Technology and Corporate Counsel

Career Opportunities with The William and Flora Hewlett Foundation

A great place to work.

Careers At The William and Flora Hewlett Foundation

Current job opportunities are posted here as they become available.

The William and Flora Hewlett Foundation invests in creative thinkers and problem solvers working to ensure that people, communities, and the planet can flourish. Together with our partners, we are harnessing society’s collective capacity to solve our toughest problems — from the existential threat of climate change to persistent and pervasive inequities, to attacks on democracy itself. A nonpartisan philanthropy, the Hewlett Foundation has made grants in the U.S. and globally for nearly six decades based on an approach that emphasizes long‑term support, collaboration, and trust.

Globally, we make grants to address both longstanding and emerging challenges like our efforts to advance gender equity and governance, reimagine the economy and society, and reduce the growing threat of climate change. Our U.S. efforts prioritize strengthening democracy, advancing education for all, and supporting community‑led conservation. In the San Francisco Bay Area we call home, we make grants to support meaningful artistic experiences in local communities and support regional foundations working on critical issues such as housing.

All of our grantmaking also invests in advancing racial justice and in strengthening the effectiveness of our grantees, and of philanthropy itself. The Hewlett Foundation’s assets are approximately $13.9 billion with annual awards of grants totaling more than $600 million. More information about the Hewlett Foundation is available at:
www.hewlett.org

The General Counsel’s Office is responsible for providing timely, coordinated, and thoughtful legal advice that is grounded in applicable laws and tailored to the foundation’s programmatic needs, enhancing its ability to achieve its charitable goals. Legal staff counsel internal clients on a wide variety of regulatory, compliance, and risk‑management matters. The office currently comprises seven individuals: the General Counsel; two associate general counsels;

two counsels; a legal and compliance officer; and an executive assistant. We are looking to add an additional lawyer. View the bios for the General Counsel’s team here.

This full‑time employee reports to an Associate General Counsel and will provide legal advice and support to the Foundation focusing on corporate and technology‑related matters, including data privacy, intellectual property, cybersecurity, artificial intelligence (AI), contracts, and general corporate governance. This will include reviewing and negotiating technology contracts; serving as the primary legal partner for the Information Technology (IT) and Facilities Operations departments;

supporting technology projects to improve the processing of grants and contracts; providing thought leadership within the Foundation and within the nonprofit sector on legal issues related to technology, particularly, AI; and leading/advising on projects to keep the Foundation’s policies and procedures up to date with the law and best practices.

This lawyer should have corporate transactional experience at law firm(s), and specific experience advising on data privacy, intellectual property, cyber security and/or AI. Experience with the nonprofit sector is preferred, and experience working in‑house is desirable but not required. Strong interpersonal, communications, and client service skills are extremely important, as are abilities to prioritize and balance projects with differing issue areas and stakeholders.

Title and compensation are dependent on years of applicable experience.

Support for IT and Facilities Operations

A core responsibility of this position is to act as primary counsel to the foundation’s IT and Facilities Operations teams, providing day‑to‑day legal counsel on technology procurement, cloud and software agreements, licensing, and internal policies and procedures. It is anticipated that this set of responsibilities will take…