Senior Legal Counsel

Notice to applicants:

We have seen a rise in recruitment scams. Please note that outreach from Khan Academy recruiters will only come from the @khanacademy.org domain. Our team does not use Gmail or other personal accounts for contacting potential candidates. Khan Academy will never solicit money, equipment fees, or sensitive financial information at any stage of the hiring process. We also do not work with external recruiting agencies, so outreach from headhunters presenting opportunities on behalf of Khan Academy is illegitimate. Please always check the email domain and cross-reference the position with the official Khan Academy Careers page to confirm an opening is valid.

ABOUT KHAN ACADEMY

Khan Academy is a nonprofit with the mission to deliver a free, world-class education to anyone, anywhere. Our proven learning platform offers free, high-quality supplemental learning content and practice that cover Pre-K - 12th grade and early college core academic subjects, focusing on math and science. We have over 181 million registered learners globally and are committed to improving learning outcomes for students worldwide, focusing on learners in historically under-resourced communities.

OUR COMMUNITY 

Our students, teachers, and parents come from all walks of life, and so do we. Our team includes people from academia, traditional/non-traditional education, big tech companies, and tiny startups. We hire great people from diverse backgrounds and experiences because it makes our company stronger. We value diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging as necessary to achieve our mission and impact the communities we serve. We know that transforming education starts in-house with learning about ourselves and our colleagues. We strive to be world-class in investing in our people and commit to developing you as a professional.

JOIN OUR MISSION TO HELP EVERY CHILD LEARN

At Khan Academy, our legal team is passionate about the intersection of education technology, ethical technology, privacy, and legal practice. We use our legal skills to advance Khan Academy's mission, centered on helping learners and their families, tutors, teachers, and schools improve learning outcomes worldwide. We're seeking a legal professional interested in joining us for a limited term/fixed term fellowship, supporting the Khan Academy Kids team as it designs and launches new products for young learners around the globe. This term of the fellowship will end on June 30, 2028.

ABOUT KHAN ACADEMY KIDS

Khan Academy Kids is a free and fun learning program for children ages two to eight. Kodi Bear and a cast of animated characters lead children on a personalized education journey filled with fun, standards-aligned activities in early literacy, math, executive functioning, and social-emotional skills. Built by a small but mighty team, Khan Academy Kids is used by millions of children in homes and classrooms around the world. The Khan Kids team is now expanding its reach with new products and features, including a program designed to teach English to young learners globally.

THE ROLE

This fellowship offers a meaningful opportunity for a legal professional with a strong background in product counseling, privacy, and international regulatory matters to support one of Khan Academy's most exciting growth areas. You will serve as the primary legal partner to the Khan Kids team, guiding the design and launch of new products and features with a particular focus on our new program for English language learning for global audiences. Your work will span privacy compliance for children's products, international market entry analysis, and the drafting of customer-facing legal documents, all in service of bringing joyful, high-quality learning experiences to young children everywhere. Join us in our commitment to providing free, world-class education for anyone, anywhere.

Our Senior Legal Counsel, Khan Academy Kids will be working closely with the Khan Kids team, providing day-to-day legal support across product development and international expansion:

• Serve as the business partner to the Khan Kids product, engineering, and international programs teams, providing first-line legal and regulatory guidance on new features and products.
• Provide product counseling throughout the development cycle, from ideation through launch, with a focus on privacy-by-design, age-appropriate content and data practices, and responsible use of AI in children's products.
• Advise on privacy compliance for children's products under COPPA, GDPR (including age-appropriate design requirements), and regional data protection laws applicable to young users in target markets.
• Draft, review, and update terms of service, privacy policies, and parental consent flows for Khan Kids products, including the new English-learning program.
• Analyze tax, business registration, and digital services laws relevant to offering Khan Kids products in international markets.
• Coordinate with local counsel in target jurisdictions to confirm regulatory requirements and obtain market-specific legal advice.
• Develop scalable legal resources such as compliance guides, contract templates, and internal training materials tailored to the Khan Kids product line.
• Collaborate with cross-functional partners to create user experiences that are both legally compliant and true to the playful, child-centered spirit of Khan Academy Kids.
• Tackle additional legal matters as they arise, with a global perspective.

This is a remote role reporting to our General Counsel.

WHAT YOU BRING

• 8+ years of legal practice experience, with a proven track record of advising on the design, launch, and scaling of consumer-facing websites or applications in global markets
• JD or LLM from an accredited U.S. law school, and be an active member in good standing of at least one U.S. state bar association
• Demonstrated ability to lead legal work streams independently, driving strategy and execution across product, privacy, and international regulatory matters
• Deep experience in privacy compliance for consumer products, including designing and implementing privacy programs, drafting user-facing legal documents, and embedding privacy-by-design principles into product development
• Expertise in children's privacy (COPPA, GDPR, age-appropriate design codes, or similar frameworks); OR at a minimum, you must have a demonstrated commitment to developing deep expertise in this area
• Experience navigating international regulatory landscapes, including coordinating with local counsel and advising on market entry requirements across multiple jurisdictions
• A track record of translating complex regulatory requirements into clear, actionable product guidance that enables teams to move quickly while maintaining compliance
• Strong business judgment: you can independently analyze, assess, and communicate business and legal risks, and develop practical solutions that balance legal requirements with product and business goals
• Experience building and maintaining strong cross-functional relationships, with the ability to influence and align stakeholders across product, engineering, and business teams.
• Comfort operating in a fast-moving environment where you set priorities, manage ambiguity, and make judgment calls with confidence
• Highly organized with an acute attention to detail
• A passion for early childhood education and a genuine attentiveness to building products that serve young children and their families
• Motivated by the Khan Academy mission “to provide a free world-class education for anyone, anywhere"
• Proven cross-cultural competency skills demonstrating self-awareness, awareness of other, and the ability to adopt inclusive perspectives, attitudes, and behaviors to drive inclusion and belonging throughout the organization

NICE TO HAVE

• Certification in privacy or data security (CIPP or similar)
• Experience with AI governance, responsible AI principles, or regulatory frameworks applicable to AI in consumer or children's products

PERKS AND BENEFITS

We may be a non-profit, but we reward our talented team extremely well! We offer:

• Competitive salaries
• Ample paid time off as needed – Your well-being is a priority
• 8 pre-scheduled Wellness Days in 2026 occurring on a Monday or a Friday for a 3-day weekend boost
• Remote-first culture - that caters to your time zone, with open flexibility as needed, at times
• Generous parental leave
• An exceptional team that trusts you and gives you the freedom to do your best
• The chance to put your talents towards a deeply meaningful mission and the opportunity to work on high-impact products that are already defining the future of education
• Opportunities to connect through affinity, ally, and social groups
• And we offer all those other typical benefits as well: 401(k) + 4% matching & comprehensive insurance, including medical, dental, vision, and life

At Khan Academy we are committed to fair and equitable compensation practices, the well-being of our employees, and our Khan community. This belief is why we have built out a robust Total Rewards package that includes competitive base salaries, and extensive benefits and perks to support physical, mental, and financial well-being.

The compensation band for this role is $188,000 - $199,750 USD annually for candidates based in the United States and $254,046 - $269,924 CAD annually for candidates based in Canada. The pay range for this position is a general guideline only. The salary offered will depend on internal pay equity and the candidate’s relevant skills, experience, qualifications, and job market data. 

MORE ABOUT US

• Sal’s TED talk from 2011
• Sal’s TED talk from 2015
• Sal's TED talk from 2023
• Our team:  http://www.khanacademy.org/about/the-team

OUR COMPANY VALUES

Live & breathe learners

We deeply understand and empathize with our users. We leverage user insights, research, and experience to build content, products, services, and experiences that our users trust and love. Our success is defined by the success of our learners and educators.

Take a stand

As a company, we have conviction in our aspirational point of view of how education will evolve. The work we do is in service to moving towards that point of view. However, we also listen, learn and flex in the face of new data, and commit to evolving this point of view as the industry and our users evolve.

Embrace diverse perspectives

We are a diverse community. We seek out and embrace a diversity of voices, perspectives and life experiences leading to stronger, more inclusive teams and better outcomes. As individuals, we are committed to bringing up tough topics and leaning into different points of view with curiosity. We actively listen, learn and collaborate to gain a shared understanding. When a decision is made, we commit to moving forward as a united team.

Work responsibly and sustainably

We understand that achieving our audacious mission is a marathon, so we set realistic timelines and we focus on delivery that also links to the bigger picture. As a non-profit, we are supported by the generosity of donors as well as strategic partners, and understand our responsibility to our finite resources. We spend every dollar as though it were our own. We are responsible for the impact we have on the world and to each other. We ensure our team and company stay healthy and financially sustainable.

Bring out the joy

We are committed to making learning a joyful process. This informs what we build for our users and the culture we co-create with our teammates, partners and donors.

Cultivate learning mindset

We believe in the power of growth for learners and for ourselves. We constantly learn and teach to improve our offerings, ourselves, and our organization. We learn from our mistakes and aren’t afraid to fail. We don't let past failures or successes stop us from taking future bold action and achieving our goals.

Deliver wow

We insist on high standards and deliver delightful, effective end-to-end experiences that our users can rely on. We choose to focus on fewer things — each of which aligns to our ambitious vision — so we can deliver high-quality experiences that accelerate positive measurable learning with our strategic partners.

We are committed to equal employment opportunity regardless of race, color, ancestry, religion, sex, gender, gender identity or expression, national origin, sexual orientation, age, citizenship, marital status, disability, or Veteran status. We value diversity, equity, and inclusion, and we encourage candidates from historically underrepresented groups to apply.

As part of this commitment, Khan Academy will ensure that persons with disabilities are provided reasonable accommodations for the hiring process. If reasonable accommodation is needed, please contact careers@khanacademy.org