Senior Counsel, Strategic Partnerships

Where we Work

Udemy is a global company headquartered in San Francisco, with additional U.S. offices in Denver and Austin, and international hubs in Australia, India, Ireland, Mexico, and Türkiye. 

About this role

This is a senior in-house legal role for a commercially driven lawyer ready to take commercial legal programs work with partners and negotiate technology deals. The role reports directly to the Head of Commercial Legal, Strategic Growth.
 
We operate a hybrid go-to-market model that combines demand-led direct sales, solution-led growth, and indirect distribution through a tiered partner and channel ecosystem. We reach organizations globally through technology alliances, GSI relationships, channel partners, and reseller arrangements — powering learning and capability-building at scale. Legal sits at the center of all three motions.
 
You will be a dedicated legal partner for B2B Enterprise, Technology Alliances, and Channel and Distribution Partnerships, supporting the development and negotiation of the indirect partner ecosystem that underpins our scalable distribution. This is a role for someone who combines deep transactional expertise with strong business instincts, operates with a high degree of independence, and is ready to grow into broader leadership responsibility within a scaling legal function.

About your skills

• Exceptional business judgement and a proven ability to balance legal risk with commercial objectives in fast-moving deal environments.

• Executive-level communication skills: able to distill complex issues into clear, actionable guidance and influence stakeholders from SMB to large enterprise and C-suite.

• A track record of using approved AI tools to increase legal productivity, and staying current on AI governance obligations.

What you’ll be doing  

B2B Enterprise, Ecosystems and Technology Transactions

• Take primary ownership of drafting, reviewing, and negotiating complex commercial agreements across global system integrator arrangements, channel partner and reseller agreements, technology alliance and co-sell agreements, enterprise SaaS and platform licensing, API and technical integration agreements, and distribution and go-to-market partnerships.

• Advise senior business stakeholders, including GTM leadership, and Product teams, on deal structuring, risk allocation, commercial terms, and multi-jurisdictional GTM considerations, serving as the day-to-day legal lead who positions Legal as a genuine business enabler.

• Partner with the Product Legal team to develop and refine legal frameworks that support a self-serve and low-touch commercial motion, including API access agreements, developer terms, usage-based licensing structures, and SMB onboarding frameworks, contributing to a standardized, scalable approach that enables businesses to engage and onboard with speed and minimal friction.

• Provide clear, solution-focused guidance on AI-related commercial arrangements, data-sharing agreements, and emerging technology implementations as they enter the enterprise deal mix.

• Own and continuously develop the suite of enterprise and channel contracting templates, playbooks, negotiation guidelines, and approval frameworks used across the partnerships function.

• Design scalable legal infrastructure that empowers fast-moving deal teams to execute efficiently while maintaining sound risk controls across both direct and indirect channels.

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GTM Product Commercialisation and Third-Party Integration

• Act as a primary legal partner for the commercialisation of GTM products, advising on go-to-market structures, route-to-market models, pricing and packaging frameworks, and the legal terms that govern how products are brought to market directly and through third parties.

• Draft and negotiate agreements that govern the embedding, bundling, or distribution of our products within third-party platforms, marketplaces, and ecosystems, including white-label arrangements, OEM agreements, co-branded offerings, and platform integration terms.

• Advise on licensing boundaries and revenue-sharing constructs as the product suite evolves and is commercialised through an expanding range of direct and indirect channels.

• Work closely with Product, Product Legal, Marketing, and Sales to ensure commercial and legal structures keep pace with product development and new route-to-market initiatives, flagging and resolving legal considerations early in the product lifecycle.

What you’ll have 

• Genuinely commercial in your approach: able to identify and manage risk pragmatically, find workable solutions under pressure, and avoid being a blocker to growth.

• An effective communicator and influencer, comfortable advising and challenging senior stakeholders across Sales, Product, and Executive leadership.

• Qualified lawyer with 10+ years of post-qualification experience, including meaningful in-house tenure at a technology, SaaS, or enterprise software company.

• A proven track record negotiating complex B2B technology agreements including GSI, channel, reseller, alliance, and enterprise platform deals, ideally within or alongside global organisations.

• Demonstrable experience advising on product commercialisation, route-to-market strategy, or third-party distribution and embedding arrangements.

• Comfortable operating across both high-touch enterprise deals and high-volume standardised indirect channel frameworks, understanding that each requires a different legal posture.

• Highly organised and self-directed, with a demonstrated ability to manage a high-volume deal workload across competing priorities and deadlines with minimal supervision.

• A collaborative team player who understands their place in a broader legal function and actively supports those around them, including upward to leadership

Posting Date: 15 September 2026
Application Window: 2 weeks
We anticipate the application window will be open until 30 September 2026. Based on business needs, this opportunity may remain posted beyond or closed before the anticipated application window.

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