Description:
About the role:The Vice President of Legal is a critical member of the Skillz executive team and the company's senior-most legal officer, accountable for protecting and enabling the business across corporate governance, commercial transactions, regulatory compliance, IP, employment, and litigation. This leader will report directly to the CEO.
Skillz operates at the intersection of gaming, advertising technology, and public markets, a combination that demands legal leadership with genuine breadth. We are seeking an executive who brings strong public company credentials, sound commercial judgment, and the operational mindset to build a high-performing legal function with a lean, efficient team. This is not a role for a specialist. It is a role for a hands-on leader who will grow this from a department of 1 into the future state.
Responsibilities:
Executive Counsel & Corporate Governance
- Serve as the primary legal advisor to the CEO, executive leadership team, and Board of Directors on corporate, commercial, regulatory, governance, and enterprise risk matters.
- Support public company requirements, including SEC reporting, disclosure obligations, securities law compliance, insider trading controls, and corporate governance best practices.
- Support Board and committee governance processes, including meeting procedures, resolutions, minutes, and corporate record-keeping.
- Partner closely with Finance, HR, Product, Compliance, and business leaders to provide practical, business-focused legal guidance that enables growth while appropriately managing risk.
Commercial Transactions & Strategic Partnerships
- Own the legal review of commercial agreements, strategic partnerships, vendor relationships, and data-sharing arrangements, ensuring Skillz's intellectual property, data rights, confidential information, and business interests are appropriately protected.
- Establish scalable contracting processes, templates, and approval workflows that enable the business to move quickly while maintaining appropriate governance and risk management.
- Coordinating work streams for mergers and acquisitions, including diligence, transaction structuring, negotiation, and post-close integration.
- Audit and oversee Skillz's compliance posture across skill-based gaming regulations and state-by-state licensing requirements, ensuring the Compliance function maintains current, accurate, and defensible positions across all operating jurisdictions.
- Manage data privacy obligations under CCPA, GDPR, and global privacy frameworks.
- Advise on marketing compliance, consumer protection obligations, and sweepstakes and promotional programs
- Own Skillz's IP portfolio strategy, including patents, trademarks, and trade secrets, as a core competitive asset of the business
- Partner with HR and business leadership to classify proprietary information, define access levels, and implement information governance protocols that enable employees to do their roles effectively while limiting exposure of sensitive IP beyond what each role requires
- Establish and maintain trade secret protection frameworks, including onboarding, off boarding, and need-to-know access controls, in coordination with HR and IT
- Direct outside IP counsel on enforcement, licensing, and portfolio development with a clear commercial objective
- Take swift, decisive action to protect Skillz's technology and brand advantages when violations or risks are identified
Key Competencies:
- Ownership, Advocacy & Executive Presence: Acts like an owner and serves as a trusted advisor to executive leadership and the Board. Relentlessly protects Skillz's intellectual property, data assets, commercial interests, and competitive position. Willing to challenge assumptions, push back on counterparties, and make difficult decisions when the company's interests are at stake
- AI & Legal Technology Mindset: Passionate about leveraging AI and emerging technologies to automate routine legal work, improve decision-making, accelerate contract review, and increase the efficiency and impact of the legal function. Constantly looking for ways to modernize how legal services are delivered
- Commercial Instinct: A business-minded legal leader with exceptional negotiation skills and the judgment to balance risk with growth. Protects the company's interests while helping the business move quickly, close deals, and achieve strategic objectives.
- Operational Builder: Develops training systems that equip hiring managers, business leads, and functional teams to recognize legal risk, apply established playbooks, and resolve routine matters independently. Uses term sheets and structured frameworks to front-load key legal decisions before matters escalate. Focused on increasing organizational leverage rather than creating dependency on Legal.
- External Counsel Leadership: Proven legal project manager with the discipline to require budgets and milestones on every matter, track progress against both, and drive outside firms to completion on time and on budget. Hold external counsel accountable and escalating when commitments are not met
Experience:
- J.D. from an accredited law school; active bar admission in at least one U.S. jurisdiction
- 10+ years of in-house legal experience, including meaningful tenure at a publicly-traded company with direct accountability for SEC reporting, board governance, and executive-level legal advisory
- Demonstrated success managing outside counsel portfolios across multiple practice areas with disciplined cost management
- M&A transaction experience, with end-to-end involvement in at least one acquisition or divestiture
- Industry experience in gaming, advertising technology, or consumer technology, either in-house or in private practice
Total Starting Compensation including Base + Bonus + Equity: $350,000 - $400,000 Base + Bonus + Equity
Location: Onsite, Las Vegas, NV or Hybrid in New York, NY
Travel Requirement: Less than 25%