VP, Global Commercial Legal Affairs
Boston, Massachusetts, United States
G&A – Legal /
Executive /
Remote
Coupa makes companies operate smarter and grow faster. Our leading AI-driven platform connects and optimizes sourcing, purchasing, supply chains, and financial management. More than 3,000 global organizations large and small trust Coupa to transform operating margins, increase efficiencies and growth, optimize cash, and reduce risk.
Reporting directly to Coupa’s CLO & General Counsel, this is a high visibility, high impact role, offering an exciting opportunity to define and build the commercial legal strategy and operations for Coupa.
You will be responsible for all commercial legal matters, procedures, and processes supporting Coupa’s sales motion, and for ensuring that our commercial legal team can scale with and successfully support our business as it grows and expands while managing Coupa’s risk profile.
This role is for someone who is a proven and experienced leader in the commercial legal space, with a passion for creativity, innovation and leveraging technology to scale a commercial legal function. You will be responsible for partnering with our sales, finance and other business teams to develop and deliver efficient, scalable approaches to commercial matters. You will lead a team of attorneys and other legal professionals responsible for drafting, reviewing, and negotiating complex commercial contracts with Coupa’s customers and business partners around the world.
You should enjoy close collaboration with legal and non-legal colleagues and approach legal issues practically and with a can-do, problem-solving mindset. We expect you to know how to stand your ground in a fast-moving environment, manage others through tough escalations and negotiations and escalations, and to be a strong people manager who can work across time zones.
Responsibilities:
- Lead a global team of commercial legal professionals with leaders in the US, France and Australia
- Drive the overall vision, implementation and scale of the commercial legal function, through process automation, legal technology and other efficiencies
- Collaborate with key stakeholders, such as global, geo and regional sales leadership, the product team, finance, Deal Desk and SalesOps, streamlining the sales process and ensuring that the commercial team makes good business decisions and delivers on-time
- Advance efficiencies in negotiations, manage the creation and maintenance of templates, knowledge-sharing and leveraging past experiences, ensure agreements are scalable and adequately cover risks across the Company, anticipating and supporting new product launches, strategic partnerships and other strategic goals of the company
- Maintain ongoing knowledge for current market best practices and standards for complex commercial contracting, with proficiency in SaaS, software, IP licensing, data privacy, data monetization, marketing, strategic partnerships and procurement.
- Lead, develop and grow an already well-performing team of lawyers, contract managers and paralegals who support to Coupa’s sales, marketing, customer success teams and partner teams.
- Growth potential over the long term is to lead the entire legal team.
Qualifications:
- You are an attorney with at least 15 years of commercial legal experience, including 10+ years as in-house counsel in an international setting working on commercial matters
- You have leadership experience managing a team of attorneys
- You have excellent communication skills, are comfortable interfacing with senior management, and have strong interpersonal people management skills
- You know how to use technology and data to automate and scale key processes
- You have the ability to structure and prioritize in a high volume, fast-paced environment and build and drive processes to completion
- You are able to work across time zones quickly, decisively, and independently
- You can gather appropriate input regarding legal and non-legal issues, and make clear, well-reasoned decisions
- You are available to travel to other offices periodically
Requirements:
- JD degree, with admission to a state bar
- 15+ years of experience, with at least 10+ years in-house at a technology company
- Substantive experience in drafting and negotiating highly complex commercial agreements, including SaaS, licensing and reseller/distributor agreements
- Experience scaling legal processes, with an emphasis on efficiency and scalability
- Experience with a global sales organization
- Strong understanding of local and international privacy and data protection laws
- Must have previous experience managing a team, and be an empathetic manager who is able to empower team members to achieve at a consistently high level while building trusted relationships
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At Coupa, we’re building a great company that is laser-focused on three core values: ensuring customer success with an obsessive and unwavering commitment to making customers successful, focusing on results with a relentless focus on delivering results through innovation and having a bias for action, and striving for excellence with our commitment to a collaborative environment infused with professionalism, integrity, passion, and accountability.
At Coupa, we have a solid and innovative team dedicated to improving the spend management processes of today's dynamic businesses. We celebrate diversity and recognize its value to our customers and employees. Coupa is proud to be an equal-opportunity workplace and affirmative-action employer. Learn more about our commitment to fostering diversity, equity and inclusion at Coupa here. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment regardless of age, race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, genetic information, disability, veteran status, or any other applicable status protected by state or local law.
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