Product Counsel

Toast creates technology to help restaurants and local businesses succeed in a digital world, helping business owners operate, increase sales, engage customers, and keep employees happy. We are hiring an experienced Product Counsel to join our Legal team. As Product Counsel, you will work with teams across the business including product, engineering, data science, marketing, compliance, and sales, to develop a deep understanding of Toast’s products, platform, and AI-driven strategies, and to offer pragmatic legal advice that helps the business identify and mitigate legal risk. This role leans technical. You will partner closely with the teams building the foundations of the Toast platform as well as the products built on top of them, including our Enterprise offerings. The best candidate for this role finds the technical detail interesting rather than an obstacle. Toast’s product portfolio evolves quickly, and so does this role. We are looking for someone who can go deep on a given area and then move to the next problem as the business shifts. Our Legal & Compliance teams are primarily concentrated in Boston, New York, Washington D.C., San Francisco, and Chicago. Candidates residing in these areas will be prioritized, as they will benefit from closer proximity to colleagues and greater access to company resources and events. A Day in the Life (Responsibilities) Advising a variety of stakeholders across the product, engineering, data, and marketing teams throughout the product development lifecycle — from the initial stages of product development through launch, including the review of marketing strategies and assets. Providing practical advice to business stakeholders on a broad range of issues including regulatory compliance, consumer protection, intellectual property, artificial intelligence, marketing, and privacy. Advising on the design and deployment of core platform infrastructure and the AI built on top of it, including platform and API design, integrations, and the questions raised when an AI system takes action on a customer’s behalf. Counseling product, engineering, and data science teams across the machine learning model lifecycle. Advising on identity, authentication, authorization, and account security, including consent, delegated access, and the legal requirements that shape access-control design. Translating legal requirements into technical requirements, writing guidance engineers can build against, and reviewing design documents, data models, and architecture proposals. Understanding and staying up to date on U.S. and international laws and regulations relating to the Toast platform, including the shifting global AI legal landscape. Thinking creatively to navigate complex regulatory environments to ensure a smooth and compliant user experience. Helping build scalable and effective processes such as playbooks, intake triage, decision trees, so routine questions resolve quickly and hard questions reach you early. Partnering collaboratively across privacy, security, compliance, and fellow product counsel on issues that cross team lines. What you’ll need to thrive (Requirements) A J.D. from an ABA-accredited U.S. law school, and membership in good standing in at least one state bar. 5+ years of legal experience in areas covering regulatory compliance, privacy, intellectual property, and consumer protection. In-house legal department experience advising product, engineering, and marketing teams on issues related to the development of new products, product enhancements, and feature requests. Technical fluency. You are comfortable reading architecture and design documentation, reasoning about data flows, schemas, APIs, and model behavior, and engaging engineers and data scientists as a peer. A computer science degree is not required; the ability to do the work is. Experience with AI or machine learning issues — training data rights, model governance, or emerging AI regulation — and the judgment to advise on novel questions without settled precedent. Experience with data-use and data-rights questions: what a company may do with the data it holds, and how aggregation, de-identification, and contractual commitments change the answer. Experience working with fast-paced technology or software companies. Exceptional communication skills and the ability to explain complex ideas in a succinct and impactful manner. A solution-oriented, customer service, and growth mindset. The ability to integrate into cross-functional teams with a cooperative and participatory approach. AI at Toast At Toast, one of our company values is that we’re hungry to build and learn. We believe learning new AI tools empowers us to build for our customers faster, more independently, and with higher quality. We provide these tools across all disciplines, from Engineering and Product to Sales and Support, and are inspired by how our Toasters are already driving real value with them. The people who thrive here are those who embrace changes that let us build more for our customers; it’s a core part of our culture. Our Total Rewards Philosophy We strive to provide competitive compensation and benefits programs that help to attract, retain, and motivate the best and brightest people in our industry. Our total rewards package goes beyond great earnings potential and provides the means to a healthy lifestyle with the flexibility to meet Toasters’ changing needs. Learn more about our benefits at https://careers.toasttab.com/toast-benefits. How Toast Uses AI in its Hiring Process Throughout the hiring process, our goal is to get to know you. We use AI tools to support our recruiters and interviewers with tasks like note-taking, summarization, and documentation of interviews to ensure they can be fully focused on your conversation. All hiring decisions are made by people. We ask that you complete interviews and assessments on your own, without real-time AI tools, recording, or transcription bots, unless we tell you otherwise in advance. To learn more: https://careers.toasttab.com/ai-in-hiring Our Approach to Hybrid Working We embrace a hybrid work model that fosters in-person collaboration while valuing individual needs. Our goal is to build a strong culture of connection as we work together to empower the hospitality community, regardless of location. Please visit the Locations page on our career site to learn more about our in-office expectations by region: https://careers.toasttab.com/locations-toast People Are the Secret Ingredient in Our Recipe for Success At Toast, our employees are our secret ingredient—when they thrive, we thrive. The restaurant industry brings together people with a wide range of backgrounds, experiences, and perspectives, and we value that same breadth at Toast. We strive to build a culture grounded in authenticity, respect, and humility, where every Toaster has a real opportunity to grow, contribute, and do their best work—raising the bar in delivering exceptional experiences for our customers and each other. Apply today! Toast is committed to creating an accessible and inclusive hiring process. As part of this commitment, we strive to provide reasonable accommodations for persons with disabilities to enable them to access the hiring process. If you need an accommodation to access the job application or interview process, please contact [email protected]. ---— For roles in the United States, it is unlawful in Massachusetts to require or administer a lie detector test as a condition of employment or continued employment. An employer who violates this law shall be subject to criminal penalties and civil liability.