Senior Director - Product Counsel

SoundCloud • New York, NY

13d • $200,000 - $230,000

About The Position

SoundCloud empowers artists and fans to connect and share through music. Founded in 2007, SoundCloud is an artist-first platform empowering artists to build and grow their careers by providing them with the most progressive tools, services, and resources. With over 400+ million tracks from 40 million artists, the future of music is SoundCloud. As Senior Director, you will set the vision for how legal, safety, and operational rigor underpin SoundCloud’s product innovation. You will oversee multidisciplinary teams that support complex product roadmaps, safeguard platform integrity, manage global copyright enforcement, and build a foundational legal operations infrastructure. You will partner closely with Product, Engineering, Operations, Policy, and senior executives to drive solution-focused decision-making and ensure SoundCloud’s ecosystem is safe, compliant, rights-respecting, and aligned with business objectives.SoundCloud is looking for a Senior Director to lead the teams responsible for Product Counsel, Legal Operations (including Trust & Safety, and Copyright). This role will serve as a senior leader within SoundCloud’s Business & Legal Affairs organization, shaping product strategy, platform governance, and operational excellence across a global creator and fan platform, building the future of music and audio. This is a role for a strategic operator and seasoned legal leader who excels at navigating ambiguity, competing priorities, and balancing risk tolerance with product velocity and platform stewardship.

Requirements

• Qualified lawyer with 10+ years of legal experience at a technology, digital media, or related company, including experience in senior leadership roles
• Significant experience leading a multi-disciplinary team of Product Counsel, Trust & Safety, Policy, and Legal Operations teams at scale
• Deep expertise in technology law, privacy/data protection, consumer protection, e-commerce/subscription regulations, payments, and global regulatory environments across the U.S., EU, UK, and other major markets
• Proven success in building and maturing teams, operational processes, roadmaps, and cross-functional strategies in complex or high-growth environments
• Demonstrated leadership in designing and scaling Trust & Safety or platform governance frameworks, with experience in content moderation, enforcement operations, or online safety compliance
• Extensive experience partnering cross-functionally with leaders throughout the organization to drive alignment, accelerate decision-making, and deliver legally sound, user-centric product and platform outcomes
• Skilled at influencing executives, synthesizing complex issues into actionable guidance, and setting organizational direction across ambiguous and evolving landscapes
• Experience managing outside counsel, vendors, and technology partners across multiple jurisdictions
• Highly collaborative, pragmatic, solutions-oriented leader capable of balancing innovation with legal and operational risk

Nice To Haves

• Understanding of copyright law and/or operational rights management frameworks; experience overseeing copyright operations is highly preferred
• Experience engaging and managing outside counsel for specialized or escalated issues

Responsibilities

• Lead and mentor teams across Product Counsel, Legal Operations, setting vision, priorities, KPIs, and scalable operational frameworks
• Serve as a senior legal partner to Product, Engineering, Operations, Trust & Safety, and executive leadership, driving cross-functional strategies that balance product velocity with legal, regulatory, and platform governance requirements. You will be expected to build strong and collaborative relationships with the product leadership and to help them find solutions to difficult problems. You will need to be patient, solution-oriented, and have a clear sense of acceptable compromise.
• You will support the product team in the international rollout of SoundCloud Go/Go+. This will include advice regarding the localisation of the product, and in particular those compromises that need to be made in order to comply with local consumer protection, data protection, and similar laws.
• Provide high-level, business-minded legal guidance throughout the product lifecycle, advising on subscriptions, monetization models, marketplace offerings, payments, fan engagement features, creator tools, and global data protection compliance
• Oversee privacy-by-design initiatives, review user flows and consent mechanisms, and maintain product-related Terms of Service, Privacy Policy provisions, disclosures, and compliance documentation
• Ensure adherence to third-party platform and developer requirements (e.g., Apple, Google) and supervise the negotiation, technology partnerships, and vendor agreements
• Oversee platform safety policies, content moderation guidelines, enforcement frameworks, and escalation management for high-risk user safety, fraud, abuse, and integrity issues
• Partner with cross-functional teams to design trust & safety systems that protect users while supporting creative expression and platform growth, ensuring alignment with global online safety and consumer protection regulations
• Manage Trust and Safety and copyright, including DMCA workflows, rights holder interactions, and enforcement processes, while driving improvements in tooling, automation, and operational efficiency

Benefits

• Comprehensive health benefits including medical, dental, and vision plans, as well as mental health resources
• Robust 401k program
• Employee Equity Plan
• Generous professional development allowance
• Interested in a gym membership, photography course or book? We have a Creativity and Wellness benefit!
• Flexible vacation and public holiday policy where you can take up to 35 days of PTO annually
• 16 paid weeks for all parents (birthing and non-birthing), regardless of gender, to welcome newborns, adopted and foster children
• Various snacks, goodies, and 2 free lunches weekly when at the office

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Director
• Education Level: No Education Listed
• Number of Employees: 251-500 employees