Senior Legal Counsel

Role Overview

• Lead the legal function: Serve as the primary legal advisor to the CEO, CFO, and broader executive team on strategic and operational legal matters across all Chess.com business units.
• Shape legal strategy: Develop and implement a legal strategy that supports the company's growth objectives, including commercial expansion, international operations, and building public-readiness across the organization.
• Manage commercial transactions: Draft, review, and negotiate a broad range of commercial agreements, including partnership deals, licensing agreements, endorsement contracts, vendor agreements, and content licensing arrangements.
• Oversee corporate governance: Support board governance, manage entity structure across the group, and continuously strengthen the company's governance, reporting, and compliance infrastructure as the business scales.
• Coordinate with outside counsel on corporate transactions, equity matters, and other corporate legal needs.
• Drive compliance and risk management: Ensure compliance with applicable laws and regulations across all jurisdictions where Chess.com operates, including data privacy (GDPR, CCPA, COPPA), digital safety, consumer protection, and employment law.
• Protect intellectual property: Oversee the company's IP portfolio, including trademarks, copyrights, and domain strategy.
• Manage enforcement actions and coordinate with external IP counsel as needed.
• Support data privacy and trust: Provide legal guidance on data privacy matters, partner with the security and product teams on privacy-by-design, and serve as a resource for data protection compliance across the group.
• Manage external counsel: Oversee relationships with outside law firms, manage legal spend, and ensure outside counsel is being used strategically and efficiently.
• Support employment and people matters: Partner with the People team to provide guidance on employment law, workforce compliance, and other people-related legal matters across the company's global footprint.
• Handle litigation and disputes: Manage litigation, regulatory investigations, and dispute resolution with the support of external counsel. Serve as the internal coordinator for legal proceedings.
• Leverage AI tools: Effectively leverage AI tools for legal strategy, tactics, and efficiency across the legal function.
• Partner cross-functionally: Work closely with teams across the company, including Finance, People, Product, Engineering, Content, Trust & Safety, and Partnerships, to provide practical, timely legal guidance.

Requirements

• JD from an accredited law school and active bar membership in good standing
• 10+ years of legal experience, with a mix of law firm and in-house roles.
• Experience at a senior level in-house is strongly preferred.
• Broad commercial and corporate legal experience, including contract negotiation, corporate governance, M&A, and regulatory compliance
• Strong expertise in technology, digital media, or gaming law, with practical knowledge of IP, data privacy, and e-commerce regulations
• Deep familiarity with data protection frameworks, including GDPR, CCPA, and COPPA
• Experience managing outside counsel relationships and legal budgets
• Track record of operating as a trusted advisor to C-suite executives and board members
• Excellent judgment with the ability to balance legal risk against business opportunity in a fast-paced environment
• Clear, direct communication style with the ability to translate complex legal concepts for non-legal audiences
• Comfort working in a fully remote, globally distributed team across multiple time zones
• High degree of autonomy, ownership, and accountability

Benefits

• 100% remote, always have been, always will be!