Salesforce is hiring an experienced lawyer for the role of Senior Director, Commercial Legal, to support our dynamic Public Sector Sales business across EMEA and Asia Pacific. This individual will play a key role in advising Salesforce's Public Sector sales organizations across several areas, including: (i) structuring transactions and drafting and negotiating agreements and related documentation; (ii) partnering with legal and compliance teams, security operations, revenue recognition, sales operations, technology operations, and other stakeholder teams to ensure agreements are consistent with internal corporate policies and processes; and (iii) providing legal advice and counsel on a wide array of issues, including compliance matters. The role involves managing a team of legal professionals based across Europe and Asia, engaging with senior executives, and ensuring that transactions are completed in a customer-centric, timely, and transparent manner. This is a senior role within the Legal team requiring in-depth experience in public sector commercial transactions, team leadership, and advising senior business executives.

Key Responsibilities

• Serve as a trusted adviser to senior leadership.

• Commercial Transaction Management: Structure, draft, and negotiate complex commercial agreements for direct and indirect Public Sector sales routes across supported countries in EMEA and APAC.

• Contract Negotiation: Lead negotiations of Main Services Agreements, Order Forms, Professional Services agreements, and related commercial documentation either on Salesforce paper or government paper.

• Team Leadership: Lead a team of experienced and capable Public Sector commercial lawyers based across EMEA and APAC. This includes direct and indirect management of a number of lawyers, plus supervising and supporting lawyers in other teams who also support public sector.

• Cross-functional Collaboration: Work closely with other legal team members across EMEA, APAC and global teams, as well as with procurement, finance, and operations teams.

• Stakeholder Management: Partner with executive leadership, senior sales teams and business stakeholders across EMEA and APAC to enable high-stakes deals and provide strategic legal guidance.

• Public Sector Expertise: Navigate and respond to complex public and government procurement requirements, e.g., working on requests for proposals/information, ethical walls agreements, drafting clarification questions, and ensuring strict compliance with public sector procurement regulations.

• Risk Management: Assess complex commercial and legal risks unique to public sector contracting, provide practical advice, and escalate matters appropriately to leadership when needed.

• Identify and drive innovation legal process improvements, including through the use of AI, to support efficient deal closure.

Required Skills & Experience

• Qualified lawyer licensed to practice in a key European or Asian jurisdiction.

• 10+ years of PQE, ideally gained in-house at a technology company or in private practice advising tech clients and/or government entities.

• Deep public sector expertise, with strong experience in government contracting, including global public sector frameworks and compliance considerations and a solid understanding of procurement pathways and constraints.

• Demonstrated success leading a team of legal professionals across multiple jurisdictions to support public sector transactions.

• Collaborative and transparent approach when working with key internal and external stakeholders.

• Excellent drafting and negotiation skills with a sophisticated ability to balance commercial objectives with legal risk management.

• Strong judgment and problem-solving skills, able to provide pragmatic, business-focused legal advice.

• Project management capabilities, including the ability to manage multiple complex transactions simultaneously, and the ability to organize, prioritize, and manage deadlines in a fast-paced and demanding work environment.

• Highly responsive and service-oriented approach.

• Ability to build and maintain strong working relationships with senior executives and other internal clients.

• Experience with and passion for Artificial Intelligence to support transactions and team operations.

• Substantive expertise in software-as-a-service transactions.