Lead AI & Privacy Counsel

Laurel is on a mission to return time. As the leading AI Time platform for professional services firms, we’re transforming how organizations capture, analyze, and optimize their most valuable resource: time. Our proprietary machine learning technology automates work time capture and connects time data to business outcomes, enabling firms to increase profitability, improve client delivery, and make data-driven strategic decisions. We serve many of the world's largest accounting and law firms, including EY, Aprio, Crowell & Moring, and Frost Brown Todd, and process over 1 billion work activities annually that have never been collected and aggregated before Laurel’s AI Time platform. Our team comprises top talent in AI, product development, and engineering—innovative, humble, and forward-thinking professionals committed to redefining productivity in the knowledge economy. We're building solutions that empower workers to deliver twice the value in half the time, giving people more time to be creative and impactful. If you're passionate about transforming how people work and building a lasting company that explores the essence of time itself, we'd love to meet you. ABOUT THE ROLE: We’re hiring a Lead AI & Privacy Counsel to be the founding legal partner for Laurel’s product, data, and AI strategy. This is a high-impact role at the center of the most important questions facing the company: how we build, deploy, and scale AI responsibly in enterprise environments. You will sit at the intersection of Product, Legal, and Go-To-Market, working directly with Product, Engineering, Security, and Sales to shape how Laurel uses data, designs AI systems, and earns customer trust. This is not a pure compliance role and not a generalist legal position. You will own one of the highest-leverage domains at the company—AI, privacy, and data—and help build it from the ground up. WHAT YOU WILL DO: ⚖️ AI, PRODUCT & DATA COUNSELING - Advise on AI/ML product development, including data usage, model behavior, and feature design - Embed in the full product lifecycle (design → development → launch → iteration), shaping decisions early rather than reviewing at the end - Help define Laurel’s approach to responsible AI (transparency, explainability, risk boundaries) 🔐 PRIVACY, SECURITY & DATA GOVERNANCE - Own Laurel’s privacy and data strategy across the product and customer lifecycle - Build scalable frameworks for data usage, classification, retention, and governance - Lead data protection, security, and AI-related terms in enterprise agreements (DPAs, security addenda, AI provisions) 🌍 REGULATORY STRATEGY & COMPLIANCE - Track and operationalize compliance with evolving regimes (GDPR, CCPA, EU AI Act, UK ICO, etc.) - Translate regulatory ambiguity into clear, practical, product-aligned guidance - Partner with Security and Compliance on audits, certifications, and trust programs 🤝 ENTERPRISE TRUST & COMMERCIAL IMPACT - Partner with Sales and GTM leadership on AI, privacy, and security positioning in enterprise deals - Support deal strategy where data usage, AI functionality, or security posture are gating factors - Help turn privacy and AI governance into a competitive advantage, not just a compliance requirement - Develop clear, reusable narratives and materials that enable Sales to address customer questions 🧱 BUILD THE FOUNDATION - Create Laurel’s first-generation playbooks, principles, and decision frameworks for AI and data - Own Laurel’s internal POV on AI, privacy, and data—not just manage outside counsel - Lay the groundwork for future team expansion in this domain YOU WILL BE A GREAT FIT IF YOU HAVE: - 10+ years of experience, including meaningful work in privacy, data, or AI-related legal issues - Strong background in product counseling, data privacy, or technology transactions (law firm and/or in-house) - Experience advising on AI/ML, data usage, or emerging tech—you’re comfortable navigating ambiguity - Commercially minded: you understand ho...