Senior Legal Counsel

Senior Legal Counsel, Contracts & Licensing (North America)

Black Duck is seeking a Senior Legal Counsel to join our North America Contracts & Licensing team, supporting a cybersecurity native business where legal judgment directly shapes how security, product, and revenue come together. The role will support and report to the leader of the contracting team for Black Duck. The ideal candidate could eventually grow and evolve to be promoted into the leadership role, managing a global team of technology lawyers and contract negotiators.

This role is purpose built for an experienced inhouse attorney with deep familiarity in cybersecurity, software licensing, and security driven customer negotiations — someone who understands that contracts are not just legal documents, but extensions of a company’s security posture, risk tolerance, and credibility in the market. Black Duck is seeking a candidate who not only has strong legal capabilities but also has a strong track record of people management and demonstrated leadership skills within a legal department.

The Role

This role is a high‑visibility growth path to Head of Contracts.  As Senior Legal Counsel, you will support complex licensing and SaaS transactions across the NAM region, advising on deals where security commitments, data protection, and customer trust are core to every discussion. You’ll operate with autonomy, partnering closely with senior stakeholders to move business forward thoughtfully and responsibly.

You will:

• Draft, review, and negotiate sophisticated commercial agreements, including on premise license agreements, SaaS agreements, services agreements and SOWs, channel partner agreements, vendor agreements, and other strategic contracts in a security driven environment.
• Serve as a trusted advisor to NAM sales executives and internal stakeholders on security representations, contractual risk, audit rights, data protection terms, and liability frameworks.
• Translate cybersecurity risk into clear, business actionable legal guidance — particularly in enterprise and regulated customer negotiations.
• Partner cross functionally with Sales, Revenue Operations, Finance, Procurement, Security, Product, and Customer Success to ensure contractual commitments align with Black Duck’s security practices and risk posture.
• Support procurement matters as needed, bringing consistency to vendor risk and contractual protections.

What We’re Looking For

• An experienced in-house cybersecurity or SaaS commercial counsel who understands security not just legally, but operationally.
• Strong familiarity with how security programs, compliance frameworks, and customer due diligence influence contracting.
• Confidence advising senior leaders on tradeoffs between speed, security, and risk.
• A practical, business forward mindset — focused on enabling deals while protecting long term trust.
• Ability to work independently, manage complex deal flow, and exercise sound judgment without excessive escalation.
• Strong leadership and management skills and experience.
• Proven ability to build efficient processes for streamlined contracting in a fast-moving global contracts department, including use of AI tools and experience building process and playbook in collaboration with the team.

Why Black Duck?

At Black Duck, legal plays an integral role in how the company engages customers, manages risk, and sustains credibility in the cybersecurity ecosystem. This is not a role where security is abstract — it is central to every conversation.

What makes this role compelling for cybersecurity native counsel:

• Security first environment: You’ll work on contracts where security representations, audits, and risk allocation truly matter.
• Embedded partnership: Legal works closely with Security, Product, and Sales — not after the fact, but as part of the decision-making process.
• Real influence: Your judgment will directly shape how the business navigates enterprise and regulated customer expectations.
• Autonomy and trust: Senior counsel are empowered to make decisions, not just flag issues.
• Sophisticated work: Licensing transactions that demand nuance, context, and an understanding of how cybersecurity operates in practice—not just on paper.

If you’re a cybersecurity savvy inhouse counsel who enjoys being close to the business, advising meaningful risk decisions, and helping teams move fast and safely, this is a role where your expertise will be valued and visible. 

Ideal location is US East Coast, but we are open to all other US-based locations for Remote or Hybrid work.