Join Microsoft’s Global Deal Team in Americas—a high-performing, distributed legal organization within Corporate, External and Legal Affairs (CELA), a community of 2,000+ legal and compliance professionals. The team supports complex enterprise transactions with Microsoft’s largest and most strategic customers (excluding public sector) around the world. The Senior Corporate Counsel role helps drive revenue and accelerate deal velocity through strategic legal leadership, direct engagement on high-impact negotiations, operational excellence, and innovative use of technology and AI—while navigating the regulatory, cultural, and contracting diversity of multiple jurisdictions and languages.
Your primary responsibility will be supporting business teams that are responsible for pursuing and closing strategic and complex commercial transactions with Microsoft’s most important customers. You will partner with sales, operations, finance, product and engineering, marketing, and security/trust stakeholders to align customer expectations with Microsoft’s risk posture, policies, and compliance obligations. The role collaborates closely with regional Legal Affairs teams who are subject matter experts in the Americas markets and their regulations and who lead public sector matters and non-deal workstreams.
Microsoft’s mission is to empower every person and every organization on the planet to achieve more. As employees we come together with a growth mindset, innovate to empower others, and collaborate to realize our shared goals. Each day we build on our values of respect, integrity, and accountability to create a culture of inclusion where everyone can thrive at work and beyond.
This role can be based in Redmond, Silicon Valley, Chicago, New York City, and Washington, D.C. This role involves some international travel.
Responsibilities
- Lead legal support for complex technology transactions by developing negotiation strategies, solving problems creatively, and coordinating across CELA and business team subject matter expertsProvide strategic advice on newly emerging information technology business models, including AI, while staying updated on rules, regulations, and other statutory requirements relating to Microsoft business.
- Draft, negotiate, and structure integrated agreements encompassing sales, procurement, strategic partnerships, , investments, and other innovative business models, addressing legal issues such as commercial contracts, intellectual property, and data protection.
- Guide escalations to appropriate senior leaders to take smart and well-informed risks to meet customer needs.
- Support the business teams in ensuring legal compliance and providing solutions to mitigate risks.
- Lead cross-team, cross-disciplinary strategic projects and initiatives and improving internal processes in the legal department.
- You will communicate in ways that create clarity and advance negotiations and projects to achieve closure of open issues. You will provide practical and strategic advice to business clients and CELA colleagues.
- You will collaborate with executive leadership to ensure a coordinated voice on high-visibility issues, simplifying and summarizing complex matters into actionable strategies and recommendations.
Qualifications
Required/minimum qualifications
- Juris Doctor Degree or international equivalent degree AND 6+ years experience as a practicing attorney at a law firm or in-house roles specializing in complex transactions, including technology transactions, M&A, business development, or related work managing complex transactions involving multiple stakeholders.
- OR equivalent experience.
- Active license to practice law in a jurisdiction and capable of meeting admission requirements in relevant jurisdiction.
Additional or preferred qualifications
- Highly developed negotiation, legal drafting, and communications skills.
- Deal strategy skills with a demonstrated history of successfully managing large-scale, nuanced transactions that involve multiple strategic, operational, and legal dimensions and the requirement to meet deadlines in the face of competing priorities.
- Experience advising on technology transactions (e.g., cloud services, software licensing, SaaS, professional services, strategic partnerships, and/or AI models and solutions).
- Comfort with ambiguity and with a bias for action in a fast-paced, highly matrixed environment with sound judgment incorporating strong legal analysis, a pragmatic approach, and consideration of business goals, risk tolerance, and stakeholder priorities.
- Enthusiastic team player who enjoys partnering with cross-functional teams to solve complex issues, invest in others, and work collaboratively to generate consensus across diverse points of view.
- Inquisitive and curious - enjoys learning new concepts, tackling cutting-edge legal issues, thrives amidst change and exhibits a growth mindset.
- Additional language skill would be a plus.
Legal Counsel IC5 - The typical base pay range for this role across the U.S. is USD $147,000 - $258,000 per year. There is a different range applicable to specific work locations, within the San Francisco Bay area and New York City metropolitan area, and the base pay range for this role in those locations is USD $185,900 - $278,900 per year.
Certain roles may be eligible for benefits and other compensation. Find additional benefits and pay information here:
https://careers.microsoft.com/us/en/us-corporate-pay
This position will be open for a minimum of 5 days, with applications accepted on an ongoing basis until the position is filled.
Microsoft is an equal opportunity employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to age, ancestry, citizenship, color, family or medical care leave, gender identity or expression, genetic information, immigration status, marital status, medical condition, national origin, physical or mental disability, political affiliation, protected veteran or military status, race, ethnicity, religion, sex (including pregnancy), sexual orientation, or any other characteristic protected by applicable local laws, regulations and ordinances. If you need assistance with religious accommodations and/or a reasonable accommodation due to a disability during the application process, read more about requesting accommodations.
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