Director, Business & Legal Affairs

About the Role

Golden State Group is looking for a Director to help shape the legal landscape of one of the most innovative organizations in sports and entertainment while working with business units that continue to push the envelope on groundbreaking commercial initiatives, major events, and enterprise-wide operational matters. Our ideal candidate should be prepared to work in a fast-paced environment and must be able to collaborate with the entire legal team and internal and external stakeholders. This position reports to the Chief Legal Officer.

Come share your expertise while learning more about this growing sports and entertainment organization that values your initiative and dedication!  This role will be multi-faceted with work involving the Warriors, Valkyries, Santa Cruz Warriors, Chase Center, Thrive City and more.  

This is a full-time position based onsite in San Francisco, CA.

Key Responsibilities

• Drive the end-to-end contracting lifecycle for complex, high value commercial agreements, ensuring strategic alignment across the organization
• Oversee mission critical transactional matters spanning Corporate Partnerships, Premium Sales, Ticketing, Golden State Sports Academy,, and other revenue generating programs
• Enhance operational excellence by creating and refining contract templates, playbooks, negotiation frameworks, and cross functional processes
• Provide strategic legal support for sponsorships and partner activations, ensuring that all activations - including marketing, in venue, digital, and experiential - are executed in full compliance with regulatory, brand, and contractual standards
• Act as a legal advisor to multiple business teams with the ability to help drive strategy and positive outcomes with a risk calibrated, solution oriented approach
• Create an innovative legal framework that enables teams to bring products to market efficiently while scaling agreement structures for growth
• Deliver clear, decisive legal guidance on sophisticated and fast moving legal issues affecting sports, entertainment, venue operations and commercial activities
• Anticipate operational and regulatory challenges, devising forward looking, practical strategies to minimize disputes and mitigate enterprise risk
• Monitor and interpret legal developments to ensure ongoing compliance and best in class governance across all business units
• Communicate complex legal concepts in business focused, accessible terms that empower leaders to make confident, informed decisions
• Manage outside counsel and interface with external stakeholders to ensure alignment, cost effectiveness, and exceptional representation of the organization
• Other duties as assigned

Required Experience & Skills

• Juris Doctor degree with an active bar license and the ability to practice in-house in California.
• 7+ years of legal experience, ideally with a combination of top tier law firm training and in-house counsel work within sports, entertainment, media, technology, live events, real estate, or other sophisticated commercial environments
• Expertise in complex commercial transactions, including structuring, drafting, and negotiating high value agreements across partnerships, sponsorships, media, licensing, technology, live events, real estate, and/or venue operations
• Ability to support revenue generating business units, balancing legal risk with business priorities in fast moving, highly visible settings
• Proficiency in Microsoft Office Suite/Google Suite
• Exceptional communication and relationship building skills with the ability to influence senior executives, operational leaders, external partners, and cross functional stakeholders.
• Strong strategic judgment and business acumen with a proactive approach to issue spotting, problem solving, and operationalizing legal frameworks across a large enterprise
• Experience building scalable legal infrastructure, including templates, playbooks, processes, and governance models that elevate efficiency and consistency
• High integrity, discretion, and professionalism, with the ability to handle sensitive information and navigate high stakes situations with confidence
• A collaborative, agile mindset and comfort operating in a fast paced environment that spans sports, entertainment, live events, and digital innovation
• Ability to manage multiple priorities and deadlines

Compensation

• $245,000 - 305,000 OTE
• Comprehensive Medical, Dental and Vision benefits for employees and dependents
• Employer 401K match
• Vacation, Summer Half-Day Fridays and a generous paid time off plan for pregnancy and parental leaves
• Warriors home tickets, team store discount and more!

Pursuant to the San Francisco Fair Chance Ordinance, we will consider for employment qualified applicants with arrest and conviction records.

 Golden State is an equal opportunity employer.

We will ensure that qualified applicants with disabilities are provided reasonable accommodation to participate in the job application or interview process, to perform essential job functions, and to receive other benefits and privileges of employment.

Want to learn more about who we are and what we value? Visit www.warriors.com/employment

Please refer to our California Privacy Notice for more information about how we process your personal information, and your data protection rights.