Counsel, Product & Commercial (rideshare & Safety)

Lyft Lyft · Consumer · New York, NY +1 · Product & Commercial, Compliance, IP and OSaC

Legal counsel for Lyft's safety initiatives, driver issues, and public policy. Requires advising cross-functional teams on legal frameworks for community safety, road safety, and fraud prevention, and providing rapid-response guidance on safety incidents. The role involves partnering with Product, Marketing, Engineering, Risk, and Public Policy to mitigate regulatory, safety, and consumer protection issues.

What you'd actually do

  1. Serve as a strategic thought leader and trusted advisor to cross-functional teams such as Safety and Risk to actively shape and guide Lyft's overall approach to community safety, road safety, and fraud prevention on the Lyft Platform — providing the legal frameworks needed to drive immediate and long-term strategies forward
  2. Provide rapid-response legal guidance on sensitive safety incidents and collaborate with the Comms and Litigation teams to manage risk
  3. Lead and contribute to high-impact, long-term initiatives coordinating across teams to ensure timely execution of public-facing and internal programs
  4. Partner closely with various cross-functional organizations such as Product, Marketing, Engineering, Risk, Public Policy and Comms to recognize and mitigate regulatory, safety, consumer protection, and employment classification issues related to the development and commercialization of driver and rider-facing products and programs
  5. Understand and advance Lyft’s priorities by connecting issues across business leaders and subject matter experts to develop and drive comprehensive, long-term legal strategies that balance risk and business objectives

Skills

Required

  • J.D. from a top-tier law school and active membership in at least one U.S. state bar
  • 5+ years of experience working in a law firm or in-house legal department
  • Experience providing legal counsel on user trust and safety issues at a tech company or other relevant industry
  • Demonstrated experience handling sensitive, high-profile, or reputationally complex matters with sound judgment
  • Comfort navigating uncharted territory — able to craft creative, practical legal solutions where the rules are unclear and there is no obvious playbook
  • A creative and entrepreneurial approach to legal problem-solving, with the ability to balance legal risk against operational realities and propose solutions that are both defensible and workable in practice
  • Excellent problem-solving capabilities, independent judgment, communication (written and verbal), interpersonal skills, and ability to provide firm but well-reasoned advice.
  • Ability to think quickly on your feet, convey grace under pressure, and simultaneously manage workloads, multiple client demands and shifting priorities.

Nice to have

  • Ability to approach unfamiliar questions and topics with energy and curiosity

What the JD emphasized

  • safety initiatives
  • public policy
  • fraud prevention
  • safety incidents
  • regulatory
  • safety
  • consumer protection
  • legal strategies
  • legal risks
  • legal problem-solving
  • legal solutions