Biotechnology is rewriting life as we know it, from the medicines we take, to the crops we grow, the materials we wear, and the household goods that we rely on every day. But moving at the new speed of science requires better technology.
Benchlings mission is to unlock the power of biotechnology. The worlds most innovative biotech companies use Benchlings R&D Cloud to power the development of breakthrough products and accelerate time to milestone and market.
Come help us bring modern software to modern science.
ROLE OVERVIEW
We are looking for a mission-driven, collaborative, and highly motivated individual to join Benchling as a critical member of the legal team. As Senior Product Counsel, you will be a trusted advisor to our engineering, product, design, and security teams. The right person for this role must be a team player who is comfortable operating in a fast-paced and entrepreneurial environment and able to balance legal risk with business objectives. Your ability to build strong cross-functional relationships and operate as a strategic, solutions-oriented business partner will be crucial to your success.
This role offers a unique opportunity to influence the future direction of our product offerings. You will address legal risks, design scalable processes, and ensure the seamless integration of legal and regulatory requirements into the company's product and business strategies. You are also intellectually curious and proactively seek ways for the legal team to impact the business.
RESPONSIBILITIES
- Product Counseling:
- Partner with product, engineering, and design teams to provide guidance on legal issues related to product design, development, and operations, with specific attention to data protection, privacy, IP protection, and open source.
- Develop and maintain legal processes and documentation to support new product and other business initiatives.
- Collaborate on the development and deployment of AI features, ensuring responsible AI use, compliance with AI regulations, and alignment with industry best practices.
- Act as a point of contact for customers, including large global biopharma companies, to address legal questions regarding product features.
- Security and Compliance:
- Work closely with security and IT teams to support security initiatives, incident response plans, frameworks, and requirements.
- Monitor and advise on regulatory and industry developments, including trends in security and privacy laws, regulatory guidance, enforcement actions, and public policy.
- Intellectual Property:
- Advise on IP strategy, including patents and open-source issues.
- Work with engineering and product teams to identify and develop opportunities for patent applications through our invention disclosure program and help drive the patent application process up to filing.
- Partner with outside counsel to manage patent portfolios and protect IP assets.
- Develop and implement processes to ensure compliance with open-source licensing obligations.
- Regulatory Compliance:
- Guide compliance with sector-specific regulations impacting SaaS and biopharma industries.
- Cross-Functional Collaboration:
- Be a trusted advisor to senior R&D leadership, providing actionable insights on the intersection of law, technology, and business strategy.
- Partner with teams to educate and train employees on legal risks and compliance best practices.
- Support privacy team in maintaining our privacy program.
QUALIFICATIONS
- J.D. from an accredited law school and membership in at least one U.S. state bar (California Bar preferred or ability to register as in-house counsel in California).
- 5-7+ years of relevant legal experience, with a mix of in-house at a SaaS or technology company and law firm experience.
- Proven experience counseling engineers and product managers, and fluency in enterprise software, data security, and intellectual property.
- Strong understanding of rapidly developing AI regulations and best practices,
- Strong understanding of open-source licensing issues.
- Familiarity with global privacy frameworks (e.g., GDPR, CCPA),
- Exceptional communication and interpersonal skills, with the ability to distill complex legal concepts into actionable advice and advocate for a position while maintaining a collaborative and open-minded approach.
- Highly organized, prioritizes appropriately, reliable, detail-oriented, and diligent.
- Proven ability to provide entrepreneurial, pragmatic, business-oriented advice
- Committed to continuous improvement, scalability, and operational excellence.
- Have a growth mindset and practice with kindness, humility, integrity, and humor.
- Nice to have: Experience working with or interest in learning about biotech or life sciences-related products and services and GxP regulatory frameworks.
HOW WE WORK
Flexible Hybrid Work: We offer a flexible hybrid work arrangement that prioritizes in-office collaboration. Employees are expected to be on-site 3 days per week.
SALARY RANGE
Benchling takes a market-based approach to pay. The candidate's starting pay will be determined based on job-related skills, experience, qualifications, interview performance, and work location. For this role the base salary range is $209,865 - $283,935.
Total Compensation includes the following:
- Competitive salary and equity
- Broad range of medical, dental, and vision plans for employees and their dependents
- Fertility healthcare and family-forming benefits
- Four months of fully paid parental leave
- 401(k) + Employer Match
- Commuter benefits for in-office employees and a generous home office set up stipend for remote employees
- Mental health benefits, including therapy and coaching, for employees and their dependents
- Monthly Wellness stipend
- Learning and development stipend
- Generous and flexible vacation
- Company-wide Summer & Winter holiday shutdown
- Sabbaticals for 5-year and 10-year anniversaries
Benchling welcomes everyone.
We believe diversity enriches our team so we hire people with a wide range of identities, backgrounds, and experiences.
We are an equal opportunity employer. That means we dont discriminate on the basis of race, religion, color, national origin, gender, sexual orientation, age, marital status, veteran status, or disability status. We also consider for employment qualified applicants with arrest and conviction records, consistent with applicable federal, state and local law, including but not limited to the San Francisco Fair Chance Ordinance.
Please be aware that Benchling will never request personal information, payment, or sensitive details outside of Greenhouse or via email. All official communications will come from an @benchling.com email address or from an approved vendor alias. If you are contacted by someone claiming to represent Benchling and are unsure of their legitimacy, please reach out to us at [email protected] to verify the communication.
