General counsel job description: template and real figures
A general counsel is a company’s top lawyer: leads the legal team and advises the CEO and board. A template for hiring a general counsel, with what employers in today’s 112 open postings for this work ask for and offer. Copy it, fill in the brackets, then post the job free.
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- Open postings today
- 112
- Experience asked, median
- 10 years
- Postings that state pay
- 59%
- Median advertised pay
- $280K
- Open to remote work
- 26%
General counsel [Company] · [City, or Remote and the countries it is open to] · [Full-time] About us [Two sentences: what the company does, for whom, and one number that shows where it is now.] About the role Our General counsel is a company’s top lawyer: leads the legal team and advises the CEO and board. You will report to [manager’s title] and work with [team]. What you will do - [The most important result of the first year, with a number] - [One more duty that is specific to this job] What we are looking for - [10]+ years of experience as a general counsel - [One or two must-haves that are specific to this job] Pay and benefits - Pay range: $[lowest] – $[highest] a year, [plus equity or bonus if any] - Parental leave - Equity - Home office stipend - [Paid time off, health cover and the rest of your benefits] How to apply [What to send, the interview steps and how long they take. Name the date you will reply by.]
What today’s general counsel postings say
| Experience asked | Median 10 years; the middle half ask 7–12 years (75 postings name a number) |
|---|---|
| Pay advertised | $250K – $306K for the middle half; median $280K (61 postings with a yearly US-dollar range) |
| Benefits named most | Parental leave (22%), Equity (15%), Home office stipend (8%) |
| Most common level | Lead (61% of postings) |
| Titles employers use | Head of Legal, General Counsel, Deputy General Counsel, Head of Legal & Compliance, Director, Legal Operations, Deputy General Counsel, Employment Law |
Counted from the 112 open postings for this work on Nov 15, 2026, read from employers’ own careers pages. Recounted on every update.
Questions about hiring a general counsel
- What should a general counsel job description include?
- What the person will achieve in the first year, the duties, the must-have experience, the pay range and how the hiring steps work. Use the words candidates search for, not internal team names.
- Should a general counsel job posting show the salary?
- Yes, if you can: 59% of today’s 112 open general counsel postings here do. A range filters out people who would turn the offer down, and several US states and EU countries now require it.
- How many years of experience should I ask for?
- The median in today’s general counsel postings is 10 years. Ask for what the work needs: every extra year you require shrinks the pool of applicants.
- What does a general counsel do?
- A general counsel is a company’s top lawyer: leads the legal team and advises the CEO and board.
- Is a general counsel an IT job?
- It sits in legal and compliance on Jobs Every Hour. Not in the narrow sense: it is its own field, though most postings here are at technology companies.
- Can I become a general counsel with no experience?
- 1 of today’s 112 postings (1%) are junior roles or internships, and the median posting asks for 10 years. The steps, with today’s figures, are on the how-to-become page for this work.
- Can I learn general counsel work in three months?
- Enough to start on the skills postings name first, and to build one or two projects to show; most employers still ask for a result you have delivered, so a first junior role or internship is the usual next step.
Everything about general counsel work
See also: 112 open general counsel jobs · general counsel pay · how to hire a general counsel · all job description templates