Senior Legal Counsel

About the role

This Senior Legal Counsel will own the full lifecycle of high-stakes commercial agreements across North America, driving negotiation strategy and execution for our largest enterprise customers. You will independently manage complex commercial deals, ensuring legal risk is identified, mitigated, and aligned with business objectives from contract inception to close. The role requires proactive ownership of commercial escalation frameworks, enabling swift resolution of disputes while protecting AfterShip's commercial interests. You will act as the primary legal strategist for North American leadership, translating business objectives into legally sound and commercially advantageous structures. Additionally, you will mentor commercial counsel, elevating the team's capability to handle sophisticated transactions with greater autonomy. This position demands strong collaboration with engineering, sales, and product teams to ensure legal insights are integrated into commercial workflows. Because AfterShip operates across time zones, you will partner with international legal teams to maintain seamless, follow-the-sun coverage.

Key facts

What you'll do

• Independently draft, review, and negotiate complex, high-value commercial agreements, including enterprise customer contracts, vendor and partnership agreements, and NDAs; own commercial escalation frameworks and resolve complex contractual disputes.
• Serve as a strategic advisor to North American business, GTM, and Product teams, providing commercial risk analysis and deal structuring recommendations during high-stakes negotiations.
• Provide senior-level mentorship to junior and mid-level commercial counsel, calibrating risk positions and developing the internal capability needed to manage increasingly complex commercial matters.
• Partner with Legal colleagues across the EU and APAC to maintain seamless, follow-the-sun commercial coverage and ensure continuity during cross-regional handoffs and escalations.
• Lead the evolution of contract templates, negotiation playbooks, and Legal Operations initiatives to improve efficiency, consistency, and scalability of the commercial contracting function.
• Act as the primary point of contact for carrier and logistics partners on complex commercial and contractual issues, ensuring alignment with AfterShip's operational and compliance standards.
• Analyze and interpret commercial trends and counterpart behaviors to refine risk frameworks, ensuring that contract terms reflect best practices and emerging threats.
• Collaborate with Finance and Revenue Operations to align contract terms with billing, recognition, and compliance requirements across North American markets.
• Drive the adoption of standardized clauses and fallback positions to reduce negotiation cycle times while preserving critical commercial protections.
• Contribute to the development of legal analytics, highlighting key risk indicators, bottlenecks, and opportunities for process optimization within the commercial contracting lifecycle.
• Partner with Product and Engineering teams to assess new commercial features, ensuring that terms of service and data processing elements are legally robust and aligned with customer commitments.
• Represent AfterShip in external forums and industry discussions, reinforcing the company's reputation for contractual excellence and commercial integrity.
• Maintain awareness of commercial law developments across key jurisdictions, translating regulatory changes into actionable guidance for commercial teams.
• Support the design and implementation of contract lifecycle management processes, ensuring visibility and control across the organization.

Requirements

• J.D. or equivalent law degree, and an active license to practice law in the U.S. or Canada.
• 7+ years of relevant legal experience, including significant in-house commercial counsel experience (SaaS or technology industry strongly preferred).
• A track record of independently leading complex, high-value commercial negotiations with minimal oversight.
• Strong knowledge of commercial contracting and technology/SaaS agreements, with working familiarity with data privacy and IP considerations a plus.
• Demonstrated experience mentoring and developing junior legal talent.
• Excellent judgment and business acumen, with the ability to communicate complex legal concepts to non-legal stakeholders clearly and persuasively.
• Proven ability to manage multiple priorities in a fast-paced, deadline-driven environment while maintaining attention to detail.
• Comfortable operating within a distributed, global team structure, with occasional work outside of regular business hours for cross-regional collaboration.

Nice to have

• Familiarity with logistics, shipping, or eCommerce platforms.
• Experience with contract lifecycle management (CLM) tools.

Practical notes

• Hours: Full-time.
• Travel: Not applicable.
• Visa: Sponsorship may be considered for eligible candidates.
• Deadlines: Please apply with current compensation expectations.