Senior Counsel

The Credit Karma Legal Department is looking for a Senior Counsel to join our Commercial Legal team.  As Senior Counsel, you will be a critical member of a smart, collaborative, tech-forward team who handle the review and negotiation of all of Credit Karma’s contracts. You will own and lead the buy-side of this practice group.  This includes not only partnering with internal clients like procurement, engineering, and security to successfully negotiate a wide variety of vendor agreements, but also relentlessly pursuing process efficiency and innovation in our vendor contracting lifecycle. The role requires a self-motivated and highly productive individual with excellent interpersonal skills who excels in a dynamic, fast-paced environment. 

What You'll Do:

• Lead a team of 1-2 people who  negotiate Credit Karma’s vendor agreements within established risk parameters while achieving business objectives and maintaining deal velocity.  
• Work closely with procurement and other internal clients as well as adjacent functions involved in third-party risk management, including security, privacy, and compliance, to optimize the end-to-end vendor contracting  process leveraging our technology.
• Advise on and align with internal clients on comprehensive negotiation strategies designed to achieve key legal and business objectives. 
• Independently lead and manage Commercial Legal team efforts on complex vendor transactions from start to finish.
• Supervise team members as they draft, review, and negotiate vendor agreements , including procurement, technology, facilities, professional services and event agreements. 
• Proactively flag privacy, security, compliance, employment and other legal and  regulatory risk to  subject matter experts in adjacent functions. 
• Collaborate with other members of the Legal team and internal stakeholders on ad-hoc projects.

What's Great About It:

• A satisfying mission, working to make financial progress possible to everyone.
• A dynamic work environment with a team of smart, fun, collaboration-minded legal professionals who enjoy learning from each other.
• A chance to grow with the company as Credit Karma progresses on its mission, including an established internal framework for career advancement.

Minimum Basic Requirement:

• J.D. from an accredited law school and admitted to practice in at least one US jurisdiction (NC or CA preferred)
• 7 years post law school experience, with at least 3 years in-house experience
• Experience owning and managing the entire end-to-end vendor contracting processes, with a strong preference for those who have successfully led comprehensive cross-functional design/build/implement/optimize initiatives leveraging people, processes and technology to create an efficient, innovative vendor contracting function operating at  “contracting center of excellence” standards. 
• Experience managing or mentoring junior team members
• Excellent skills in drafting, reviewing and negotiating  a wide variety of vendor contracts in a knowledge-based industry, specifically  including complex, high-value, mission-critical agreements, and successfully achieving legal and business objectives.
• Demonstrated ability to establish, nurture and leverage exceptional relationships with internal clients to minimize cross-functional friction, accelerate deal velocity and consistently meet or exceed client expectations. 
• Excellent communication skills and ability to articulate legal terms and risks to leadership, and good judgment and the ability to think through legal risk in practical, real-world terms
• Ability to lead and work in cross-functional project teams

Preferred Qualifications: 

• Experience in Fintech or other highly regulated industry and expertise in  technology contracting strongly preferred. 
• Knowledgeable in Fintech- related regulatory issues, compliance requirements, and information security and data privacy/protection issues.
• Adept at moving quickly in a fast-pace, dynamic environment -- leveraging technology in communication and contract negotiations.

Benefits at Credit Karma includes:

• Medical and Dental Coverage
• Retirement Plan
• Commuter Benefits
• Wellness perks
• Paid Time Off (Vacation, Sick, Baby Bonding, Cultural Observance, & More)
• Education Perks
• Paid Gift Week in December

Pay Transparency Notice: Credit Karma’s mission of championing financial progress for all starts from within. That’s why we implemented role-based compensation, which ensures people who are in the same role receive the same pay with variations for geographic location only. It’s all part of a more comprehensive DEI strategy that helps level the playing field. The base salary range for this role is $184,000 to $215,438, plus equity and benefits.

Salary : $184,000 - $215,438