General Counsel

Bitwarden

General Counsel overseeing all legal functions and responsibilities for Bitwarden, a secure identity management company. Building the legal function and guiding corporate governance, compliance, and contracts.

Posted 5/13/2026full-timeRemote • 🇺🇸 United StatesSeniorLeadWebsite

About the role

Key responsibilities & impact

Serve as corporate secretary; manage all Board governance, equity plan administration, cap table maintenance, and investor relations documentation.
Lead legal diligence and documentation for financing transactions, including growth equity rounds and debt facilities.
Advise the Board and management on fiduciary duties, corporate governance best practices, and securities law compliance.
Evaluate and lead legal workstreams for any strategic M&A transactions, partnerships, or joint ventures.
Build and own the commercial contracts function; draft, negotiate, and manage SaaS MSAs, order forms, DPAs, SLAs, and partner agreements.
Develop contract playbooks, standard templates, and pre-approved fallback positions to accelerate sales cycles.
Partner with the Sales and CX teams to resolve deal-level legal issues quickly and with appropriate risk tolerance.
Manage and continuously improve contract lifecycle management (CLM) systems and processes.
Develop and execute a comprehensive IP protection strategy including trademarks, copyrights, trade secrets, and patents as appropriate.
Manage all IP assignments, invention disclosures, and open-source compliance.
Advise product, engineering, and marketing teams on IP clearance, use of third-party software/content, and competitive IP risks.
Own the company's global data privacy program; ensure compliance with GDPR, CCPA/CPRA, and other applicable privacy regimes.
Serve as legal lead on security incidents, breach response, and regulatory investigations.
Partner with Information Security and Engineering on product privacy reviews, vendor assessments, and DPA negotiations.
Advise People/HR on employment matters: offer letters, severance, non-competes, employee investigations, and terminations.
Manage employment litigation and agency charges; retain and oversee outside employment counsel as needed.
Ensure compliance with wage-and-hour laws, EEO obligations, and applicable labor regulations across all jurisdictions.
Manage all litigation, arbitration, and dispute resolution matters; retain and supervise outside counsel efficiently.
Build and maintain a company-wide legal risk register; proactively identify and mitigate legal and regulatory exposure.
Own the company's insurance program (D&O, E&O, cyber liability, general liability) with appropriate coverage for a scaling SaaS company.
Build the legal function from the ground up; hire and develop in-house legal staff as business needs grow.
Establish legal spend management protocols; select, onboard, and actively manage outside counsel relationships to optimize cost and quality.
Implement legal tech tools (CLM, entity management, e-signature, legal ops) to scale the function efficiently.

Requirements

What you’ll need

J.D. from an accredited law school; admission to at least one state bar (active or in-house counsel status).
10–15 years of legal experience; combination of BigLaw (technology/corporate practice) and in-house technology company experience strongly preferred.
Prior experience as General Counsel, Deputy GC, or senior in-house counsel at a SaaS or recurring-revenue software company is required.
Prior experience at PE and/or VC-backed SaaS companies is strongly preferred
Deep expertise in commercial contracts, SaaS-specific legal issues, data privacy (GDPR/CCPA), and corporate governance.
Experience supporting a growth equity transaction, Series C or later financing, or strategic M&A process is highly valued.
Business-first mindset: ability to assess legal risk in a commercial context and provide pragmatic, actionable guidance rather than reflexive risk aversion.
Strong executive presence; able to advise and challenge the CEO and Board with confidence and credibility.
Excellent written and oral communication skills; can distill complex legal issues into plain language for non-legal audiences.

Benefits

Comp & perks

Our user community loves us and we love them. Come to work each day with a sense of purpose as we bring a more secure internet experience to everyone from our friends and family to the world’s largest organizations.
Become an expert. You’ll get immersed in the prominent technology markets of security and open source software.
We are dedicated to building a diverse and talented team. Work remotely with motivated and supportive team members across the world.
Learn and grow. Take on new challenges with the support of your team, and join our #growth-club to continue personal and professional development.

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Hard Skills & Tools

corporate governancefiduciary dutieslegal diligencefinancing transactionscommercial contractsdata privacyintellectual propertyemployment lawlitigation managementcontract lifecycle management

Soft Skills

executive presencecommunication skillsrisk assessmentpragmatic guidanceleadershipcollaborationproblem-solvingnegotiationstrategic thinkingadaptability

Certifications

J.D.state bar admission