Senior Commercial Counsel

NetApp, Inc.•Durham, NC

About The Position

We are seeking a dynamic and experienced Senior Commercial Counsel to support our North America Sales organization. This role will focus on enabling business growth through strategic legal guidance and efficient contract negotiation, while ensuring compliance with legal and corporate standards. The ideal candidate will be deeply familiar with technology transactions and comfortable navigating the complexities of NetApp’s dual distribution model and evolving as-a-service offerings. In addition to your core commercial responsibilities, you will provide legal support to the Marketing team, helping ensure public-facing materials and brand initiatives align with legal and corporate standards.

Requirements

Minimum 10 years of legal experience practicing law, including at least five years in-house experience at a technology company, with considerable experience drafting and negotiating complex technology contracts with partners and customers, and marketing and sponsorship agreements with strategic partners.
In-depth knowledge of software, hardware and SaaS agreements, data privacy and information security agreements, and associated business models, and technology industry regulations and trends.
Experience supporting marketing and communications teams in legal review of public-facing content and brand initiatives.
Keen business sense, with the ability to distill legal theory into practical advice through excellent verbal and written communication, drafting and negotiation skills.
Solution-oriented: You bring empathy and understanding to your conversations with customers, seeking to find a path forward that balances company risk and customer needs, and you think creatively beyond the legal terms to generate possible solutions and options for the business, while clearly articulating risk-based recommendations.
Ability to thrive in a high performance, fast-paced environment and to multitask, prioritize effectively and execute quickly.
Team-oriented, with a good sense of humor and high level of integrity, responsibility and professionalism, along with strong interpersonal and people skills.
Juris Doctor and membership in good standing of at least one state bar.

Responsibilities

Serve as a legal business partner to the North America Sales teams by drafting, reviewing, and negotiating a wide range of commercial technology agreements with customers and partners, including software-as-a-service, storage-as-a-service, hardware, software license, services agreements, data privacy and information security agreements.
Demonstrate a strong understanding of NetApp’s dual distribution model, including legal implications of selling directly, through distribution and channel partners.
Provide strategic legal advice and risk assessments to sales and cross-functional stakeholders, offering actionable guidance that balances business objectives with legal compliance.
Collaborate with internal teams including finance, information security, privacy, sales operations, and product teams to drive deals to execution and implement scalable legal processes.
Contribute to the continuous improvement of legal templates, playbooks, and processes to increase efficiency and deal velocity.
Manage complex legal matters independently, prioritize competing demands, and deliver practical, business-oriented solutions.
Champion the adoption of AI tools and automation to streamline legal workflows, enhance contract lifecycle management, and improve operational efficiency across legal processes.
Reviewing and advising on press releases, analyst briefings, and public communications to ensure legal accuracy and alignment with corporate messaging.
Drafting and negotiating complex sponsorship agreements and other multifaceted marketing-related commercial deals.
Providing legal guidance to marketing and communications in support of promotional and brand initiatives and marketing campaigns.
Collaborating with cross-functional teams including marketing, communications, and analyst relations to support business goals and strategic brand partnerships.