Associate General Counsel (San Francisco)
Wikimedia Foundation - San Francisco
Work at Wikimedia Foundation
Overview
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Overview
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Summary
Wikimedia envisions a world where the sum total of human knowledge is available to everyone. The Wikimedia Foundation, the nonprofit home of Wikipedia, Wikimedia Commons, and other free educational projects, serves as the hub of a global movement of hundreds of thousands of contributors collaborating to collect and share the sum of all human knowledge with the world. Protecting the privacy of Wikimedia readers, contributors, and donors is a key element of our work as an organization.
Role Overview
Our Legal team counsels Foundation engineers as they create tools and features for Wikipedia, secure the websites, and collaborate with volunteer developers to design and build the future of the projects. We are looking for an Associate General Counsel to support the Deputy General Counsel in leading key functions in the Legal team, with specific focus on further refinement of our privacy and product counseling workflows.
Responsibilities
The Associate General Counsel will be a hands-on leader with significant management experience, overseeing and developing a talented team of lawyers and legal professionals. This role involves working closely with legal leadership, the Foundation's senior and executive teams, and external stakeholders. The ideal candidate will have expertise in advising online platforms, especially in counseling technical teams, and providing guidance on privacy and security issues. Experience with online communities and cross-departmental collaboration is highly valued.
Essential Functions:
- Advise senior legal and organizational leadership on privacy and security legal matters.
- Define and implement a strategic vision for the Foundation's privacy team, including policy development and infrastructure evolution.
- Manage a team providing transactional and product counseling support to engineers and technologists, including policy setting and risk mitigation.
- Improve workflows related to product counseling and engineering legal advice.
- Oversee annual updates of the Wikimedia Foundation Privacy Policy, ensuring compliance with regulations and effective communication with stakeholders.
- Develop and lead a diverse, collaborative legal team aligned with organizational goals.
- Mentor legal staff and oversee privacy workflows.
- Provide legal counsel on other areas as needed, such as regulatory compliance and open source licensing.
Requirements:
- J.D. from an accredited U.S. law school or equivalent, with significant U.S. legal experience.
- Current membership in good standing with at least one U.S. state bar.
- 10+ years of legal practice, preferably advising user-facing digital or internet companies with a global reach.
- Management experience leading senior legal professionals.
- Deep understanding of digital privacy and security tools and methods.
- Experience working with engineering teams and online communities.
- Strong communication skills and ability to work collaboratively in a multicultural environment.
- Ability to assess and manage complex risks with integrity and a mission-driven mindset.
Additional preferred qualifications include technical security knowledge, multilingual skills, international law experience, and prior work abroad.
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