General Counsel

Vapi • San Francisco, CA

4d • $250,000 - $275,000 • Hybrid

About The Position

Vapi is seeking its first General Counsel, a foundational hire who will build the company's legal function from the ground up and own legal strategy across the organization. This role requires a strategic partner to the CEO, leadership team, and board, as well as a hands-on operator responsible for drafting contracts, implementing policies, and staying closely involved with product development. Given that Voice AI operates in a highly regulated space, the General Counsel will need to navigate complex legal landscapes including consent law, telecom regulation, biometrics, AI-specific rules, and various state and international regulations, all while operating at startup speed and maintaining the rigor expected by enterprise clients and regulators.

Requirements

• J.D. from a top law school and active bar membership (California preferred).
• 8+ years of relevant experience, including a strong foundation at a top-tier law firm and meaningful in-house time at a high-growth technology company.
• Deep commercial contracting experience with enterprise SaaS or infrastructure customers.
• Negotiated large MSAs, DPAs, and BAAs across regulated industries.
• Working fluency in one or more of: TCPA / telecom regulation, AI regulation (Colorado AI Act, EU AI Act), biometric privacy (BIPA), HIPAA, or content/IP issues specific to generative AI.
• Comfort reasoning about product behavior alongside engineers and PMs.
• Bias to action; ability to write first drafts and ship policies.
• Excellent judgment under uncertainty.
• Clear, plainspoken communication skills.

Nice To Haves

• Prior experience as the first or sole GC at a Series A–C company.
• Background at a comms, CPaaS, voice, or contact-center company (e.g., Twilio, Five9, Genesys, RingCentral) or at a foundation-model or AI-platform company.
• Hands-on experience with SOC 2 Type II, HITRUST, or ISO 27001 in a legal capacity.
• Direct experience navigating regulator inquiries, CIDs, or formal investigations.
• International experience, particularly with EU, UK, Canadian, or LATAM data-protection regimes.

Responsibilities

• Build Vapi's commercial playbook, including MSAs, order forms, DPAs, BAAs, and partnership agreements.
• Partner with Sales and Solutions Engineering on negotiations with Fortune 500 customers.
• Manage procurement, vendor, and reseller agreements.
• Establish contracting thresholds, fallback positions, and self-service contracting paths.
• Own Vapi's position on TCPA and FCC AI-voice rulings, including consent capture, calling windows, DNC handling, and disclosure obligations.
• Track and operationalize state AI laws and AI-voice statutes.
• Lead Vapi's response to the EU AI Act.
• Develop voice-cloning and synthetic-voice policies.
• Serve as the primary point of contact with regulators.
• Own Vapi's global privacy program, including GDPR, CCPA/CPRA, and emerging state regimes.
• Lead HIPAA compliance and BAA negotiation.
• Partner with Security on SOC 2, ISO 27001, and customer audits.
• Own the legal aspects of incident response and breach notification.
• Set data-handling, retention, and residency policies.
• Manage corporate matters, including board governance, equity administration, 409A, option grants, and cap-table hygiene.
• Lead financings, secondary transactions, and M&A.
• Build Vapi's IP strategy, including patent program, trademark portfolio, open-source policy, and trade-secret protection.
• Own employment legal matters, including offers, equity, separations, immigration, anti-discrimination training, and compensation philosophy.
• Sit on the leadership team and advise on market entry, customer selection, and ethical boundaries.
• Brief the board and investors on legal and regulatory risk.
• Build the legal function, manage outside counsel, set the budget, hire reports, and instrument legal processes.
• Act as a culture carrier and founder.

Benefits

• Competitive compensation (strong base salary and meaningful equity ownership)
• Comprehensive health coverage (medical, dental, and vision plans)
• Flexible time off (take-what-you-need vacation policy)
• Daily meals (catered lunches and dinners for in-office days)
• Lifestyle & wellness stipends (monthly allowances for rent, transportation, food, fitness, and mental well-being)
• Professional development (annual learning stipends for courses, conferences, and upskilling)
• Team connection (regular offsites, team events)

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Entry Level
• Education Level: Ph.D. or professional degree