Legal Jobs
Explore 1,758 open legal jobs at fast-growing tech, startup, and AI companies hiring right now. Filter by specialization, and see the roles, tools, and companies that define legal work today.
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The legal career ladder
In-house legal careers often start as a paralegal or legal analyst, or after a few years at a law firm. The first real in-house step is Counsel, owning contracts and the day-to-day legal work for a part of the business. Senior Counsel is where you handle the harder, higher-stakes matters and start advising the business directly.
From there the path splits between staying a hands-on expert and running the function. You can go deep as a Specialist Counsel (product, IP, employment) or a Compliance lead, owning one area of risk. Or you can lead the team as an Associate General Counsel, General Counsel, and eventually Chief Legal Officer. Many strong lawyers start at a firm and move in-house for the closer seat to the business.
The pivot point: Senior Counsel
This is where lawyers choose. If you want to be the deep expert a business team trusts on product, IP, or compliance, the specialist track keeps you close to the work. If you would rather run the function and own the company's legal risk, the AGC and GC path fits. Both are respected ways up.
What changes as you climb
- Commercial and corporate counsel are the biggest slices by open roles, and the common in-house entry point.
- Product, IP, and employment counsel are real specialties that pay well and keep you hands-on.
- The step from a law firm to an in-house role trades some pay for a closer seat to the business.
- General Counsel is a small, senior seat that usually exists once a company is large enough to need it.
Where everyone starts
Illustrative titles and pay. Real ladders vary by company. Counts are live open roles matching each level.
IC vs. Management, side by side
| Individual Contributor | Management | |
|---|---|---|
| Core work | One area of law done deeply (product, IP, compliance) | The whole legal function and the team behind it |
| Judged on | The quality of your advice in your area | How well the company manages legal risk |
| A normal day | Contracts, review, and advising a business team | Board work, escalations, hiring, and strategy |
| Scope grows by | The depth and stakes of your specialty | The breadth of the business you cover |
Kinds of legal
Legal is a wide field. Most people specialize in one area over time, and the day-to-day work looks different in each. Here are the main tracks and what they cover.
What legal teams work with
Tools of the trade
The stack an in-house legal team runs on, from where contracts get drafted and signed to how matters and entities get tracked.
Hard skills
The skills teams hire for. Clear drafting and sound judgment on risk carry more than any single system.
Legal jobs: common questions
What does an in-house lawyer do?
In-house counsel handles the legal work that keeps a company running: contracts, compliance, and risk. A commercial counsel reviews and negotiates the deals; a product counsel advises on what the product can and cannot do; a corporate counsel handles financings and governance. It is a closer, faster seat than a law firm, and the work is about helping the business move, not just flagging risk.
How do I become in-house counsel?
Most in-house lawyers start at a law firm after law school, then move in-house after a few years to get closer to a business. Paralegals and legal analysts can grow into and around the function without a JD. To practice as counsel you need a law degree and a bar admission; the move in-house trades some pay for a broader, more embedded role.
What is the difference between in-house and law-firm work?
A law firm bills hours across many clients and rewards depth in a practice area; in-house you have one client, the company, and you own its whole risk picture. In-house work is broader and closer to the business, often at lower pay than a senior firm partner but with more direct impact. Many lawyers do a few years at a firm, then move in-house for the seat at the table.
What is the in-house career path?
It usually goes Counsel, then Senior Counsel, then the fork. You can go deep as a Specialist Counsel in product, IP, or employment, or as a Compliance lead. Or you can run the function as an Associate General Counsel, General Counsel, and eventually Chief Legal Officer. Commercial and corporate counsel are the biggest slices by open roles and the common way in.
Which skills and specialties matter most?
Clear contract drafting, negotiation, and sound judgment on risk are the core. The valuable specialties are commercial, corporate, IP, employment, and privacy, plus compliance work around regulations and data protection. The daily tools are a contract platform like Ironclad or DocuSign and, for compliance, systems like Vanta or OneTrust. The lawyers who help the business move fast without missing the real risks are the ones who rise.
How much do in-house lawyers make?
Pay is high but ranges by level and company. In the US, a mid-level counsel commonly lands in the range shown on this page, senior and specialist counsel go higher, and General Counsel roles include significant equity at startups. The salary bands above are illustrative; the roles listed here are real open postings.
More legal specializations
Explore other legal tracks and the open roles hiring in each.
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Legal jobs by location
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