Senior Counsel, Commercial

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. , 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. The role in a nutshell: We are seeking a Senior Counsel to serve as a key legal partner to our Go-To-Market organization. This is a highly visible, customer-facing role at the center of the business, enabling revenue growth while protecting the company.

The ideal candidate is a strong commercial attorney with significant drafting experience who thrives in the energy and intensity of a high-growth company. You are proactive, business-minded, and comfortable operating in fast-moving environments. You enjoy partnering closely with Sales and cross-functional teams, negotiating directly with sophisticated customer counsel, and taking full ownership of transactions from start to finish.

In addition to deep commercial expertise, this role requires experience navigating open source licensing considerations and negotiating with highly regulated customers.

What You’Ll Do

: Serve as a primary legal partner to the Go-To-Market team, supporting customer transactions from initial structuring through execution Draft, review, and negotiate SaaS agreements, enterprise customer agreements, professional services agreements, NDAs, and partner/channel agreements Draft and maintain standard form agreements and online terms (e.g., platform terms, universal license agreements, order forms) Negotiate directly with sophisticated customer counsel, including those at financial services, insurance, healthcare, and pharmaceutical organizations Ensure commercial agreements align with open source licensing

Requirements

and industry best practices Partner closely with Product, Product Legal, Security, and other cross-functional teams to align legal guidance with business and technical objectives Provide practical, risk-calibrated advice consistent with company policies and risk tolerance Support partnership initiatives as needed and contribute to scalable contracting processes as the company grows

What We'Re Looking For

: Juris Doctor (JD) from an accredited law school and active bar membership in good standing 5+ years of commercial legal experience, ideally combining law firm and in-house technology company experience Strong experience drafting and negotiating SaaS, subscription, and professional services agreements Demonstrated ability to draft standard form agreements and online terms from the ground up — not solely negotiating third-party paper Experience negotiating with highly regulated customers and familiarity with the regulatory considerations impacting those industries Working knowledge of open source licensing and compliance considerations Experience in cybersecurity, cloud infrastructure, or related technology sectors strongly preferred Excellent communication skills with the ability to build strong working relationships across Sales, Product, Security, and executive stakeholders Sound business judgment and the ability to balance legal risk with commercial objectives Comfort managing multiple complex matters in a fast-paced, high-growth environment Base Salary Range $200,000 $225,000 USD About Us We live and breathe our company values: We are customer obsessed — We focus on delivering solutions to our customers that create value and make their lives better. We have a bias for intentional action — We prioritize, plan, try things, and fail fast.