Own Every Moment at NetApp
At NetApp, your ideas power innovation. We lead in intelligent data infrastructure—delivering unified storage, integrated data services, and solutions that help organizations unlock the full potential of their data, from AI to multicloud.
Ready to innovate and contribute to our path to $10B? Here, you'll collaborate with passionate teams, tackle real-world challenges, and see your impact in how customers transform and grow. If you're ready to bring curiosity, creativity, and drive to every moment, NetApp is where your journey begins. Join teams that innovate to elevate, drive results, and excel together across every function.
Director, Product Legal
San Jose, California, United States; United States; Cranberry Township, Pennsylvania, United States; Waltham, Massachusetts, United States; Wichita, Kansas, United States; Morrisville, North Carolina, United StatesJob Summary
NetApp is seeking an experienced Director, Product Legal to join our Legal team and serve as a strategic legal partner to our Product organizations, including Enterprise Storage, Cloud Services, and Hybrid Storage Systems..
This senior Product Counsel position will support technical product, engineering, and business teams throughout the product development lifecycle, with a particular emphasis on enterprise products, on-premises offerings, cloud services and software offerings, complex inbound technology transactions, and product counseling.
The ideal candidate brings extensive experience advising enterprise-focused technology organizations, understands the complexities of business-to-business (B2B) technology offerings, and can confidently navigate the legal, commercial, and technical considerations associated with cloud, SaaS, software, and hybrid infrastructure environments.
This individual must be comfortable engaging directly with engineering and product leaders, providing practical legal guidance on sophisticated technology transactions, and independently managing complex legal matters, including inbound technology, open source, AI regulations.
In addition to serving as a trusted legal advisor, this role will manage and develop a small team of legal professionals, foster collaboration, professional growth, and strong business partnerships.
Responsibilities
Product Counseling and Strategic Business Partnership
- This legal manager and advisor will partner with various Business Units, including on-premises, NetApp’s Cloud Services, and other product organizations, partnering closely with product management, engineering, and business leadership.
- Provide strategic legal guidance throughout the product development lifecycle, including conception, design, development, launch, commercialization, ongoing support, and end-of-life.
- Advise complex legal and regulatory considerations affecting enterprise software, cloud services, SaaS, and hybrid cloud offerings.
- Develop a deep understanding of NetApp’s technology, products, and enterprise customer requirements to deliver practical, business-oriented legal solutions.
- Collaborate with cross-functional stakeholders to identify legal risks, resolve complex issues, and enable business objectives.
Technology Transactions and Enterprise Agreements
- Extensive experience in drafting, negotiating, and advising on complex inbound technology transactions, including software licensing, cloud services, technology acquisitions, strategic alliances, joint development agreements, OEM arrangements, and other technology-related agreements.
- Structure, draft, review, and negotiate sophisticated technology agreements supporting enterprise products and services.
- Advise contractual requirements associated with enterprise customers, including representations and warranties, licensing rights, intellectual property protections, compliance obligations, and other enterprise-specific considerations.
- Support the integration of third-party technologies, software, and services into NetApp’s product offerings.
- Partner with commercial legal, finance, product, and engineering teams to ensure technology agreements align with business objectives, product architecture, and customer commitments.
Cloud, Enterprise, Software, and Emerging Technologies
- Provide legal guidance on cloud computing, SaaS, enterprise software, and hybrid cloud/on-premises technology environments.
- Advise product and engineering teams on emerging technology developments, including open source, commercial terms, artificial intelligence use, and their potential legal, regulatory, and commercial implications.
- Support matters involving open-source software, intellectual property, data usage, privacy by design, technology licensing, and product compliance.
- Evaluate legal risks and opportunities associated with evolving technologies and business models.
- Translate complex technical and legal concepts into actionable guidance for business stakeholders.
Leadership and Talent Development
- Manage, lead,, mentor, and develop a small team of legal professionals, including direct reports and occasional external legal resources.
- Foster a collaborative, high-performing environment focused on professional development, accountability, and business partnership.
- Provide coaching and development opportunities that help legal professionals expand their expertise and responsibilities.
- Balance hands-on legal responsibilities with effective people's leadership and team development.
- Support the continued evolution of efficient and scalable legal processes.
Required Qualifications
- Juris Doctor (JD) degree and active membership in good standing with at least one U.S. state bar.
- 10–12+ years of substantial, relevant legal experience supporting technology products, product counseling, and complex technology transactions, including significant experience with inbound technology agreements.
- Demonstrated experience advising enterprise-focused (B2B) technology organizations, particularly those delivering enterprise, cloud services, stand-alone software, SaaS, or hybrid cloud solutions in a global environment.
- Strong understanding of enterprise technology business models, including the contractual, licensing, compliance, and commercial considerations associated with selling products and services to large enterprise customers.
- Extensive experience in structuring, drafting, and negotiating complex inbound technology agreements.
- Proven ability to work directly with engineering, product management, and technical leadership teams, with sufficient technical fluency to independently advise on sophisticated product and technology matters.
- Prior people management experience, including demonstrated ability to coach, mentor, and develop legal professionals.
- Experience independently managing complex legal matters and serving as a trusted advisor to senior business stakeholders.
- Strong commercial judgment, negotiation skills, and a practical, business-enabling approach to legal risk management.
- Familiarity with artificial intelligence, emerging technologies, and their implications for enterprise technology products.
- Excellent communication, relationship-building, and cross-functional collaboration skills.
Preferred Qualifications
- Combination of experience in a major law firm and an in-house legal department within a technology organization.
- Experience supporting cloud-first, software-first, or enterprise infrastructure technology companies.
- Experience working with hyperscalers, enterprise cloud providers, or organizations developing sophisticated cloud and software platforms.
- Background supporting enterprise product organizations through complex product launches, technology integrations, and evolving business models.
- Experience with both cloud-based and on-premises technology products and services.
- Demonstrated success in developing legal talent and building effective partnerships with highly technical teams.
- Experience navigating intellectual property, open-source licensing, data rights, and emerging technology issues within enterprise product environments.
What Success Looks Like
The successful candidate will bring the technical credibility, legal expertise, and leadership experience necessary to make an immediate impact.
They will be able to:
- Independently navigate complex inbound technology transactions and product legal matters with minimal oversight.
- Establish credibility with engineering, product, and cloud services stakeholders from the outset.
- Understand and anticipate the unique legal and commercial requirements of enterprise technology customers.
- Provide strategic, commercially practical guidance that enables innovation while managing legal risk.
- Develop and mentor legal talent while remaining actively engaged in sophisticated legal work.
- Serve as a trusted partner to business leadership in a rapidly evolving technology environment.
Compensation:
The target salary range for this position is 227,800 - 308,000 USD. The salary offered will be determined by the candidate's location, qualifications, experience, and education and may be outside of this range. Final compensation packages are competitive and in line with industry standards, reflecting a variety of factors, and include a comprehensive benefits package. This may cover Health Insurance, Life Insurance, Retirement or Pension Plans, Paid Time Off, various Leave options, Performance-Based Incentives, employee stock purchase plan, and/or restricted stocks (RSU’s), with all offerings subject to regional variations and governed by local laws, regulations, and company policies. Benefits may vary by country and region, and further details will be provided as part of the recruitment process.
At NetApp, we embrace a hybrid working environment designed to strengthen connection, collaboration, and culture for all employees. This means that most roles will have some level of in-office and/or in-person expectations, which will be shared during the recruitment process.
Equal Opportunity Employer:
NetApp is firmly committed to Equal Employment Opportunity (EEO) and to compliance with all federal, state and local laws that prohibit employment discrimination based on age, race, color, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, religion, disability or genetic information, pregnancy, protected veteran status, and any other protected classification.
Why You'll Thrive at NetApp
At NetApp, you won't wait for the perfect moment—you'll make it. The early planning, the extra thought, the bold idea that turns good into great: That's how our people operate and how we continue to push the boundaries of data infrastructure.
NetApp is the trusted partner for organizations transforming data into opportunity. As the only enterprise-grade storage service natively embedded in Google Cloud, AWS, and Microsoft Azure, we empower customers to run everything from traditional workloads to enterprise AI with unmatched performance, resilience, and security.
Our culture
We celebrate mold breakers, bold thinkers, and problem solvers. We reward initiative, impact, and ownership. We provide flexibility so you can balance professional ambition with your personal life. Here, differences are not just welcomed—they drive everything we do.
If you're ready to innovate, rise to the challenge, and own every moment - make your next move your best one. Apply now.
Submitting an Application
To ensure a streamlined and fair hiring process for all candidates, our team only reviews applications submitted through our company website. This practice allows us to track, assess, and respond to applicants efficiently. Emailing our employees, recruiters, or Human Resources personnel directly will not influence your application.
AI Disclosure
For select roles, some stages of our hiring process may use artificial intelligence tools to help evaluate applications and candidate selection. These tools support—rather than replace—human decision-making.
ApplyJobs for you
- Director, Product Legal San Jose, California, United States; , United States; Cranberry Township, Pennsylvania, United States; Waltham, Massachusetts, United States; Wichita, Kansas, United States; Morrisville, North Carolina, United States
- Principal Software Engineer (AI) Bengaluru, Karnataka, India
- District Manager Strategic Enterprise Sales (m/f/d) , Germany; Munich, Bavaria, Germany; Hesse, Germany
Your recently viewed jobs will appear here.
You have no saved jobs. Start browsing jobs here
Recruitment scam warning
When conducting a job search, you’re bombarded with outreach. Here are tips to keep you safe from recruitment fraud.
Stay in touch
Equal Opportunity Employer*
NetApp is firmly committed to Equal Employment Opportunity (EEO) and to compliance with all federal, state and local laws that prohibit employment discrimination based on age, race, color, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, religion, disability or genetic information, pregnancy, protected veteran status and any other protected classification. We pledge to take every reasonable step to ensure that our applicants and employees are respected, treated fairly and with dignity. See the EEO poster, Know your rights poster, and NetApp EEO policy. NetApp makes reasonable accommodations, consistent with applicable laws, for religious purposes and for the known physical or mental limitations of an otherwise qualified applicant or employee with a disability, who can perform the essential job functions unless undue hardship would result.
State-specific postings/notices to applicants regarding contract compliance can be found here in English and here in Spanish, and fair employment practice information can be found here.
Reasonable Accommodations
At NetApp, we are committed to fostering an inclusive and accessible workplace where individuals with disabilities can thrive. In alignment with our values, NetApp provides reasonable accommodations and adjustments where possible to qualified applicants and employees with disabilities, in accordance with employment rights and regulations relevant to their country of employment, to ensure equal access to employment opportunities and job performance.
Applicants who would like to request an accommodation or adjustment are encouraged to Contact Us. Each request will be assessed on a case-by-case basis, in accordance with applicable laws and our commitment to equity and belonging within our culture, values and business practices. Requests will be handled confidentially and respectfully, and we will work collaboratively to identify effective solutions.
- For reasonable accommodations in Germany, click here.
- For reasonable accommodations in France, click here.
- For reasonable accommodations in The Netherlands, click here.
Please note that we do not accept unsolicited resumes to the above email address.
Data privacy
We care about your privacy and, therefore, ask that you read our Candidate Privacy Notice before you submit any personal information to us.
NetApp does not carry out any solely automated decision making (i.e. the process of making a decision by automated means without any human involvement) in determining your suitability or eligibility for specific roles.
However, the processing of your personal information is carried out with the aid of manual and automated tools. In particular, NetApp may use an automated employment evaluation tool or similar tool as one of several tools, actions, and/or steps to assist with NetApp’s review of candidate applications for various hiring needs.
Currently, when addressing certain hiring needs, NetApp uses the following tools:
- Eightfold (eightfold.ai): This tool can provide an initial ranking of a candidate’s skills and experience, based on information provided by the applicant in the application and/or supporting documentation, in comparison to the NetApp designated key requirements of a specific role. Additionally, the tool may be used to help review and/or rank internal employees seeking promotion or other internal mobility. An independent audit of the Eightfold Matching Model tool can be found at https://eightfold.ai/nyc-eightfoldmatching-model.
- Findem (findem.ai): This tool is used to help identify candidates whose skills and experience may be relevant to open roles at NetApp, using publicly available professional information. Findem may also be used to assist with candidate matching, AI-assisted screening, and recruitment communications.
Our talent acquisition team or our recruiters will ultimately select the candidates for further consideration, following human review of any automated evaluation results and associated underlying documentation (or lack thereof) submitted with the candidates’ application.
Candidates may request an alternative selection process which will not be subject to the Eightfold matching tool or to any electronic automated employment evaluation by contacting NetApp at careers@netapp.com. To bypass the Eightfold matching tool or any electronic automated employment evaluation, you must include a resume and job ID with your email to careers@netapp.com and you must include in the subject line of your email: Data Privacy Request. Candidates who have questions or want to request additional information on the source of data, type of data, and/or collection of data related to the candidate review process should contact NetApp at careers@netapp.com
Note: Eightfold is not applicable to temporary hiring opportunities. If you are interested in temporary roles, you can apply via a third-party site managed by our preferred supplier, Magnit Global. Magnit Global will provide its own privacy disclosures for your review as part of the application process.
Submitting an application
To ensure a streamlined and fair hiring process for all candidates, our team reviews apcplications submitted through our company website only. This practice allows us to track, assess, and respond to applicants efficiently. Emailing our employees, recruiters, or Human Resources personnel directly will not influence your application.
AI Disclosure
For select roles, some stages of our hiring process may use AI-powered tools to assist with tasks such as identifying relevant candidates, matching skills and experience to role requirements, and conducting initial screenings. These tools support - rather than replace - human decision-making. To learn more, please see our AI Transparency Statement. If you would prefer not to engage with an AI-assisted process, you can request an alternative by contacting careers@netapp.com. Choosing an alternative process will not impact your candidacy in any way.