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Assistant General Counsel, Privacy and Product

  • Remote
  • Lehi, Utah, United States, 84043
  • Data Privacy
  • Full time

About Ancestry:
When you join Ancestry, you join a human-centered company where every person’s story is important. Ancestry®, the global leader in family history, empowers journeys of personal discovery to enrich lives. With our unparalleled collection of more than 40 billion records, over 3 million subscribers and over 23 million people in our growing DNA network, customers can discover their family story and gain a new level of understanding about their lives. Over the past 40 years, we’ve built trusted relationships with millions of people who have chosen us as the platform for discovering, preserving and sharing the most important information about themselves and their families.

We are committed to our location flexible work approach, allowing you to choose to work in the nearest office, from your home, or a hybrid of both (subject to location restrictions and roles that are required to be in the office- see the full list of eligible US locations HERE). We will continue to hire and promote beyond the boundaries of our office locations, to enable broadened possibilities for employee diversity.

Together, we work every day to foster a work environment that's inclusive as well as diverse, and where our people can be themselves. Every idea and perspective is valued so that our products and services reflect the global and diverse clients we serve. 

Ancestry encourages applications from minorities, women, the disabled, protected veterans and all other qualified applicants. Passionate about dedicating your work to enriching people’s lives? Join the curious.

We are seeking a strategic and experienced attorney to lead our global privacy and product legal teams. This role will serve as the company’s most senior authority on data privacy, while also acting as a key legal partner to our product, engineering, and innovation teams. Reporting to the Chief Legal Officer, this leader will drive the vision and execution of a comprehensive global privacy program—balancing regulatory compliance, risk mitigation, and customer trust with business agility and product innovation.

The ideal candidate is a forward-thinking legal expert with deep subject matter expertise in global privacy laws (e.g., GDPR, CCPA/CPRA), a strong background in advising technology and product teams, and a proven ability to operationalize legal requirements across complex, cross-functional environments. This leader will also manage a high-performing team of attorneys and work closely with senior executives, regulators, and external partners to ensure that privacy and product legal strategy is fully aligned with our company’s growth, brand, and customer experience goals. This position can be based at Ancestry’s offices in Lehi, Utah or remotely (in certain States). 

What you will do...

  • Lead and oversee a comprehensive global privacy program that spans all aspects of the business, aligning closely with key stakeholders including legal, data security, marketing, product, engineering, compliance, and government affairs.

  • Provide strategic and day-to-day legal counsel on a broad range of privacy, data use, and governance issues, supporting product development from ideation through launch to ensure compliance with evolving global regulations and best practices.

  • Collaborate with cross-functional teams to develop, implement, and maintain privacy policies, processes, and controls that align with legal requirements, business goals, and a strong customer experience.

  • Advise on and implement global privacy strategies that mitigate legal risk, ensure regulatory compliance, and maintain a competitive advantage in the marketplace.

  • Stay current on and assess the impact of new privacy laws and regulations, and partner with internal teams to adapt business practices and product offerings accordingly.

  • Manage relationships with privacy regulators worldwide, including registration and notification requirements, and coordinate timely, effective responses to regulatory inquiries or investigations.

  • Draft and review privacy-related disclosures, terms, FAQs, policies, and internal protocols, ensuring clarity, consistency, and legal soundness.

  • Train and educate management and employees on data privacy obligations and emerging regulatory trends to foster a privacy-aware culture across the organization.

  • Represent the company externally on privacy-related matters, including participation in relevant industry groups and forums.

  • Establish and enforce privacy compliance standards for vendors, suppliers, employees, and strategic partners to safeguard company data and ensure contractual protection.

  • Collaborate with compliance and security teams to define and update audit evaluation protocols, ensuring transparency and consistency in privacy practices company-wide.

  • Manage and develop a high-performing team of 6+ privacy and product attorneys, and oversee external counsel to ensure cost-effective, business-aligned legal support.

Who you are...

  • 12+ years of relevant legal experience, including a combination of top-tier law firm training and substantial in-house experience advising on privacy, product, and regulatory matters—ideally in a global, consumer-facing technology company.

  • J.D. from an ABA-accredited law school with excellent academic credentials; admission to a State Bar and an active license to practice law in that State.

  • Deep expertise in U.S. and international privacy and data protection laws, including CCPA, CPRA, GDPR, and related state and federal regulations, with practical experience implementing privacy frameworks such as the EU “One Stop Shop” (OSS), particularly in Ireland.

  • Demonstrated experience advising business, product, engineering, and compliance teams on legal and regulatory issues across the product development lifecycle in fast-paced, high-growth environments.

  • Proven ability to interface effectively with privacy regulators in both the U.S. and the EU, including managing regulatory inquiries and investigations.

  • Strong leadership and people management skills, with experience leading legal teams and mentoring attorneys and support staff.

  • Strong interpersonal, communication, and relationship-building skills; able to influence and collaborate across all levels of the organization, and articulate complex legal issues clearly in both written and verbal formats.

  • Self-starter who can manage multiple priorities and projects independently, while staying aligned with business objectives and evolving legal requirements.

  • Committed to understanding and integrating deeply with the business, and evolving the legal function to support strategic growth.

  • Proficiency in business tools such as Microsoft Office Suite (Word, Excel, PowerPoint), Outlook, and collaboration platforms like Slack.

  • IAPP certification (e.g., CIPP/US, CIPP/E) preferred.

Helping people discover their story is at the heart of ours. Ancestry is the largest provider of family history and personal DNA testing, harnessing a powerful combination of information, science and technology to help people discover their family history and stories that were never possible before. Ancestry’s suite of products includes: AncestryDNA, AncestryProGenealogists, Fold3, Newspapers.com, Find a Grave, Archives.com, and Rootsweb. We offer excellent benefits and a competitive compensation package. For additional information, regarding our benefits and career information, please visit our website at http://ancestry.com/careers

As a signatory of the ParityPledge in Support of Women and the ParityPledge in Support of People of Color, Ancestry values pay transparency and pay equity. We are pleased to share the base salary range for this position: $250,000 - $325,000 with eligibility for bonus, equity and comprehensive benefits including health, dental and vision. The actual salary will vary by geographic region and job experience. We will share detailed compensation data for a specific location during the recruiting process. Read more about our benefits HERE.

*Note: Disclosure as required by sb19-085(8-5-20) and sb1162(1-1-23)


Additional Information:

Ancestry is an Equal Opportunity Employer that makes employment decisions without regard to race, color, religious creed, national origin, ancestry, sex, pregnancy, sexual orientation, gender, gender identity, gender expression, age, mental or physical disability, medical condition, military or veteran status, citizenship, marital status, genetic information, or any other characteristic protected by applicable law. In addition, Ancestry will provide reasonable accommodations for qualified individuals with disabilities.

All job offers are contingent on a background check screen that complies with applicable law.  For San Francisco office candidates, pursuant to the San Francisco Fair Chance Ordinance, Ancestry will consider for employment qualified applicants with arrest and conviction records.  

Ancestry is not accepting unsolicited assistance from search firms for this employment opportunity. All resumes submitted by search firms to any employee at Ancestry via-email, the Internet or in any form and/or method without a valid written search agreement in place for this position will be deemed the sole property of Ancestry. No fee will be paid in the event the candidate is hired by Ancestry as a result of the referral or through other means.