Senior Corporate Counsel - Microsoft India 

Do you want to be part of the digital transformation journey of key companies in India by supporting the sales and marketing of innovative technologies such as Cloud, AI, and IoT and many more with one of most innovative, trusted, growing and admired technology companies in the world? The Microsoft India’s Commercial, External and Legal Affairs (CELA) team is looking for a dynamic and talented Senior Corporate Counsel to lead a team of corporate counsels to support Microsoft India’s sales & marketing business as well as business development. CELA India is a multi-disciplinary team with experienced attorneys and diverse professionals in policy, compliance, engineering legal and philanthropies.

Opportunity Profile:

Position: Senior Corporate Counsel & Manager/ Commercial Lead

Location: Gurgaon/Delhi

Reporting to: General Counsel, Microsoft India

Responsibilities

People Management

• As a senior leader and manager of a corporate counsel team, deliver success through empowerment and accountability by modeling, coaching, and caring, and leading with Diversity and Inclusion priorities.
• Model - Live Microsoft culture, embody our values, and practice Microsoft leadership principles
• Coach - Define team objectives and outcomes and enable success across boundaries; Help the team adapt, learn and grow.
• Care - Attract and retain great people; Know each individual’s capabilities and aspirations, and invest in the growth of others.

Legal Advice & Counsel

• Act as the primary contact for all commercial, sales and marketing matters for Microsoft Customer and Partner Solutions (MCAPS) and Business Development in India.
• Serve as a trusted advisor and strategic business partner to senior business executives of Microsoft India, and colleagues within and outside of CELA by providing counsel and actionable advice on a broad range of interdependent issues (e.g., legal, business, public policy, corporate image, Customer Partner Experience (CPE), cross-Microsoft issues) and the impact laws could have on their businesses; collaborates and advises on strategy to drive meaningful conversations grounded in in-depth awareness of Microsoft and its industry; partners with the business to create solutions that enable business performance.
• Develop and lead strategic partnerships with outside counsel on critical and highly complex/visible issues as appropriate; maintains direct relationships with expert partners to address high-level business issues and achieve long-term business objectives.
• Negotiate and bring to closure transations and commercial deals for the MCAPS business is a priority and key part of this role. Advise the internal clients on legal issues, privacy, emerging and new laws, complexity in structuring etc.Provide strategic legal support for the overall subsidiary priorities, in particular, help accelerate sales, deployment and consumption of innovative technologies in India.  Partner on the development of new business models and differentiators to help Microsoft win in the India market.
• Review, interpret, and analyze legal information; acts as an expert resource for primary legal practice area and is recognized as a proven internal and/or external expert; may also provide guidance of legal principles outside of primary practice area; strategically prioritizes resources devoted to the development and dissemination of legal analysis and information.
• Serves as a role model and key resource for resolving issues and escalations, frames issues and recommendations to help others understand, and engages key CELA colleagues, and business and functional stakeholders to ensure resolution and is considered a key resource by colleagues regarding making sound escalation decisions.     
• Work closesly with the Governament Affairs, Compliance and other CELA teams at Microsoft to identify and anticipate highly complex legal and other corporate/commercial issues (e.g. geopolitical, country, reputational) and opportunities facing Microsoft Provide readiness on various legal and risk topics to internal clients along with support from the worldwide CELA teams and outside counsel.
• Partner closely with the MCAPS leadership to advise on key legal issues impacting their business and work through creative solutions and problem solving.

Operational Excellence & Communications

• Proactively partners across internal groups to develop and advocate policies and best practices related to legal and regulatory issues; fosters communication, collaboration, and the sharing of best practices; proactively investigates and identifies tools and processes in use across the company.
• Drives the adoption of and models new tools and processes; develops and leads operational excellence initiatives that significantly improve the quality, timeliness, and efficiency of projects; mentors and provides guidance to others to identify opportunities and tools to increase operational efficiency and effectiveness; performs compliance audits/assessments.
• Sources and manages outside counsel and vendor resources strategically to maximize the efficiency of spending; develops budget for practice group or cross-group initiatives; works within and manages budgets for projects.
• Leads and ensures all team members comply with confidentiality, attorney-client privilege, and security procedures.
• Possesses impeccable oral and written communication skills and strong analytical skills that enable the candidate to quickly identify legal issues in a complex and ambiguous environment, assess the risk associated with those issues, and develop solutions by exercising confident judgment.
• Leads and encourages collaboration with the CELA leadership team, Microsoft senior executives, and clients to ensure a coordinated Legal and Corporate Affairs voice on issues with Microsoft-wide impact or high external visibility.
• Significantly improves decision making and conflict resolution by leveraging key stakeholders, including Microsoft senior executives, by simplifying and summarizing highly complex/multi-dimensional issues into actionable strategies and recommendations.

Qualifications

Desired Personal Attributes:

• Highly motivated self-starter with demonstrated ability to work efficiently, meet demanding deadlines and manage competing priorities in a fast-paced sales environment with minimal supervision;
• "Team player" who enjoys partnering with cross-functional teams to solve complex issues in a highly matrixed environment;
• Service-oriented individual who addresses business requests for legal advice promptly and crisply.
• Demonstrates sound judgment in ambiguous situations;
• Inquisitive and curious - enjoys learning new technical concepts, tackling cutting-edge legal issues and thrives on change;
• Possesses impeccable oral and written communication skills; and
• Strong analytical skills that enable the candidate to quickly identify legal issues in a complex and ambiguous environment, assess the risk associated with those issues, and develop solutions by exercising confident judgment.

Qualifications (Required):

• Bachelor of Laws (LLB) from a reputed law school in India and or an equivalent international degree with high academic profile.
• Minimum of 15+ years as a practicing attorney with a portion of that at a top tier law firm or the legal department of a multinational company or India company with international experience.
• Significant experience and knowledge depth with contracts/commercial, corporate, data protection, intellectual property laws, open source, and related areas.
• Prior experience with Cloud Computing services, Artificial Intelligence (AI), IoT, Blockchain and related emerging technology areas would be a distinct advantage.
• Prior experience with technology companies in India or abroad are preferred.
• Master of Laws (LLM) in any relevant subject matter domain would be a plus, while not a core requirement.
• Availability for travel internationally and locally.

Microsoft is an equal opportunity employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to age, ancestry, color, family or medical care leave, gender identity or expression, genetic information, marital status, medical condition, national origin, physical or mental disability, political affiliation, protected veteran status, race, religion, sex (including pregnancy), sexual orientation, or any other characteristic protected by applicable laws, regulations and ordinances. If you need assistance and/or a reasonable accommodation due to a disability during the application or the recruiting process, please send a request via the Accommodation request form.

Benefits/perks listed below may vary depending on the nature of your employment with Microsoft and the country where you work.