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Legal Counsel, Procurement

United States - Remote

The role, in a nutshell

Chainguard is growing fast, and we’re looking for a Procurement Attorney who’s excited to own how we work with the vendors that power our business. You’ll lead our vendor and procurement contracting function end to end, reviewing, structuring, and negotiating agreements. You will also build scalable, vendor-friendly processes that keep our teams moving quickly without taking on unnecessary risk. This is a high-impact builder role for someone who cares just as much about great stakeholder and vendor experiences as they do about clean, well-structured contracts.'

What you’ll do

  • Lead vendor and procurement contracts from front to back. Review, analyze, and negotiate agreements with a customer-obsessed mindset so vendors have a smooth, transparent experience while Chainguard’s interests stay protected.'
  • Keep deals moving instead of getting stuck in redlines. Bring intentional action to negotiations, focus on the risk that actually matters, and clear the path so our teams and vendors can get to “yes” without unnecessary delays.
  • Be a true partner to the business. Work closely with procurement, security, finance, and business leaders to structure deals that are legally sound, practical to operate, and aligned with how Chainguard runs.
  • Design and improve legal workflows from the ground up. Build and refine vendor-friendly processes for intake, review, and approval so internal teams and vendors know what’s happening and what’s next.
  • Create the playbooks and tools others will rely on. Draft templates, playbooks, fallback positions, and guidance that scale your expertise across the company, including training materials that help non-lawyers move faster with confidence.
  • Streamline onboarding and lifecycle management. Partner on smarter ways to onboard vendors and manage contracts through their full lifecycle, from initial review through renewals and offboarding.
    Serve as a pragmatic, approachable legal advisor. Show up as a collaborator who helps the business hit its goals, not a gatekeeper who slows things down, even when the issues are complex.
  • Balance risk and momentum. Identify and mitigate legal, privacy, security, and regulatory risks in ways that are practical, right-sized, and actually implementable.

What we’re looking for

  • Seasoned commercial contracts experience with 5+ years focused on commercial, procurement, or vendor agreements, ideally including both drafting and negotiating in a high-volume environment.
  • In-house background at a SaaS or technology company (or comparable environment) where you’ve supported fast-moving teams and learned how to balance risk with speed.
  • J.D. from an accredited law school and active bar admission in at least one U.S. jurisdiction.
    Builder mindset for legal processes. You’ve created or significantly improved legal workflows, templates, or playbooks from scratch, not just followed what was already there.
  • Strong business acumen. You’re comfortable talking about tradeoffs, pricing, SLAs, and operational realities, and can right-size your advice to the stage and needs of the business.
  • Excellent communicator and collaborator. You explain complex issues clearly, listen well, and build trust with stakeholders across legal, security, finance, procurement, and operations.
  • Comfort with fast-paced, evolving environments. You’re energized by ambiguity, can prioritize in the face of changing inputs, and enjoy helping shape the processes that don’t exist yet

Bonus points if you have:

  • Experience designing vendor-friendly legal processes at a high-growth company.
  • Background in supply chain, procurement operations, or vendor management.
  • A track record of implementing creative legal tech or CLM solutions to streamline workflows.
  • A clear perspective on what makes a company great to work with from a vendor’s point of view.

What you’ll love about this role

  • You’ll build something that lasts. This is a chance to design and refine our procurement legal processes from the ground up, with real ownership and clear impact.
  • You’ll work with people who value intentional action. We care about moving thoughtfully and efficiently, not doing things “the way they’ve always been done.”
  • You’ll join a team that does serious work without taking ourselves too seriously. We’re tackling complex legal and technical problems, but we keep perspective and make space to enjoy the work and the people we do it with.
  • You’ll operate in a culture built on trust and good intent. We assume good faith from our colleagues and our vendors, and we’re transparent about decisions so people can move quickly and confidently.

Base Salary Range

$127,000 - $150,000 USD

About Us

Chainguard is the secure foundation for software development and deployment. By providing guarded open source software, built from source and updated continuously, Chainguard helps organizations eliminate threats in their software supply chains.

Founded by the industry's leading experts on open source software, security and cloud native development, Chainguard has built the largest library of open source software that is secure by default. 

Chainguard’s mission is to be the safe source for open source.

 

We live and breathe our company values:

We are customer obsessed - We focus on delivering solutions to our customers that create value and make their lives better.

We have a bias for intentional action - We prioritize, plan, try things, and fail fast.

We don’t take ourselves too seriously (but we do serious work) - We are solving an important problem which takes focus, but we also like to enjoy the journey.

We trust each other and assume good intentions - We’re transparent with decisions to empower team members to make well informed decisions.

 

A few of the benefits we offer:

  • Flexible & Remote-First Culture: Work remotely with team meetup opportunities, bi-annual destination summits, and a monthly stipend for coworking spaces, phone and internet costs. 
  • Our Approach to Equity:  Receive stock options upon hire and promotion. Plus, you can participate in secondary offerings and have 10 years to exercise your options (yes, you read that correctly: 10 years!). 
  • 100%  Covered Health Insurance: We cover 100% of your health, vision and dental insurance premiums for you and your dependents. Nothing comes out of your paycheck. 
  • ∞ Flexible Time Off: Take the time you need – to do our best work, we need to recharge and reset. 
  • 18 Weeks Paid Parental Leave: We offer 18 weeks for birthing parents and 12 weeks for non-birthing parents, with the option to use it all at once or throughout your child's first year.

If your experience is close but doesn’t fulfill all requirements, please apply. We’re building the best team in technology and are focused on hiring “Chainguardians'' with unique backgrounds, perspectives, and experiences.

Chainguard is an equal opportunity employer. We do not discriminate based upon race, religion, color, national origin, sex (including pregnancy, childbirth, reproductive health decisions, or related medical conditions), sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, age, status as a protected veteran, status as an individual with a disability, genetic information, political views or activity, or other applicable legally protected characteristics. We also consider qualified applicants with criminal histories, consistent with applicable federal, state and local law.

By submitting your application, you acknowledge that Chainguard will process your personal data in accordance with Chainguard’s Privacy Policy.

©2025 Chainguard. All Rights Reserved.

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