Vice President Legal

Salary.com • Waltham, MA

1d • $190,000 - $200,000 • Hybrid

About The Position

Salary.com is a leading provider of compensation intelligence, software, data, and services. The company is expanding its AI capabilities and global reach and is seeking a strategic legal leader to help shape its future. The Vice President, Legal will have a significant impact on company strategy, product innovation, governance, and growth. This role is ideal for a legal leader who wants to influence business outcomes, build scalable programs, and guide the responsible use of technology. The ideal candidate is passionate about using technology and AI to modernize legal operations, improve business outcomes, and create value. This position is based at the Headquarters office in Waltham, MA, and is hybrid, requiring two days a week in the office.

Requirements

• Juris Doctor (JD) from an accredited US law school.
• Active membership in good standing with at least one US state bar and eligibility to provide legal services to a US-based company headquartered in Massachusetts.
• Demonstrated success advising executive leadership teams on strategic legal and business matters within technology, SaaS, data, or software businesses.
• Experience leading legal teams, managing outside counsel, owning legal department budgets and priorities, and establishing departmental and cross-functional KPIs.
• Strong knowledge of privacy, data governance, technology law, intellectual property, corporate governance, data commercialization, and commercial legal issues.
• Demonstrated experience implementing legal technology solutions and leveraging AI to improve legal department efficiency and effectiveness.
• Ability to manage, prioritize, scale, and operationalize substantive legal knowledge so that the Legal Department becomes strategic and accretive to Salary and not a departmental silo.
• Excellent judgment, executive presence, communication skills, and business acumen.

Nice To Haves

• Experience advising B2B SaaS companies developing or deploying artificial intelligence technologies, especially in regulated sectors.
• Deep familiarity with AI governance, AI regulation, and responsible AI frameworks.
• Significant experience with global privacy laws and international data-transfer requirements.
• Experience supporting Boards of Directors and corporate governance activities.
• Experience managing intellectual property portfolios, including trade secrets, copyrights, trademarks, and patents.
• Experience supporting international operations, subsidiaries, and cross-border governance matters.
• Experience supporting mergers, acquisitions, strategic investments, or other corporate transactions.
• Experience leading post-merger integration efforts from a legal, governance, compliance, or operational perspective.
• Engagement with professional in-house counsel organizations such as ACC, TechGC, or similar legal leadership communities.

Responsibilities

• Serve as a trusted legal advisor to the CEO and executive leadership team.
• Provide practical, business-oriented counsel on strategic initiatives, growth opportunities, partnerships, enterprise risk management, and acquisitions.
• Develop legal strategies that support company objectives while appropriately managing risk.
• Establish and monitor key performance indicators ("KPIs") for the legal function that demonstrate business impact, operational efficiency, risk reduction, and alignment with company objectives.
• Present significant legal, regulatory, and compliance matters to executive leadership and the Board.
• Lead Salary's legal and compliance strategy related to AI, machine learning, data usage, and emerging technologies.
• Develop and maintain AI governance frameworks, policies, and responsible-use standards across the entire company.
• Evaluate and implement emerging legal technologies, including AI-powered legal tools, to improve productivity, enhance legal service delivery, and reduce dependence on external counsel where appropriate.
• Partner closely with Product, Engineering, and Security to support the development and deployment of innovative AI-enabled products.
• Advise on evolving AI regulations, industry standards, and emerging legal risks affecting HR technology and SaaS businesses.
• Help translate legal and regulatory developments into product opportunities and competitive advantages.
• Partner with product and business leaders to develop legally compliant strategies for the commercialization, licensing, and monetization of Salary's proprietary datasets, benchmarking information, analytics, and AI-enabled offerings.
• Lead Salary's global privacy programs.
• Advise on GDPR, UK GDPR, CCPA/CPRA, cross-border data transfers, and other global privacy requirements.
• Oversee privacy initiatives, policies, investigations, training programs, and risk management processes.
• Be responsible for all required privacy certifications, monitoring, required internal documentation, and DSAR requests.
• Advise leadership and Human Resources on employment law matters, workforce strategy, executive compensation, investigations, and employee relations issues.
• Counsel the business on legal considerations related to AI-enabled workplaces, workforce analytics, compensation transparency, and evolving labor and employment regulations.
• Partner with HR leaders on policies, training, and compliance initiatives.
• Lead corporate governance activities, including Board and committee support.
• Manage corporate records, governance policies, and entity compliance requirements.
• Advise executive leadership on governance best practices and fiduciary obligations.
• Support domestic and international subsidiary governance activities.
• Develop and oversee the company's intellectual property strategy, including the identification, protection, and monetization of strategic data assets, AI innovations, trade secrets, copyrights, trademarks, and patents.
• Oversee commercial contracting strategy and risk management processes while delegating day-to-day contract review and negotiation activities to internal legal team members.
• Build and maintain scalable legal processes, contract playbooks, self-service tools, approval frameworks, and operational workflows.
• Develop a technology-enabled legal function that leverages automation, AI, and best-in-class legal technology platforms to increase efficiency and optimize legal spend.
• Lead and develop the legal team, including counsel and paralegal staff.
• Build and maintain scalable legal operations, including contract playbooks, self-service tools, automation technologies, approval frameworks, and operational workflows designed to enable business growth while minimizing legal bottlenecks.
• Select, manage, and evaluate outside counsel across all legal disciplines.
• Establish clear budgets, performance expectations, and spend management practices.
• Ensure the company receives high-quality, business-focused legal support in a cost-effective manner.
• Continuously evaluate opportunities to insource work, leverage technology, and optimize outside counsel utilization to improve cost efficiency and service quality.

Benefits

• 10 paid holidays and generous paid vacation time
• Free on-site lunches snacks, and beverages
• Cell phone reimbursement
• Robust benefit plan including Medical, Dental, Vision, Life, Disability coverage
• 401K with 6% Company match

What This Job Offers

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