Senior Counsel, Commercial (Enterprise)
Perplexity
Location
San Francisco, New York City
Employment Type
Full time
Location Type
Hybrid
Department
Legal
Compensation
- $225K – $325K • Offers Equity
U.S. Benefits
Full-time U.S. employees enjoy a comprehensive benefits program including equity, health, dental, vision, retirement, fitness, commuter and dependent care accounts, and more.
International Benefits
Full-time employees outside the U.S. enjoy a comprehensive benefits program tailored to their region of residence.
USD salary ranges apply only to U.S.-based positions. International salaries are set based on the local market. Final offer amounts are determined by multiple factors, including experience and expertise, and may vary from the amounts listed above.
Perplexity AI is looking for a Senior Counsel, Commercial (Enterprise) to be a key legal partner to our growing enterprise business. In this role, you'll own the full commercial legal lifecycle for Perplexity Enterprise Pro and API customers from negotiating and closing complex enterprise agreements to building the scalable legal infrastructure that enables us to move fast without unnecessary risk.
You'll work closely with our enterprise sales, GTM, security, and product teams to close deals, strengthen our data security and compliance contracting posture, and serve as a trusted advisor on the AI-specific legal questions that come with operating at the frontier of this technology. The ideal candidate brings deep experience negotiating enterprise SaaS and API agreements, a strong command of data privacy and security frameworks, and the practical judgment to make principled risk calls independently.
This is a high-impact, hands-on role for a commercially minded attorney who thrives in fast-paced environments, knows how to be a true partner to sales without being a bottleneck, and is excited to help build a best-in-class legal function at one of the most consequential AI companies in the world.
Key Responsibilities
Lead end-to-end drafting, review, and negotiation of commercial agreements for Perplexity Enterprise Pro and API customers, including MSAs, Order Forms, SaaS subscription agreements, API terms, DPAs, BAAs, and NDAs with the experience to own deals from initial redline to signature.
Serve as the primary legal partner to enterprise sales and GTM teams, providing fast, practical, and business-aligned counsel that accelerates deal velocity without compromising on risk management.
Advance Perplexity's compliance and data security contracting posture including negotiating data processing agreements, security addenda, and responding to customer security and compliance questionnaires in close partnership with the Security and Privacy teams.
Advise on AI-specific legal considerations embedded in enterprise and API agreements, including acceptable use, data retention and training restrictions, output liability, and evolving regulatory requirements (e.g., EU AI Act, CCPA/CPRA, GDPR).
Build and maintain scalable legal infrastructure including contract templates, negotiation playbooks, and fallback positions to support high-volume enterprise deal flow and reduce friction in the sales cycle.
Implement and continuously improve legal processes and tools (e.g., CLM, self-serve workflows) to enable the business to move quickly while maintaining visibility and control over contractual commitments.
Partner cross-functionally with Product, Engineering, Security, Finance, and Compliance teams to surface and address legal risk early, particularly on matters related to data use, enterprise integrations, and customer-specific compliance requirements.
Monitor the evolving regulatory landscape for enterprise AI and SaaS products, and translate emerging requirements into practical contractual and policy guidance for internal stakeholders.
Qualifications
JD and in good standing with an active US state bar membership
At least 7+ years of law firm and/or in-house experience
Track record of drafting and negotiating enterprise sales and SaaS agreements
Strong business acumen and ability to partner with business and technical teams
An ability to communicate clearly with business and technical audiences and effectively translate legal concepts for non-lawyers
Hands-on attitude to tackle projects large and small, low-ego approach to working across the organization
Positive collaborative attitude, comfort with change and a fast pace, high level of integrity, and intellectual curiosity
Comfortable working in a fast-paced, dynamic environment
Compensation Range: $225K - $325K