What are the responsibilities and job description for the Senior Commercial Counsel position at Ancestry?
About Ancestry
When you join Ancestry, you join a human-centered company where every person’s story is important. Ancestry®, the global leader in family history, connects everyone with their past so they can discover, preserve, and share their unique family stories. With our unparalleled collection of more than 65 billion records, over 3.5 million subscribers, and over 27 million people in our growing DNA network, customers can discover their family story and gain a new level of understanding about their lives. Over the past 40 years, we’ve built trusted relationships with millions of people who have chosen us as the platform for discovering, preserving, and sharing the most important information about themselves and their families.
We are committed to our location flexible work approach, allowing you to choose to work in the nearest office, from your home, or a hybrid of both (subject to location restrictions and roles that are required to be in the office- see the full list of eligible US locations HERE). We will continue to hire and promote beyond the boundaries of our office locations, to enable broadened possibilities for employee diversity.
Together, we work every day to foster a work environment that's inclusive as well as diverse, and where our people can be themselves. Every idea and perspective is valued so that our products and services reflect the global and diverse clients we serve.
Ancestry encourages applications from minorities, women, the disabled, protected veterans and all other qualified applicants. Passionate about dedicating your work to enriching people’s lives? Join the curious.
Are you passionate about law, technology, AI, and privacy? Ancestry is searching for a Senior Commercial Counsel to lead contract negotiations and develop innovative strategies that safeguard both our company and our customers' genetic and personal data. This is an AI-forward role. We expect you to use AI and to help build the next generation of AI-enabled legal tooling for our team. In this role, you will serve as a key business partner, driving global initiatives, navigating cutting-edge legal challenges, and influencing the future of genomics.
What You Will Do...
Join a dedicated team working to connect millions of people with their past and enrich their futures. At Ancestry, you will play a role in pioneering legal solutions that shape the consumer genomics industry. Your contributions will help protect the privacy and stories of our customers while supporting a brand recognized and trusted around the world. We offer a collaborative workplace, competitive compensation, and the opportunity to make a meaningful difference.
Compensation
Ancestry values pay transparency and equity. As a signatory of the ParityPledge in Support of Women and the ParityPledge in Support of People of Color, we are pleased to share the base salary range for this position: $146,590 to $174,000, with eligibility for bonus, equity, and comprehensive benefits including health, dental, and vision. Actual salary will depend on location and experience. We will provide detailed compensation data for a specific location during the recruiting process. Read more about our benefits HERE.
Ancestry is an Equal Opportunity Employer that makes employment decisions without regard to race, color, religious creed, national origin, ancestry, sex, pregnancy, sexual orientation, gender, gender identity, gender expression, age, mental or physical disability, medical condition, military or veteran status, citizenship, marital status, genetic information, or any other characteristic protected by applicable law. In addition, Ancestry will provide reasonable accommodations for qualified individuals with disabilities.
All job offers are contingent on a background check screen that complies with applicable law. For candidates who live in San Francisco, CA, pursuant to the San Francisco Fair Chance Ordinance, Ancestry will consider for employment qualified applicants with arrest and conviction records.
Ancestry is not accepting unsolicited assistance from search firms for this employment opportunity. All resumes submitted by search firms to any employee at Ancestry via-email, the Internet or in any form and/or method without a valid written search agreement in place for this position will be deemed the sole property of Ancestry. No fee will be paid in the event the candidate is hired by Ancestry as a result of the referral or through other means.
When you join Ancestry, you join a human-centered company where every person’s story is important. Ancestry®, the global leader in family history, connects everyone with their past so they can discover, preserve, and share their unique family stories. With our unparalleled collection of more than 65 billion records, over 3.5 million subscribers, and over 27 million people in our growing DNA network, customers can discover their family story and gain a new level of understanding about their lives. Over the past 40 years, we’ve built trusted relationships with millions of people who have chosen us as the platform for discovering, preserving, and sharing the most important information about themselves and their families.
We are committed to our location flexible work approach, allowing you to choose to work in the nearest office, from your home, or a hybrid of both (subject to location restrictions and roles that are required to be in the office- see the full list of eligible US locations HERE). We will continue to hire and promote beyond the boundaries of our office locations, to enable broadened possibilities for employee diversity.
Together, we work every day to foster a work environment that's inclusive as well as diverse, and where our people can be themselves. Every idea and perspective is valued so that our products and services reflect the global and diverse clients we serve.
Ancestry encourages applications from minorities, women, the disabled, protected veterans and all other qualified applicants. Passionate about dedicating your work to enriching people’s lives? Join the curious.
Are you passionate about law, technology, AI, and privacy? Ancestry is searching for a Senior Commercial Counsel to lead contract negotiations and develop innovative strategies that safeguard both our company and our customers' genetic and personal data. This is an AI-forward role. We expect you to use AI and to help build the next generation of AI-enabled legal tooling for our team. In this role, you will serve as a key business partner, driving global initiatives, navigating cutting-edge legal challenges, and influencing the future of genomics.
What You Will Do...
- Act as the primary legal advisor for our procurement team, leading negotiations for essential vendor and supplier contracts that underpin our technology, laboratory, and data operations.
- Draft, review, and negotiate a variety of inbound commercial agreements, including SaaS, technology licenses, master services, marketing, and professional services contracts.
- Collaborate with our privacy team to draft and negotiate Data Processing Agreements and security addenda, ensuring third-party practices meet privacy laws and Ancestry’s high standards.
- Provide clear and actionable legal guidance on contract interpretation, risk mitigation, and compliance to business stakeholders.
- Partner closely with cross-functional teams to ensure all contractual terms support company policies and objectives.
- Improve efficiency and scalability by helping to develop AI-enabled legal playbooks, contract templates, and internal policies.
- Stay current on legal and regulatory changes that impact Ancestry’s commercial and corporate activities, with a focus on privacy and data security.
- Support senior legal leadership with strategic transactions, corporate governance matters, and other corporate development initiatives.
- Use AI as a default in your day-to-day work, including contract review, drafting, legal research, and analysis, and continually push the team toward faster, AI-first ways of working.
- Serve as a legal AI champion for the team. Help select, build, test, and refine the AI tools and workflows we use, and set the standard for how the team puts them to work.
- J.D. from an ABA-accredited law school with strong academic performance and an active member in good standing of at least one U.S. state bar.
- 5 years of relevant experience with a strong focus on technology transactions and complex commercial agreements.
- In-house experience at a technology or data-driven company required. Experience at a top-tier law firm strongly preferred.
- Proven ability to independently negotiate complex procurement, vendor, supplier, and technology agreements on a global scale.
- Deep knowledge of data privacy regulations, such as GDPR and CCPA/CPRA, with hands-on experience negotiating Data Processing Agreements. CIPP/US certification is highly preferred; CIPP/E or other international certifications are a plus.
- Required: demonstrated, hands-on proficiency using AI in your daily legal work. You already use AI for drafting, review, research, and analysis, and you are fluent with legal technology and CLM systems. Experience negotiating agreements involving AI and machine learning is expected.
- A builder's mindset for legal AI. You want to help design and improve how a legal team uses AI, not just consume tools handed to you. A track record of building prompts, workflows, or automations, or helping stand up AI or CLM tooling, is a strong plus.
- Exceptional drafting and negotiation skills, with strong business judgment and excellent communication abilities.
- Collaborative, organized, highly responsive, and able to thrive in a fast-paced environment while managing multiple priorities and stakeholders who need timely answers.
- Highly self-aware and low-ego. You understand that high-stakes legal work is more effective (and enjoyable) when done with a sense of humor, deep respect for colleagues, and a focus on collective success. We value team members who bring energy, perspective, and enjoyment to their work without taking themselves too seriously.
Join a dedicated team working to connect millions of people with their past and enrich their futures. At Ancestry, you will play a role in pioneering legal solutions that shape the consumer genomics industry. Your contributions will help protect the privacy and stories of our customers while supporting a brand recognized and trusted around the world. We offer a collaborative workplace, competitive compensation, and the opportunity to make a meaningful difference.
Compensation
Ancestry values pay transparency and equity. As a signatory of the ParityPledge in Support of Women and the ParityPledge in Support of People of Color, we are pleased to share the base salary range for this position: $146,590 to $174,000, with eligibility for bonus, equity, and comprehensive benefits including health, dental, and vision. Actual salary will depend on location and experience. We will provide detailed compensation data for a specific location during the recruiting process. Read more about our benefits HERE.
- Note: Disclosure as required by sb19-085(8-5-20) and sb1162(1-1-23).
Ancestry is an Equal Opportunity Employer that makes employment decisions without regard to race, color, religious creed, national origin, ancestry, sex, pregnancy, sexual orientation, gender, gender identity, gender expression, age, mental or physical disability, medical condition, military or veteran status, citizenship, marital status, genetic information, or any other characteristic protected by applicable law. In addition, Ancestry will provide reasonable accommodations for qualified individuals with disabilities.
All job offers are contingent on a background check screen that complies with applicable law. For candidates who live in San Francisco, CA, pursuant to the San Francisco Fair Chance Ordinance, Ancestry will consider for employment qualified applicants with arrest and conviction records.
Ancestry is not accepting unsolicited assistance from search firms for this employment opportunity. All resumes submitted by search firms to any employee at Ancestry via-email, the Internet or in any form and/or method without a valid written search agreement in place for this position will be deemed the sole property of Ancestry. No fee will be paid in the event the candidate is hired by Ancestry as a result of the referral or through other means.
Salary : $146,590 - $174,000