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Commercial Counsel

AI Summary
Instacart is seeking a senior Commercial Counsel to structure, negotiate, and implement enterprise, retailer, partnership, and vendor agreements. The role provides practical legal advice to business development, product, partnerships, and operations teams while managing strategic negotiations and cross-functional legal projects. It requires a J.D., active state-bar membership, at least six years of relevant law-firm or in-house experience, and strong expertise in internet and e-commerce legal issues. Key subject areas include privacy, SaaS, payments, advertising, competition, consumer protection, intellectual property, and gig-economy regulation. The successful candidate will operate independently in a fast-moving environment and translate complex legal issues into commercially workable solutions.
Remote from
USA
Salary
USD 193k–244k / yr
Employment
Full Time
Experience
Senior
Published
Apply before
6 Dec 2026
Listing views
26
Application actions
2
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Opportunity details

About this role.

We’re transforming the grocery industry

At Instacart, we invite the world to share love through food because we believe everyone should have access to the food they love and more time to enjoy it together. Where others see a simple need for grocery delivery, we see exciting complexity and endless opportunity to serve the varied needs of our community. We work to deliver an essential service that customers rely on to get their groceries and household goods, while also offering safe and flexible earnings opportunities to Instacart Personal Shoppers.

Instacart has become a lifeline for millions of people, and we’re building the team to help push our shopping cart forward. If you’re ready to do the best work of your life, come join our table.

Instacart is a Flex First team

There’s no one-size fits all approach to how we do our best work. Our employees have the flexibility to choose where they do their best work—whether it’s from home, an office, or your favorite coffee shop—while staying connected and building community through regular in-person events. Learn more about our flexible approach to where we work.

Why this role is on the menu

Instacart is solving incredibly hard problems and growing, and that growth runs on commercial arrangements with partners, including retailer, partnerships, and vendor agreements. This role exists to work closely with business development, partnerships, product, and operations to solve thorny legal problems and enable the business to scale and grow. Without it, commercial terms and business strategy lack sound legal advice and creative solutions to tough legal problems. A year from now, partner agreements are drafted, negotiated, and implemented across the business, and internal teams have a proactive legal partner who works well cross-functionally.

What you’ll cook up in your first year

  • Draft, negotiate, and implement major enterprise and partner agreements across all areas of the business
  • Lead negotiations with retailers and other strategic partners, aligning internal stakeholders and driving deals to close
  • Provide strategic legal advice to internal business clients, including whether to approve, approve with conditions, decline, or escalate
  • Lead special legal and cross-functional projects from start to finish
  • Implement best practices for integrating AI into your work
  • Stay current on advertising, competition, IP, consumer protection, gig economy, international, and privacy laws and regulations, and translate them into practical compliance advice
  • Draft terms, policies, and disclosures, and build the processes that support them
  • Advise internal clients on the application of executed agreements
  • Create and update our form legal agreements and playbooks
  • Train clients and colleagues on legal issues
  • Think ahead, see around corners, and help the business prepare for future legal issues

The secret ingredients we’re looking for

Must-have pantry staples (Minimum Qualifications)

  • A J.D. from a top-tier law school and membership with at least one state bar (preferably California)
  • A minimum of 6 years of related experience working at a leading law firm or in-house legal department
  • Strong experience with legal issues affecting the Internet and e-commerce spaces, particularly privacy, SaaS, and payments
  • A strong history of managing strategic partner negotiations and contract drafting from start to finish
  • Strong negotiation presence and the ability to lead teams working towards a goal
  • Sound and practical business judgment and ability to manage multiple, high priority, competing priorities
  • The ability to provide clear, concise legal advice, work effectively cross-functionally to drive to results
  • A team player

Optional garnishes (Preferred Qualifications)

  • In-house experience, especially at a tech company or retailer
  • Experience in alcohol law, international law, and/or privacy and data security laws (including GDPR and CCPA/CPRA)
  • Experience with AI governance and privacy-by-design in ML/AI product development
  • Experience in AdTech

Your Recipe for Impact

  • Initiative. You take ownership, spot issues before they become problems, and move work forward without waiting to be asked.
  • Sound judgment. You know when to approve, approve with conditions, decline, or escalate, and you can explain your reasoning to both lawyers and business stakeholders.
  • Cross-functional partnership. You build trusted relationships with business development, partnerships, product, and operations, and you thrive in a fast-moving environment.
  • Clear, articulate communication. You make complex legal concepts accessible to non-legal audiences, including senior leadership.
  • Fast learning and range. You pick up new products, industries, and legal areas quickly and enjoy a varied docket.
  • Creative problem-solving. You think outside the box, are comfortable in ambiguous, novel territory, and find workable solutions beyond the standard playbook.

#LI-Remote

Instacart provides highly market-competitive compensation and benefits in each location where our employees work. This role is remote and the base pay range for a successful candidate is dependent on their permanent work location. Please review our Flex First remote work policy here.

Offers may vary based on many factors, such as candidate experience and skills required for the role. Additionally, this role is eligible for a new hire equity grant as well as annual refresh grants. Please read more about our benefits offerings here.

For US based candidates, the base pay ranges for a successful candidate are listed below.

CA, NY, CT, NJ

$231,000—$244,000 USD

WA

$221,000—$233,500 USD

OR, DE, ME, MA, MD, NH, RI, VT, DC, PA, VA, CO, TX, IL, HI

$212,000—$224,000 USD

All other states

$193,000—$203,500 USD

Apply now >

This job listing has been manually reviewed by the Jobicy Trust & Safety Team for compliance with our posting guidelines, including verification of the company's legitimacy, accuracy of job details, clarity of remote work policy, and absence of misleading or fraudulent content.

Role DNA

A quick view of the complexity, pace, ownership and collaboration implied by the job description.

Job Complexity

5/5
EasyHard

Pace & Pressure

5/5
RelaxedFast-paced

Autonomy Level

5/5
GuidedFull ownership

Communication Load

5/5
IndependentCollaborative
AI insightThis is a senior in-house legal position involving high-value strategic agreements, evolving technology regulation, and consequential risk decisions. Success requires independent judgment, advanced negotiations, and the ability to advise senior non-legal stakeholders under competing priorities.

Salary analysis

Estimated compensation compared with the broader US market for similar roles.

Estimated job median (per year)Market rate
$218,500
US market range (per year)$190k–$255k
AI insightThe yearly pay period is inferred from the job context; it was not explicitly stated by the employer. The employer discloses location-based US base-pay ranges of $193,000–$244,000 USD. The annual cadence is inferred from the compensation scale and senior US commercial-counsel context, rather than explicitly stated. A reasonable estimated US market range for a senior commercial counsel with the stated technology, privacy, and strategic-negotiation scope is $190,000–$255,000 USD per year; equity and annual refresh grants are separate from base pay.

Core skills

Skills and capabilities most closely associated with this opportunity.

Sample interview questions
How do you balance legal risk with the commercial need to close a strategic partner agreement?

I first identify the non-negotiable legal, regulatory, and risk issues, then distinguish them from terms where risk can be mitigated through practical compromises. I provide stakeholders with clear options, trade-offs, and recommended guardrails so that the business can make an informed decision without losing deal momentum.

Describe your approach to leading a complex contract negotiation with multiple internal stakeholders.

I align internal owners early on the business objectives, approval thresholds, and fallback positions. During negotiation, I maintain a clear issues list, communicate material developments promptly, and ensure that commercial, operational, privacy, and product concerns are resolved before execution.

What legal issues would you prioritize when reviewing an e-commerce or retailer partnership agreement?

I would assess the commercial scope, allocation of liabilities, data use and privacy obligations, payment terms, intellectual-property rights, consumer protection requirements, service levels, termination rights, and regulatory responsibilities. I would also confirm that the agreement can be operationalized by the teams responsible for delivery.

How would you make a complex privacy or AI governance issue understandable to a product leader?

I would avoid legal jargon and explain the issue in terms of product impact, customer trust, regulatory exposure, and available design choices. I would present a concise recommendation with practical alternatives, the risk level of each option, and the decisions needed from the product team.

Tell us about a time you had to give advice in an ambiguous or novel legal area.

I would start by identifying the applicable legal principles, factual uncertainties, and business objectives, then consult relevant specialists when needed. I would document a risk-based recommendation, include assumptions and mitigation measures, and revisit the advice as regulations, facts, or the product evolve.

This analysis is generated from the job description. Salary estimates, role characteristics and sample answers are guidance, not employer-provided facts.
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