Manager, Legal Counsel

About the Position

Manager, Legal Counsel

IONOS is seeking a Manager, Legal Counsel to provide legal guidance across complex commercial, regulatory, compliance, and privacy/data protection matters in Philadelphia, US.

About the Company

At IONOS, we don't just manage servers – we shape the digital future for more than 6.2 million customers worldwide with our solutions. As Europe's leading hosting provider and a pioneer in independent cloud solutions, we are building next-generation infrastructure – from sovereign cloud architectures and high-performance GPU clusters to integrated AI automation tools.

What drives us is digital sovereignty for Europe and real impact for small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) as well as large enterprises. We work in agile teams, rely on transparent structures, and believe that excellence and innovation only emerge through true team spirit.

Job Purpose

You will combine hands-on legal delivery with ownership of the US legal function, providing legal guidance across complex commercial, regulatory, compliance, and privacy/data protection matters, and partnering closely with senior stakeholders to enable compliant, sustainable growth.

Responsibilities

Operational, Commercial & Regulatory Legal Support

• Draft, review and negotiate complex commercial agreements, including customer terms, hosting/cloud services, reseller and partner agreements, software licensing, DPAs and strategic supplier contracts.
• Provide senior legal advice on product launches, go-to-market activities, marketing and advertising, consumer protection law, IP, sanctions/export controls, privacy/data protection, and information security.
• Identify and communicate legal and regulatory risks, proposing pragmatic mitigations aligned with commercial objectives.
• Work with business leaders and decision makers to improve processes/procedures with the goal of reducing future risk.
• Prepare updates and/or presentations on risk profile/outages/successes to senior management.
• Have broad insight and provide expert guidance to customer care leadership on litigation threat mitigation.

Legal Function Ownership

• Line manage and mentor the paralegal function on staff, providing clear direction, feedback, and development.
• Set priorities for the US legal function, delegate where appropriate, and engage in risk-based decision making and delivery against business objectives.
• Act as escalation point for complex or high-risk legal matters.
• Drive continuous improvement of legal processes, templates, playbooks, and contract lifecycle management.
• Provide recurring compliance testing on risk management practice across the business.
• Work with business leaders and decision makers to improve processes/procedures with the goal of reducing future risk.
• Prepare updates and/or presentations on risk profile/outages/successes to senior management.
• Coordinating the activities of outside counsel.

Compliance, Governance & Strategy

• Support corporate governance activities, including corporate housekeeping and maintenance of accurate records.
• Advise on strategic initiatives such as AI governance, NIS2 readiness (as applicable) and information security programs.
• As needed, design and deliver training for stakeholders on legal, compliance, and data protection topics, promoting a strong culture of integrity and accountability.

Requirements

Required

• Active license to practice law in good standing in at least one US state or jurisdiction with approximately 3–6 years of post-bar practice or equivalent in-house counsel experience; admission to the Pennsylvania Bar strongly preferred.
• Strong working knowledge of US state privacy laws (e.g., CCPA/CPRA, CPA, VCDPA), with practical experience supporting privacy compliance or privacy officer responsibilities.
• Excellent stakeholder management and communication skills, with the ability to translate legal risk into clear, practical guidance.
• Strong organization, prioritization, and time management with high attention to detail and a solutions-oriented approach.
• Ability to travel domestically and internationally on an as-needed basis.
• Ability to work in our Philadelphia office on a hybrid basis (3X a week).
• Strong foundation in pre-litigation dispute resolution.

Desirable

• Familiarity with domain industry frameworks and regulators.
• Experience line managing or mentoring a legal professional or paraprofessional.
• Experience working for or advising US-based technology, hosting, cloud, or online service providers.
• Experience with corporate governance, entity management, and state/federal corporate filings (e.g., Secretary of State annual reports).
• Experience supporting AI, information security, and/or certification initiatives (e.g., ISO 27001).
• Experience supporting or managing litigation and pre-action disputes, including instructing and coordinating external counsel.
• Commercial contracting expertise across various types of vendor supplier agreements.
• Experience in early case assessment, evaluating pre-litigation claims and cease-and-desist notices, and negotiating cost-effective, practical business resolutions.
• Specialized Industry Knowledge (Significant Plus): Working familiarity with online intermediary liability (CDA § 230 and DMCA § 512 safe harbors), statutory law enforcement disclosures (Stored Communications Act / ECPA), general intellectual property principles, and modern state comprehensive data privacy frameworks (e.g., CPRA/VCDPA).

We Offer

• Competitive salary
• Opportunity to work in a dynamic and innovative environment
• Professional growth and development opportunities
• Hybrid work arrangement

Application Note

We value diversity and welcome all applications – regardless of, for example, gender, nationality, ethnic or social origin, religion, disability, age, as well as sexual orientation and identity, physical characteristics, marital status, or any other irrelevant factor subject to applicable law.