Senior Legal Counsel - Cybersecurity & Privacy
Thomson Reuters · United States, Frisco, Texas · hybrid
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.
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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 additi