Director of Legal, Product Foundations at Vercel

This is a high-impact leadership role for a seasoned legal professional with **12+ years of experience**, specifically within the high-growth B2B SaaS or infras

Work type: remote

Location: Hybrid - San Francisco

Salary: $310,000 – $340,000/yr

Type: Full-time

Summary

This is a high-impact leadership role for a seasoned legal professional with **12+ years of experience**, specifically within the high-growth B2B SaaS or infrastructure space. The ideal candidate is a "technical lawyer" who understands cloud architecture and data flows as well as they understand global regulations. You should have a proven track record of managing privacy programs and regulatory strategy while supporting rapid product shipping cycles. The compensation is highly competitive, with a base salary ranging from **$310k - $340k plus equity**. While the role requires a **3-day weekly presence in the San Francisco office**, it offers the chance to shape the legal foundation for a category-defining company in the AI-native web space. You’ll lead critical functions including IP, litigation, and incident response, reporting directly to the VP of Legal. **You might be a good fit if you:** * Have deep expertise in **Privacy and Regulatory frameworks** (GDPR, CCPA) within cloud/PaaS environments. * Are comfortable making high-stakes risk assessments with "imperfect facts" to maintain developer velocity. * Have prior experience managing legal teams and navigating **IPO readiness or M&A**. * Possess a JD and California Bar admission (or eligibility for registered in-house counsel).

Job Description

## About Vercel:

Vercel gives developers the tools and cloud infrastructure to build, scale, and secure a faster, more personalized web. As the team behind v0, Next.js, and AI SDK, Vercel helps customers like Ramp, Supreme, PayPal, and Under Armour build for the AI-native web.

Our mission is to enable the world to ship the best products. That starts with creating a place where everyone can do their best work. Whether you're building on our platform, supporting our customers, or shaping our story: You can just ship things.

## About the Role:

Vercel is hiring a Director of Product Foundations to build the legal foundations that enable our product velocity at scale. The core priority for this role is leading privacy and regulatory matters on the legal team; you will also oversee IP and litigation.

You will report to Vercel’s VP of Legal and partner closely with Security, Trust & Safety, and GRC, as well as product, engineering and other teams.

This role is based in SF where we have a 3 day/week in-office requirement.

## What You Will Do:

Lead Vercel’s privacy program, regulatory strategy and frameworks, IP strategy, litigation, and the legal team’s incident response processes

Translate complex requirements into business-oriented, actionable guidance so product teams can continue to ship fast

Build scalable programs using policies, playbooks, templates, trainings, and AI

## About You:

California Bar admission or eligible for Registered In-House Counsel exception and in good standing.

12+ years of legal experience, including meaningful product counseling, privacy, and/or regulatory experience in-house at a high-growth technology company serving enterprise customers

Strong understanding of AI, cloud services, and general b2b SaaS, PaaS, and IaaS business practices and relevant global regulatory requirements

Strong judgment and creativity around risk-assessment and mitigation. Able to make decisions with imperfect facts, embracing Vercel’s speed and obsession with product innovation

Deep technical literacy. Comfortable mapping technical architectures, data flows, and controls into legal risk frameworks. Excited to dig deep to understand Vercel’s evolving product suite.

Exceptional communication and advocacy skills, particularly with non-lawyers

Cooperative approach, willing to take on additional responsibilities where no job is too big or too small

Experience managing legal teams, building strategic programs, and partnering with senior business and technical leaders.

Fluency with AI tools

## Bonus If You:

Prior history leading litigation and IP (including familiarity with open source software)

Experience supporting IPO readiness, M&A integration, and cyber incidents

Hands-on experience with DMCA, Digital Services Act, HIPAA, FedRAMP, and other regulations and certifications applicable to Vercel

## Benefits:

Competitive compensation package, including equity.

Inclusive Healthcare Package.

Learn and Grow - we provide mentorship and send you to events that help you build your network and skills.

Flexible Time Off.

We will provide you the gear you need to do your role, and a WFH budget for you to outfit your space as needed.

The San Francisco, CA base pay range for this role is $310,000 - $340,000. Actual salary will be based on job-related skills, experience, and location. Compensation outside of San Francisco may be adjusted based on employee location. The total compensation package may include benefits, equity-based compensation, and eligibility for a company bonus or variable pay program depending on the role. Your recruiter can share more details during the hiring process.

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