Senior Lead Counsel, Rentals

About the team The Director, Legal Counsel provides strategic legal leadership across Zillow’s business lines, serving as a senior advisor on complex regulatory, commercial, and product matters. This role leads a team of attorneys and legal professionals, partners closely with executive leadership to shape business strategy and risk posture, and ensures that Zillow’s products, services, and operations comply with applicable laws while enabling innovation and growth. The Director, Legal Counsel drives cross-functional alignment on legal risk, develops scalable policies and processes, and represents Legal in high-impact negotiations, escalations, and regulatory engagements. About the role - Lead a high-performing team of attorneys and legal professionals, providing direction, coaching, and development while fostering an inclusive, collaborative, and business-oriented legal culture. - Serve as a primary legal advisor to senior and executive leaders on complex, high-impact matters, translating legal requirements into practical, strategic guidance that supports Zillow’s objectives. - Oversee the structuring, negotiation, and review of critical commercial, technology, data, and partnership agreements, ensuring appropriate risk allocation, compliance, and alignment with corporate policies. - Provide strategic counsel on product design and go-to-market initiatives, partnering with product, engineering, operations, and compliance teams to embed legal and regulatory requirements into scalable solutions. - Anticipate, assess, and manage legal, regulatory, and reputational risks across assigned business areas, establishing governance mechanisms, playbooks, and escalation paths for emerging issues. - Lead the response to significant disputes, investigations, and regulatory inquiries in partnership with litigation, compliance, and relevant business stakeholders, including coordination with outside counsel as needed. - Develop and implement standardized legal frameworks, templates, and operational processes that improve consistency, speed, and quality of legal support across the organization. - Partner with cross-functional leaders (e.g., HR, Finance, Privacy, Security, Compliance, Government Relations) to ensure policies, controls, and training address evolving legal requirements and industry practices. - Use data and qualitative insights to inform legal strategy, resourcing, and prioritization; communicate trends, trade-offs, and recommendations to senior leadership in a clear, actionable manner. - Champion Zillow’s culture and values by modeling sound judgment, integrity, and balanced risk-taking, and by building strong, trusted relationships across distributed teams. This role has been categorized as a Remote position. “Remote” employees do not have a permanent corporate office workplace and, instead, work from a physical location of their choice, which must be identified to the Company. U.S. employees may live in any of the 50 United States, with limited exceptions. In California, Connecticut, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York, Washington state, and Washington DC the standard base pay range for this role is $245,600.00 - $392,400.00 annually. This base pay range is specific to these locations and may not be applicable to other locations. In Colorado, Hawaii, Illinois, Maine, Minnesota, Nevada, Ohio, Rhode Island, Vermont, and Virginia the standard base pay range for this role is $233,400.00 - $372,800.00 annually. The base pay range is specific to these locations and may not be applicable to other locations. In addition to a competitive base salary this position is also eligible for equity awards based on factors such as experience, performance and location. Actual amounts will vary depending on experience, performance and location. Employees in this role will not be paid below the salary threshold for exempt employees in the state where they reside. Who you are - Juris Doctor (JD) from an accredited law school in jurisdictions with comparable legal qualification pathways. - Admission to and good standing with at least one U.S. state bar (or equivalent), with eligibility to practice in the relevant jurisdiction(s) for the role. - 12+ years of progressively responsible legal experience in a law firm and/or in-house legal department, including significant experience advising on complex commercial, regulatory, and/or product matters in technology, financial services, or real estate–related industries. - 5+ years of people leadership experience managing attorneys and/or other legal professionals, including responsibility for performance, development, and workload prioritization. - Demonstrated track record as a strategic business partner to senior and executive leaders, providing clear, practical advice in ambiguous, fast-paced, and highly regulated environments. - Significant experience leading or overseeing high-stakes negotiations, escalations, disputes, or regulatory matters, including effective engagement with outside counsel and cross-functional stakeholders. - Experience designing and operationalizing legal processes, templates, and governance mechanisms that scale across multiple products, business units, or jurisdictions. - Experience working in or closely with product, technology, or platform businesses is preferred. - Or an equivalent combination of education and experience. Get to know us At Zillow, we’re reimagining how people move—through the real estate market and through their careers. As the most-visited real estate platform in the U.S., we help customers navigate buying, selling, financing and renting with greater ease and confidence. Whether you're working in tech, sales, operations, or design, you’ll be part of a company that's reshaping an industry and helping more people make home a reality. Zillow is honored to be recognized among the best workplaces in the country. Zillow was named one of FORTUNE 100 Best Companies to Work For® in 2025 , and included on the PEOPLE Companies That Care® 2025 list, reflecting our commitment to creating an innovative, inclusive, and engaging culture where employees are empowered to grow. No matter where you sit in the organization, your work will help drive innovation, support our customers, and move the industry—and your career—forward, together. Zillow Group is an equal opportunity employer committed to fostering an inclusive, innovative environment with the best employees. We are committed to equal employment opportunity regardless of race, color, ancestry, religion, sex, national origin, sexual orientation, age, citizenship, marital status, disability, gender identity or Veteran status. If you have a disability or special need that requires accommodation, please contact your recruiter directly. Qualified applicants with arrest or conviction records will be considered for employment in accordance with applicable state and local law. Los Angeles County applicants: Job duties for this position include: work safely and cooperatively with other employees, supervisors, and staff; adhere to standards of excellence despite stressful conditions; communicate effectively and respectfully with employees, supervisors, and staff to ensure exceptional customer service; and follow all federal, state, and local laws and Company policies. Criminal history may have a direct, adverse, and negative relationship with some of the material job duties of this position. These include the duties and responsibilities listed above, as well as the abilities to adhere to company policies, exercise sound judgment, effectively manage stress and work safely and respectfully with others, exhibit trustworthiness and professionalism, and safeguard business operations and the Company’s reputation. Pursuant to the Los Angeles County Fair Chance Ordinance, we will consider for employment qualified applicants with arrest and conviction records.