Senior Counsel, Technology & Privacy

UNITED STATES SOCCER FEDERATION 1•Atlanta, GA

13h

About The Position

The Senior Counsel, Technology & Privacy is a new role at U.S. Soccer responsible for developing, supporting, and advancing the organization’s data governance program, with a focus on privacy, data protection, and product counseling. Reporting to the Deputy General Counsel, Commercial & Business Affairs, this role provides practical, risk-based guidance, leads privacy and data initiatives, and builds systems that enable responsible innovation while meeting evolving regulatory and ecosystem expectations. The role partners with Product, IT, Sporting, Soccer Services, and other teams to integrate privacy into products and platforms; counsel on data-driven initiatives and emerging technologies; negotiate technology and data-related agreements; and lead privacy and cybersecurity legal strategy, incident readiness, and regulatory compliance efforts. The position also supports other transactional legal work and contributes to legal operations, contract resources, and staff development.

Requirements

J.D. from an accredited law school.
Active license to practice law in at least one U.S. jurisdiction, in good standing.
8–10 years of legal experience, with significant focus on privacy, data protection, and technology-related matters.
Demonstrated experience providing product counseling and advising engineering, product, and technical teams.
Solid understanding of data protection, cybersecurity, and information security principles.
At least 5 years of in-house experience.
Ability to translate complex legal and regulatory requirements into clear, actionable guidance for technical and non-technical stakeholders.
Familiarity with security frameworks and control environments such as NIST and ISO 27001.
Experience designing and implementing policies, standards, controls, and metrics in a complex organization.
Excellent communication, collaboration, organizational, drafting, negotiation, and analytical skills, including the ability to manage multiple priorities in a fast-paced environment.
Strong commitment to quality work, organizational ethics, integrity, and compliance.
General knowledge of soccer.
Ability to work in fast-paced and demanding environments and connect detailed work to the broader vision and mission.
Proficiency with Microsoft Suite, including Word, PowerPoint, Excel, and Outlook.

Nice To Haves

Sports industry experience.
Experience in an engineering or technical project management role.
Knowledge of HIPAA and other healthcare privacy requirements.

Responsibilities

Monitor and assess evolving privacy and data protection laws, regulatory guidance, and enforcement trends, and advise on their business impact.
Assess U.S. Soccer’s privacy and data protection compliance posture and lead scalable governance processes, documentation standards, monitoring, and reporting.
Advise on the collection, use, sharing, retention, and protection of personal and health data across products and operations.
Address data-sharing and ecosystem questions, including governance and contractual expectations.
Support data governance improvement efforts through roadmap development, milestone tracking, stakeholder alignment, and executive reporting.
Develop and deliver privacy training and awareness in partnership with IT and Product teams.
Partner with Product, IT, Sporting, and Soccer Services teams to incorporate privacy into product and platform design, development, and deployment.
Review privacy implications of products, features, technologies, and data uses, including privacy impact and risk assessments.
Counsel on analytics, marketing technologies, and emerging technologies such as AI from privacy and data governance perspectives.
Draft, review, and negotiate technology and data-related agreements, including SaaS, cloud services, software development and licensing, master services, statements of work, technology integration, data processing, and information security agreements.
Draft, review, and negotiate privacy and data protection provisions in commercial agreements, including data processing agreements and vendor contracts.
Own the cybersecurity and privacy legal strategy and operating model, establishing standards, playbooks, escalation paths, and risk tolerances aligned with company goals.
Advise on data subject requests, regulatory inquiries, and privacy-related incidents.
Lead legal readiness for enterprise incident response, including tabletops, playbooks, and training; advise on third-party breach response; and serve as lead legal contact for significant cybersecurity and privacy incidents.
Lead regulatory readiness, audits, and internal assessments related to privacy and data security compliance.
As time permits, support other transactional lawyers with agreements for business operations, including services, event-related, content acquisition, licensing, and facility-related agreements.
Help develop and maintain contract templates and playbooks for technology and other contract processes.
Mentor more junior staff and contribute to professional development, intellectual curiosity, and high standards.
Provide thought leadership on legal operations, efficiency, technology use, internal client service, and cost control.
Contribute to the creation and maintenance of the standard forms library and treat others with respect, kindness, patience, and empathy.