VP, Legal - DuckDuckGo

Who We Are

Hi, we're DuckDuckGo, the online protection company and remote-first team of 300+ on a mission to raise the standard of trust online. Founded in 2008 and profitable since 2014, annual revenue now exceeds $100m USD and millions use our browser on Mac, Windows, iOS, and Android, our search engine, and the DuckDuckGo subscription. Our culture of trust, inclusivity, and empowered project management underpins everything we do, where each team member takes full ownership of their projects, from scoping and execution to postmortem.

Your Team and Role

As VP, Legal, you'll serve as DuckDuckGo's senior legal leader and strategic advisor to the executive team, overseeing all legal matters across our growing product portfolio, complex regulatory environment, and key commercial relationships.

This role combines executive legal leadership with hands-on individual contribution. You'll manage and develop our legal team while personally owning DuckDuckGo's most significant legal matters including high-stakes regulatory and competition proceedings and complex commercial agreements. You'll also work closely with our policy team, providing legal counsel on regulatory and legislative strategy.

You're an attorney who thinks like a business partner: someone who translates legal complexity into clear strategic guidance, enables fast product development without compromising trust, and builds a legal function that scales.

What You'll Do

• Serve as the primary legal advisor to the CEO, executive team, and board on strategy, risk, regulatory developments, and sensitive legal matters.
• Direct global privacy compliance, ensuring DuckDuckGo products and practices stay ahead of GDPR, US state privacy laws, and emerging data protection requirements.
• Direct company legal strategy and outside counsel in complex regulatory and competition proceedings that directly shape DuckDuckGo's business.
• Manage and develop the legal team, set priorities, build the legal operating model, and develop team members.
• Work closely with the policy team, acting as a key stakeholder and providing legal counsel as necessary on highest priority US and EU policy matters.
• Partner with Product, Engineering, and Security on legal implications of AI features, new product launches, advertising formats, and data practices.
• Evolve legal operations infrastructure: intake workflows, outside counsel management, budget ownership, and playbooks across key practice areas.
• Advise on employment matters, IP strategy, and corporate transactions as DuckDuckGo grows.
• Own corporate governance and support strategic transactions, including M&A and financing rounds.
• And work on related projects.

About You

• 15+ years of legal experience, including 10+ years in-house at a consumer-facing technology company.
• 7+ years of progressive experience in legal leadership roles, including 2+ years in positions of comparable seniority (VP, Deputy General Counsel, etc.).
• JD and active bar membership in at least one US jurisdiction.
• Familiarity with corporate governance and strategic transactions, including M&A, financing rounds, or board advisory work, sufficient to own these matters as the company grows.
• Deep expertise in at least two of DuckDuckGo's highest-stakes legal domains: privacy/data protection, technology platform regulation, or antitrust/competition law.
• Demonstrated ability to advise executives on complex legal risk and manage significant litigation and regulatory proceedings.
• Track record managing legal teams and outside counsel across multiple jurisdictions.
• Strong commercial instincts and a business enabler known for sound judgment, not reflexive caution.
• Located in the United States.

Compensation & Benefits

• Base Salary: $320,000 USD annually + stock options.
• Company-sponsored health benefits (for US-based team members).
• Paid parental leave.
• Home office setup and co-working allowances.

Additional Details

• Attend meetings on camera via video conferencing.
• Travel at least twice a year: once for an all-hands meetup and once for a team retreat (each around 4-5 days).
• Flexible work arrangement with no core hours; average full-time commitment of 40 hours per week.
• Background check required upon offer acceptance.