Website Coursera
Legal • Mountain View, CA
Coursera was founded by two computer science professors at Stanford with a vision of providing life-transforming learning experiences to anyone, anywhere. It is the world’s largest online learning platform for higher education. 190 of the world’s top universities and industry educators partner with Coursera to offer courses, Specializations, and degrees that empower over 39 million learners around the world to achieve their career goals. Over 1,800 companies use the company’s enterprise platform Coursera for Business to transform their talent. Coursera is backed by leading venture capital firms such as Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, New Enterprise Associates, GSV Capital, International Finance Corporation, Laureate Education Inc., and Learn Capital.
As part of Coursera’s Legal and Compliance team, you will play a key role in increasing global access to a world-class education. You will help build Coursera’s university partnerships and work across the organization (with business development, marketing, product, and university partnerships) in service of Coursera’s growth and long-term success.
The Associate General Counsel is expected to set the legal strategy for university partnerships, degrees, and MasterTrack Certificates, and is responsible for negotiating agreements with university partners and responding in a timely manner to partner and internal stakeholder enquiries regarding contractual and legal matters. The AGC is expected to be widely respected by the Legal and Compliance team and throughout the company due to their analytical thinking, savvy risk management, communication skills, and ability to get things done. We expect the AGC to earn the respect of the teams and lead through productivity and influence.
To be successful in this role, we’re looking for someone who is passionate about business growth and education. We want a candidate who is energized by the challenges of working in a startup, and has a strong desire to learn new areas of law and function integrally as part of an interdisciplinary team. This role will engage with all levels of employees and management, so interpersonal and communication skills (written and verbal) are vital to strong working relationships.
Check out life at Coursera on The Muse!
Your responsibilities:
- Draft and negotiate a variety of agreements for courses and degrees and other credentials, as well as related consulting and vendor agreements
- Motivate the Legal and Compliance university partnerships team to achieve aggressive goals
- Advise on risks and liabilities of proposed academic and degree transactions and devise creative and practical legal solutions to meet business objectives
- Recognize and communicate themes and opportunities surfaced through partner interactions and lead cross-functional teams in resolving issues and challenges
- Work closely with the Product and Engineering teams to advise on new features and business initiatives to ensure compliance with regulatory and contractual obligations
- Be a key leader of the Legal and Compliance team’s efforts in the preparation, implementation and refinement of forms, processes and procedures
- Select and manage outside counsel to meet desired timelines and within budget Obtain and maintain a strong knowledge of the industry and the company, its mission, strategy and values, product and service offerings, and objectives of supported business units
- Provide substantive support on employment law matters
- Keep abreast of applicable laws, regulations and industry guidance that impact Coursera’s agreements and business practices
Your skills:
- At least 12-15 years of relevant experience, with prior in-house counsel experience in higher education strongly preferred
- Must be admitted, and in active status and good standing with the California State Bar (or able to register for California State Bar’s in-house counsel program)
- Demonstrated experience advising clients in structuring complex global contracts
- Outstanding ability to build, develop, and manage a world-class team
- Strong and astute negotiation skills, with impeccable judgment, integrity and commitment to ethics
- Possess a practical, business-oriented approach to problem-solving and be able to effectively counsel internal clients by providing them with clear and concise advice and creative solutions on timelines to meet business needs
- Ability to assist and guide internal and external clients through the regulatory environment that affects the educational sector and the complex and changing federal and state education policy processes
- Ability to identify and resolve issues relating to privacy, data-sharing, and student privacy
- Working knowledge of FERPA, GDPR, accreditation, state authorization, Title IV, and accessibility compliance
- Operate autonomously while being a team player who brings a positive, “can do” attitude to the workplace and works collaboratively with other members of the Legal and Compliance team and with internal clients
- Be detail-oriented, organized, efficient and resourceful with strong follow-through skills
- Ability to manage shifting priorities within a fast-paced, rapidly evolving environment