The Role

We're hiring our first in-house attorney — and with that comes a rare opportunity to build Descript's legal function from the ground up. As Senior Counsel, you'll own most of Descript's day-to-day legal operations, with outside counsel supporting complex matters. This is a high-autonomy role.

You'll be the go-to legal advisor across the company, partnering with sales, product, finance, and engineering teams on everything from commercial deals to AI product counsel to employment matters. You won't just run legal — you'll define how it operates, building the processes, templates, and frameworks that scale with the company. If you thrive as a pragmatic generalist who can move fast, exercise independent judgment, and wants to shape a legal function rather than inherit one, this role is for you.

What You'll Do

Commercial contracts : Draft, review, and negotiate SaaS agreements, licensing deals, partnership agreements, and vendor contracts.
Enterprise sales support : Review and negotiate customer enterprise agreements to accelerate deal velocity
Employment matters : Oversee offer letters, separation agreements, equity grants, and day-to-day employment questions (CA + multi-state)
IP coordination : Manage trademark and patent matters in partnership with outside counsel
Privacy & data protection : Own DPAs, data subject requests, and cross-border data transfer requirements
AI & product counsel : Advise product and engineering teams on legal implications of AI/ML features, including model licensing, training data usage, generated content rights, and emerging AI regulations
Compliance & risk management : Track and support the company's compliance posture across key frameworks (SOC 2, GDPR, CCPA). Monitor regulatory developments affecting AI/ML products, flag emerging risks to leadership, and coordinate cross-functional responses. Own the compliance calendar: renewals, certifications, audits, and regulatory filings.
Corporate governance :Support board minutes, equity plan administration, and consent actions
Outside counsel management — Interface with outside counsel on complex matters (Fundraising, M&A, litigation, regulatory), managing scope and spend
Build the legal function : Design and implement scalable legal processes from scratch: contract templates, playbooks, intake workflows, and a contract lifecycle management system.

What We're Looking For

Required:

JD from an accredited law school; active member of the California Bar (or ability to waive in)
7-10 years of legal experience, including at least 2-3 years in-house at a technology or SaaS company
Law firm background (BigLaw or strong mid-market) plus in-house experience
Strong commercial contracts experience — you can run a deal end-to-end without supervision
Working knowledge of employment law (California required, multi-state a plus)
Familiarity with IP basics (trademarks, patents) and privacy/data protection (DPAs, GDPR, SOC 2)
Experience building or maintaining a compliance program (SOC 2, privacy frameworks, or similar)
Comfortable operating as a solo legal practitioner with outside counsel as a resource, not a crutch
Pragmatic judgment — you know when to push back and when to move fast

Nice to Have:

Familiarity with enterprise sales contracts and procurement processes
M&A due diligence experience (even if not leading transactions)
Experience at a company of similar stage (Series C-D, 100-500 employees)

Why Descript

Build from zero — You're not inheriting a legal department; you're creating one. Define the processes, tools, and culture of Descript's legal function.
Direct executive access — Report to and partner with the VP of Finance & Operations; advise cross-functionally across sales, product, finance, and engineering.
AI at the core — Work on novel AI/ML licensing, product counsel, and regulatory questions that most legal roles never touch.
Growth trajectory — This role can evolve into Head of Legal / General Counsel as the company scales.
Mission-driven — We're democratizing video and audio creation for millions of creators

The $225,000–$275,000 base salary range for this role is $225,000–$275,000. Final offer amounts will carefully consider multiple factors, including prior experience, expertise, location, and may vary from the amount above.

About Descript

Descript is building a simple, intuitive, fully-powered editing tool for video and audio — an editing tool built for the age of AI. We are a team of 150 and the backing of some of the world's greatest investors (OpenAI, Andreessen Horowitz, Redpoint Ventures, Spark Capital).

Descript is the special company that's in possession of both product market fit and the raw materials (passionate user community, great product, large market) for growth, but is still early enough that each new employee has a measurable influence on the direction of the company.

Benefits include a generous healthcare package, 401k matching program, catered lunches, and flexible vacation time. Our headquarters are located in the Mission District of San Francisco, CA. We're hiring for a mix of remote roles and hybrid roles. For those who are remote, we have a handful of opportunities throughout the year for in person collaboration. For our hybrid roles, we're flexible, and you're an adult—we don't expect or mandate that you're in the office every day. We do believe there are valuable and serendipitous moments of discovery and collaboration that come from working together in person.

Descript is an equal opportunity workplace—we are dedicated to equal employment opportunities regardless of race, color, ancestry, religion, sex, national origin, sexual orientation, age, citizenship, marital status, disability, gender identity, or Veteran status. We believe in actively building a team rich in diverse backgrounds, experiences, and opinions to better allow our employees, products, and community to thrive.