both your team and your sales partners.

In addition to deep commercial expertise, this role requires experience navigating open source licensing considerations, familiarity with US federal and state privacy and data security frameworks, and comfort negotiating with highly regulated customers across industries such as financial services, healthcare, defense, and insurance.

What You'll Do

• Lead, manage, and develop a team of US-based commercial legal professionals

• Own the overall health, output, and velocity of the US commercial legal function, ensuring the team is well-resourced, well-coordinated, and operating at a high level

• Serve as a hands-on commercial attorney, personally managing a portfolio of complex enterprise deals from negotiation through close

• Draft, review, and negotiate the full range of commercial agreements — SaaS agreements, enterprise customer agreements, MSAs, order forms, DPAs, NDAs, and partner and channel agreements — including on complex customer paper

• Partner with the global Director of Commercial Legal to align the US team's practices, playbooks, and priorities with the broader commercial legal strategy

• Build and iterate on commercial playbooks, escalation frameworks, and template libraries tailored to the US market

• Create and maintain self-serve resources that empower Sales, Customer Success, and other go-to-market teams to move faster with less legal friction

• Negotiate directly with sophisticated customer counsel, including those at financial services, insurance, healthcare, defense, and pharmaceutical organizations

• Ensure commercial agreements align with open source licensing requirements and industry best practices

• Maintain familiarity with applicable US federal and state privacy laws (including CCPA/CPRA, state data breach notification requirements, and sector-specific frameworks) as they relate to commercial contracting

• Partner closely with Product and Security, and other cross-functional teams to align legal guidance with business and technical objectives

• Provide practical, risk-calibrated guidance to senior leadership and go-to-market stakeholders consistent with company policies and risk tolerance

• Own US quarter-end and month-end closing cycles, ensuring the team has what it needs to get deals across the line on time

What We're Looking For

• Juris Doctor (JD) or equivalent legal qualification with active bar or solicitor membership in good standing

• 10+ years of commercial legal experience, ideally combining law firm and in-house technology company experience

• Currently sitting in an in-house, sell-side commercial legal role; candidates whose current focus is procurement, vendor management, or buy-side contracting are not a fit for this role

• Currently managing a team of at least two legal professionals, with a track record of developing and retaining strong legal talent

• Demonstrated ability to independently manage a full commercial deal cycle from negotiation through close, including complex enterprise transactions on customer paper

• Strong communication skills, with the ability to distill complex legal and business issues into clear, actionable guidance for sales leaders and senior stakeholders

• Working knowledge of open source licensing and compliance considerations

• Proven ability to balance legal risk with business objectives while maintaining deal velocity

• Experience in cybersecurity, cloud infrastructure, or related technology sectors strongly preferred

• Comfort leading a team through pressure, particularly during month-end and quarter-end closing periods

Why This Role

This is an opportunity to lead a team and own a function at one of the most exciting companies in the cybersecurity and open source space. You will have real authority over how Chainguard's US commercial legal team operates — setting the tone, building the playbooks, and developing the people — while staying close to the deals that drive the business. As Chainguard continues to grow, so does the opportunity

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