In-house Associate Legal Counsel

myKaarma•Long Beach, CA

4d•$150,000 - $175,000

About The Position

The In-house Associate Legal Counsel serves as a legal advisor for myKaarma’s commercial operations, corporate strategy, and regulatory compliance. The role covers a broad range of legal work at a fast-growing automotive SaaS company, including OEM partnership agreements and multi-party negotiations, privacy and communications compliance, intellectual property and patent management, antitrust analysis, employment law, and dispute resolution. The position reports to the SVP of Finance, has direct access to the CEO and executive team, and works closely with Sales, Product, Finance, and Engineering. This is a high-autonomy role for a self-starter who proactively identifies legal issues, advances projects independently, communicates in plain business language, and helps enable business deals while managing risk. The counsel will build systems and infrastructure that support company efficiency and growth, and will present consolidated decision packages to leadership. The role includes ownership of commercial contracts and their lifecycle; privacy, regulatory, and communications compliance; patent and other IP matters; management of outside counsel; pre-litigation and dispute resolution; HR and employment-law advice; antitrust and competition-law support; and legal operations, policies, training, templates, and compliance tracking. The position also advises cross-functional teams on legal and regulatory matters and helps accelerate deal closure and OEM partnerships. The starting salary range is $150,000 to $175,000, depending on experience and qualifications. myKaarma offers a flexible work environment and a Total Rewards package that includes bonuses and benefits. Sponsorship may be available for exceptional candidates depending on role requirements and business need.

Requirements

JD from an accredited law school.
Licensed to practice in a U.S. jurisdiction; California licensure is preferred.
At least 5 years of experience, including at least 1–2 years in-house at a technology or SaaS company.
Ability to independently manage the full contract lifecycle, from drafting through negotiation and execution, including enterprise customer and large OEM agreements.
Direct experience with GDPR, CCPA, state privacy laws, TCPA, CAN-SPAM, and DNC requirements.
Experience coordinating with and managing outside counsel across multiple practice areas.
Comfort with CLM tools such as Ironclad and electronic contracting platforms.
Fluency with Google Workspace as the primary collaboration environment.
Strong judgment in balancing legal risk with business needs and choosing an appropriate level of legal communication.
Strong interpersonal skills and ability to explain legal issues clearly to non-legal stakeholders.

Nice To Haves

Antitrust or competition-law experience, in-house or at a law firm.
IP and patent portfolio management experience, including USPTO processes and coordination with patent agents.
Employment-law background, including non-solicitation agreements and multi-state hiring compliance.
Litigation management or dispute-resolution experience, including demand letters, pre-litigation strategy, and evidence coordination.
Automotive or franchised dealer experience, particularly with DMS providers, OEM programs, or dealership technology vendors.
Experience as sole or primary counsel at a fast-growing company, handling a high-volume, multi-stakeholder workload.

Responsibilities

Draft and negotiate SaaS agreements, MSAs, NDAs, DPAs, SOWs, and OEM, partner, and vendor agreements.
Own the contract lifecycle from redline through signature and filing using Ironclad and DocuSign.
Help close OEM and dealer group deals efficiently while protecting business interests.
Build contract templates, clause libraries, and pre-approved positions to shorten deal cycles.
Provide leadership with clear, timely assessments of contract risk.
Maintain compliance for voice, text, and email communications under TCPA, DNC, CAN-SPAM, and state laws.
Own privacy compliance, including CCPA, GDPR, state privacy laws, retention, consent, and cross-border transfers.
Work with Product and Engineering to incorporate privacy into products before launch.
Negotiate DPAs with OEMs, dealer groups, and vendors, including AI disclosures.
Set controller and processor roles and DPO designations in OEM agreements.
Manage the patent portfolio with outside patent counsel and international agents.
Develop engineering know-how into patent disclosures and track maintenance fees and filing deadlines.
Protect trademarks, copyrights, proprietary tools, and co-developed partner solutions.
Direct outside counsel across antitrust, patents, litigation, and M&A; structure engagements to protect privilege and provide counsel with facts and summaries.
Manage pre-litigation matters, including demand letters, recovery assessments, and strategy.
Lead fact-finding and evidence gathering for partner and vendor disputes; determine when to negotiate, demand, or escalate.
Advise HR on no-hire, non-solicit, and candidate rejection protocols.
Operationalize multi-state employment requirements, beginning with California, and support compliant recruiting under customer hiring restrictions.
Support antitrust analysis with outside counsel concerning data access and platform interoperability.
Prepare fact summaries and memos for outside counsel and help ensure partner communications and API policies are competition-law defensible.
Build legal operations infrastructure, including playbooks, templates, CLM, compliance tracking, and processes for non-standard terms.
Write policies and conduct training on communications, privacy, IP, and risk.
Maintain a clean, version-controlled legal repository in Google Drive and ensure time-sensitive legal notices are addressed.
Advise product, sales, marketing, and customer operations on legal and regulatory matters in clear business language.
Present consolidated decision packages to leadership and proactively address emerging risks in contracts, communications, and product releases.