Esther K. Shpitalnik

About Esther K. Shpitalnik

I’m a Director of Legal and senior commercial attorney with 13+ years of experience leading complex SaaS, data licensing, and emerging technology transactions in high-growth environments.I currently serve as commercial legal lead within a global technology and data organization supporting $100M+ in annual revenue. I partner closely with Sales, Revenue Operations, Product, and Finance to structure pragmatic deal solutions that accelerate growth while protecting the business.I’ve built scalable commercial legal operations, reduced contract cycle times by ~50%, and implemented AI-forward contracting and governance frameworks aligned with revenue strategy.Hands-on, supportive leader who builds trust across teams. I’m particularly passionate about helping revenue teams move quickly without sacrificing smart risk allocation, collaborating cross-functionally to create environments where accountability, clarity, and mutual respect drives results.Pragmatic. Commercial. Decisive. A true business partner.

Experience

1. Director of Legal Executive Leadership Team

   Foundry

   Sep 2025 — Present

   Serve as commercial legal lead and strategic advisor to executive leadership for a global tech & data organization- Promoted to Director of Legal and built the company’s commercial legal operations function, implementing scalable playbooks, templates, and CLM workflows to support $100M+ global revenue across U.S, EU, and APAC- Lead drafting, review, and negotiation enterprise SaaS, data licensing, DPAs, MSAs, NDAs, and strategic vendor and partnership agreements- Partner with Sales and Revenue Operations to structure complex commercial terms enabling deal closure while managing risk- Reduced contract turnaround time by ~50% through development of scalable negotiation frameworks- Lead negotiations involving data rights, AI-enabled products, indemnity, limitation of liability, and security addenda- Advise on privacy and global regulatory compliance matters- Support M&A diligence and post-acquisition integration- Negotiate AI-specific contractual provisions (training data rights, output liability, hallucination risk, IP ownership)- Drafted and implemented company-wide AI Use Policy- Evaluated and deployed AI contract review tools (GC AI, Harvey, ChatGPT).

Education

• Roger Williams University School of Law

  Juris Doctor

  2008 — 2011

• University of Massachusetts Amherst

  Bachelor of Arts, cum laude, Legal Studies

  2002 — 2006

Skills

• Microsoft Office
• Westlaw
• Blogging
• Research
• Licensing
• Event Planning
• Entertainment Law
• Editing
• Public Speaking
• Social Networking
• Public Relations
• Employment Law
• Intellectual Property
• Entertainment
• Outlook
• Mediation
• Legal Research
• Social Media
• Contract Negotiation
• Legal Writing