Senior Legal Counsel - Cybersecurity & Privacy

Job Description

We are seeking a Senior Counsel to serve as the primary legal advisor at the intersection of cybersecurity and privacy law. This role advises on incident response, breach notification, regulatory engagement, security program requirements, security control assessments, and the privacy and regulatory implications of our products, cybersecurity architecture, and third-party risk management. The role works closely with Information Security, Risk Management, Privacy Operations, and Commercial Legal, and reports to the Chief Privacy Officer. Scope spans the US, EU, LATAM, EMEA, and APAC.

Key Responsibilities

• Incident response and breach notification: Lead legal analysis during security incidents and data breaches, including real-time decision-making in incident response ('war room') efforts: triage, containment, notification obligations, and regulator and customer communication strategy. Coordinate with Information Security, IT, Risk, Communications, and outside counsel.

• Regulator engagement: Engage directly with U.S. state Attorneys General and other regulators on notifications, inquiries, and investigations.

• Playbooks: Develop and maintain the global incident response plan and breach notification playbooks, aligned across US, EU, and APAC requirements.

• US regulatory advisory: Advise on US state breach notification laws, state comprehensive privacy laws (e.g., CCPA/CPRA, VCDPA), FTC Act Section 5, and applicable sector-specific requirements.

• EU regulatory advisory: Serve as subject matter expert on GDPR security and breach requirements, NIS2, DORA (where applicable), and the EU Cyber Resilience Act. Conduct applicability assessments to determine which regimes apply to specific products, services, and business lines.

• APAC, LATAM, and EMEA advisory: Advise on cybersecurity and breach requirements across relevant APAC jurisdictions (e.g., Singapore PDPA, Australia Privacy Act and NDB scheme, Japan APPI) and, as scope requires, LATAM and EMEA.

• Global regulatory tracking: Monitor evolving cybersecurity, breach notification, and privacy regulation across all regions. Translate changes into practical guidance and updated playbooks.

• US federal compliance: Advise on federal compliance obligations for US government business, including FedRAMP authorization, CMMC, HIPAA (where applicable), the Privacy Act, and federal incident reporting.

• Security assessments: Support security control assessments against NIST 800-53 Rev 5, NIST 800-171, and FISMA. Turn gaps into engineering-ready remediation plans with clear control ownership, acceptance criteria, and sequencing tied to release cycles.

• Authorization packages: Support FedRAMP and other federal authorization packages, including SSP control narratives and POA&M management, and advise on recurring post-authorization monitoring.

• Product and privacy risk: Conduct product privacy and security gap assessments and validate mitigations post-implementation. Lead or oversee PIAs and DPIAs for high-risk processing and government-facing systems.

• Product advisory: Advise product and engineering teams on privacy- and security-by-design for new products and features, and flag design-stage legal risk early, including emerging AI and data regulation.

• Contracts and vendor risk: Negotiate cybersecurity provisions in vendor and customer contracts (DPAs, security schedules, incident notification). Advise commercial legal on NIS2 supply-chain, DORA ICT third-party, and Cyber Resilience Act obligations.

• Program management and reporting: Use OneTrust to manage incident tracking, risk assessments, PIAs/DPIAs, and regulatory reporting. Deliver executive-level reporting on legal risk, incident trends, and compliance status. Maintain playbooks, templates, and training.

Required Qualifications

• J.D. and active bar membership in at least one US jurisdiction, in good standing.

• 8+ years of experience practicing privacy and/or cybersecurity law, in a law firm, in-house, or both.

• Substantive experience advising on data breach response and incident management, including direct engagement with regulators such as state Attorneys General.

• Strong working knowledge of US privacy and cybersecurity law, including state breach notification statutes and CCPA/CPRA.

• Expertise in EU cybersecurity regulation (GDPR security and breach requirements, NIS2, DORA, and the Cyber Resilience Act), including applicability assessments and resulting contractual guidance.

• Working knowledge of federal security frameworks (e.g., FedRAMP, NIST 800-53/800-171) and experience supporting security control assessments or authorization packages.

• Experience conducting or overseeing privacy risk assessments, including PIAs and DPIAs.

• Ability to operate calmly and decisively under time pressure, and to lead cross-functional stakeholders through high-stakes incidents.

Preferred Qualifications

• CIPP/US, CIPP/E, CIPM, or CIPT certification.

• Working knowledge of APAC breach and cybersecurity regimes (e.g., Singapore PDPA, Australia NDB scheme, Japan APPI).

• Experience advising a global organization with complex cross-border data flows.

• Experience with FedRAMP continuous monitoring, HIPAA, or CMMC.

• Hands-on experience with OneTrust or comparable privacy operations platforms.

• Familiarity with SOC 2, ISO 27001, or the NIST Cybersecurity Framework.

• Prior experience advising commercial or sales legal teams on cybersecurity-driven contract terms.

• Experience with LATAM privacy and data protection regimes.

What’s in it For You?

• Hybrid Work Model: We’ve adopted a flexible hybrid working environment for our office-based roles while delivering a seamless experience that is digitally and physically connected.

• Flexibility & Work-Life Balance: Flex My Way is a set of supportive workplace policies designed to help manage personal and professional responsibilities, whether caring for family, giving back to the community, or finding time to refresh and reset. This builds upon our flexible work arrangements, including work from anywhere for up to 8 weeks per year, empowering employees to achieve a better work-life balance.

• Career Development and Growth: By fostering a culture of continuous learning and skill development, we prepare our talent to tackle tomorrow’s challenges and deliver real-world solutions. Our Grow My Way programming and skills-first approach ensures you have the tools and knowledge to grow, lead, and thrive in an AI-enabled future.

• Industry Competitive Benefits: We offer comprehensive benefit plans to include flexible vacation, two company-wide Mental Health Days off, access to the Headspace app, retirement savings, tuition reimbursement, employee incentive programs, and resources for mental, physical, and financial wellbeing.

• Culture: Globally recognized, award-winning reputation for inclusion and belonging, flexibility, work-life balance, and more. We live by our values: Obsess over our Customers, Compete to Win, Challenge (Y)our Thinking, Act Fast / Learn Fast, and Stronger Together.

• Social Impact: Make an impact in your community with our Social Impact Institute. We offer employees two paid volunteer days off annually and opportunities to get involved with pro-bono consulting projects and Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) initiatives.

• Making a Real-World Impact: We are one of the few companies globally that helps its customers pursue justice, truth, and transparency. Together, with the professionals and institutions we serve, we help uphold the rule of law, turn the wheels of commerce, catch bad actors, report the facts, and provide trusted, unbiased information to people all over the world.

In the United States, Thomson Reuters offers a comprehensive benefits package to our employees. Our benefit package includes market competitive health, dental, vision, disability, and life insurance programs, as well as a competitive 401k plan with company match. In addition, Thomson Reuters offers market leading work life benefits with competitive vacation, sick and safe paid time off, paid holidays (including two company mental health days off), parental leave, sabbatical leave. These benefits meet or exceeds the requirements of paid time off in accordance with any applicable state or municipal laws. Finally, Thomson Reuters offers the following additional benefits: optional hospital, accident and sickness insurance paid 100% by the employee; optional life and AD&D insurance paid 100% by the employee; Flexible Spending and Health Savings Accounts; fitness reimbursement; access to Employee Assistance Program; Group Legal Identity Theft Protection benefit paid 100% by employee; access to 529 Plan; commuter benefits; Adoption & Surrogacy Assistance; Tuition Reimbursement; and access to Employee Stock Purchase Plan.

Thomson Reuters complies with local laws that require upfront disclosure of the expected pay range for a position. The base compensation range varies across locations.

For any eligible US locations, unless otherwise noted, the base compensation range for this role is $119,700 USD - $222,300 USD.

Base pay is positioned within the range based on several factors including an individual’s knowledge, skills and experience with consideration given to internal equity. Base pay is one part of a comprehensive Total Reward program which also includes flexible and supportive benefits and other wellbeing programs. This role may also be eligible for an Annual Bonus based on a combination of enterprise and individual performance.

About Us

Thomson Reuters informs the way forward by bringing together the trusted content and technology that people and organizations need to make the right decisions. We serve professionals across legal, tax, accounting, compliance, government, and media. Our products combine highly specialized software and insights to empower professionals with the data, intelligence, and solutions needed to make informed decisions, and to help institutions in their pursuit of justice, truth, and transparency. Reuters, part of Thomson Reuters, is a world leading provider of trusted journalism and news.

We are powered by the talents of 26,000 employees across more than 70 countries, where everyone has a chance to contribute and grow professionally in flexible work environments. At a time when objectivity, accuracy, fairness, and transparency are under attack, we consider it our duty to pursue them. Sound exciting? Join us and help shape the industries that move society forward.

As a global business, we rely on the unique backgrounds, perspectives, and experiences of all employees to deliver on our business goals. To ensure we can do that, we seek talented, qualified employees in all our operations around the world regardless of race, color, sex/gender, including pregnancy, gender identity and expression, national origin, religion, sexual orientation, disability, age, marital status, citizen status, veteran status, or any other protected classification under applicable law. Thomson Reuters is proud to be an Equal Employment Opportunity Employer providing a drug-free workplace.

Thomson Reuters makes reasonable accommodations for applicants with disabilities, including veterans with disabilities, and for sincerely held religious beliefs in accordance with applicable law. If you reside in the United States and require an accommodation in the recruiting process, you may contact our Human Resources Department at HR.Leave-Expert@thomsonreuters.com. Disability accommodations in the recruiting process may include things like a sign language interpreter, making interview rooms accessible, providing assistive technology, or other relevant accommodations. Please note this email is not intended for general recruitment questions and we will promptly respond to inquiries regarding accommodations. More information on requesting an accommodation here.

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More information about Thomson Reuters can be found on thomsonreuters.com