Senior Commercial Counsel

About this role

Company Overview Deepgram is bringing the world’s most natural interface, voice, to the technology we use every day. Our speech models and real-time infrastructure power AI systems that keep up with the way people actually speak. More than 5,000 organizations run conversational voice AI on Deepgram in production, including Twilio, Cloudflare, Sierra, Decagon, Vapi, Cresta, Granola, and Jack in the Box. The Deepgram Voice Agent Platform brings together speech-to-text, text-to-speech and speech-to-speech, with voice-native foundation models available through cloud APIs or self-hosted and on-premises deployments. Built for accuracy, low latency and cost efficiency, Deepgram makes high-quality voice experiences practical to build and run at scale. More than 650,000 developers have used Deepgram to process more than 200,000 years of audio. Every day, more of the world’s conversations with AI run on our models. Operating Principles: Deepgram is a research company that productizes as fast as possible. Four Operating Principles shape how we think, decide, and work together: • Compress before you communicate. You think it through first, then lead with the bottom line. • Resist entropy. You question what already exists before adding more process or tools. • Solve the category. You fix recurring problems at the source, not one case at a time. • Work at the frontier. You go after problems no one has solved yet. We look for people who already work this way, and these principles shape how we grow and evaluate our team. AI-First by Default We build AI that millions of people talk to, and we run the company the same way. AI is how we centralize work here, and is core to how we operate. That means more than using the tools. We expect you to: • Build, not just use. Design your own workflows and agents, and use AI to remove whole categories of work instead of doing the same work faster. • Own the output. AI can speed up the work. It doesn’t make anyone less accountable for it. You understand, verify, and stand behind everything you share, including what an agent produces for you. • Spend the time you get back at the frontier. The capacity AI creates goes toward problems no one has solved yet. • Keep pace. Models and tools change every month, and so will your work. You adopt what’s new quickly and drop what no longer earns its place. We judge AI by what it helps you deliver and whether you stand behind the result, not by how often you use it. In interviews, expect to walk us through a workflow you built and where you drew the line between AI and your own judgment. Opportunity: We’re looking for an exceptional commercial lawyer to join our lean, high-impact legal team as our second commercial lawyer. This role is for someone who thrives at the intersection of law and business strategy — a deal-maker with sharp instincts, sound judgment, and genuine excitement about what Deepgram is building and how we are changing what is possible with speech. Our legal team has a real seat at the table. You’ll close deals that matter, shape legal strategy at the frontier of AI, and craft commercial frameworks that are being built for the first time in this space. You’ll also help establish a legal function that scales with a company on a steep trajectory, reporting directly to our AssociateGeneral Counsel (Commercial). This role will be based in the UK/EU and will play a lead role in supporting our growing UK/EU and APAC business, including our expanding presence in the UK, EU, India, Australia, and Singapore. This is a role for a builder. What You’ll Do • Structure, negotiate, and close enterprise sales and partnership agreements, along with supporting a range of other commercial deals (including vendor and services agreements, data licenses, and marketing arrangements) • Serve as a trusted partner to our sales and business development teams, helping them move faster and smarter • Bring customer empathy to every negotiation, understanding the businesses we serve well enough to craft agreements that close faster and hold up longer • Design and implement scalable legal processes — standardizing deal terms, building templates, and streamlining the path to signed agreement • Provide clear, practical guidance on privacy, intellectual property, data security, and AI-specific legal issues as they arise • Navigate cross-border commercial and regulatory issues across the UK/EU and APAC and structure appropriate data transfer mechanisms (SCCs, adequacy decisions, BCRs) for our voice data processing • Stay ahead of the evolving legal landscape for AI technologies and their impact on customers, translating developments into actionable guidance for our teams • Roll up your sleeves on the full breadth of legal issues that come with being a fast-growing startup You’ll Love This Role If You • Value working with leadership that has tenure and a track record of success, along with A Players as cross-functional partners • Get energized by building systems from scratch and establishing foundational practices • Are very practical in addressing legal issues and allergic to unnecessary friction • Have an abiding spirit of idealism about your chosen profession — you’re not just closing deals, you’re building something that matters • Have a point of view on what good lawyering looks like and a healthy sense of humor about everything else It’s Important To Us That You Have • JD, LLM, or equivalent law degree/qualification from an accredited institution and 5–12 years of experience in legal practice (or more), in-house, at a firm, or both • Demonstrated strength in commercial transactions internationally, particularly across UK/EU and APAC markets, across enterprise deals, partnerships, and other strategic relationships • Fluency in the issues that matter most to us: IP, privacy, data security, and data licensing. A successful candidate will have depth of experience in at least some of these areas, and a willingness to learn the rest. • Practical experience with data protection regimes relevant to our footprint and with structuring cross-border transfer mechanisms • Recognize that law is about the grey areas, and are comfortable living in them, while giving clear and actionable advice. • Exceptional writing — precise, plain, and compelling It Would Be Great if You Had • Experience helping a high-growth startup scale its sales motion — you know what good looks like and how to build legal infrastructure that accelerates rather than slows the business. • Hands-on experience with commercial and legal issues in the AI space • Prior experience supporting a U.S.-headquartered company’s commercial expansion into the UK/EU and/or APAC We read cover letters! If you want to stand out: Tell us about your strategy for effectively closing deals, or how you’ve used AI to increase the impact of your work Notice: We're aware of individuals impersonating Deepgram recruiters. All legitimate Deepgram recruiting communication comes from an @deepgram.com email address. If you've received a message claiming to be Deepgram, please forward it to careers@deepgram.com.