Sr Lead Counsel & Manager - Rentals

About the team

The Zillow Group Legal and Compliance Department is a dedicated team of skilled (and fun!) legal professionals who enjoy working in a collegial environment within an innovative, fast-paced tech, real estate, and media company. This role is part of the Business Lines Legal Team, which provides the frontline support for Zillow's products and services. It is a people-leadership role responsible for one of BLLT's core business-line practices.

About the role

We are looking for an experienced product attorney and people leader to lead legal support for Zillow's Rentals business line. This is a management-forward role. You will lead, develop, and set direction for a team of product attorneys, own the decision frameworks and escalation paths that govern how the team works, and serve as the senior legal point of contact and escalation partner for Rentals business leadership.

Rentals is one of Zillow's fastest-growing businesses, spanning renter and landlord tools, marketplace and advertising products, payments, and strategic partnerships. This business touches a broad and evolving set of legal and regulatory areas, including landlord-tenant law nationwide, the Fair Credit Reporting Act and tenant screening, money transmitter and payments law (EFTA / Regulation E), privacy (including state consumer privacy laws), advertising and claim substantiation, AI and data use, commercial and data licensing, competition law, TCPA / CAN-SPAM, and active litigation and regulatory matters.

Above all, this leader balances legal risk against bold business goals to enable compliant growth. You will guide your team to deliver quick, accurate, and pragmatic legal advice, know when to engage subject-matter experts across Legal and Compliance, and personally own the most complex, novel, and high-stakes matters in the portfolio.

You Will Get To

• Lead and develop the team. Manage, coach, and grow a team of product attorneys supporting Rentals, calibrating your oversight, delegation, and development approach to each attorney's experience level and career goals.
• Set how the team works. Establish and maintain the team's decision frameworks, escalation triggers, and work-routing so that matters are staffed and resolved efficiently and consistently.
• Own the hardest matters. Serve as the senior escalation point and reviewer on the team's most complex, novel, or high-risk matters, providing sound judgment and clear risk framing.
• Lead senior relationships. Own relationships with Rentals business leadership (general managers, product, sales, partnerships, marketing, and communications) and with cross-functional shared services (privacy, fair housing, compliance, licensing, finance, risk, and government relations).
• Support Rentals litigation and regulatory matters. Support the litigation team on active litigation and regulatory matters, including FTC inquiries and civil investigative demands, class actions, and state regulatory tracking, and manage outside counsel and related budgets.
• Set legal strategy for growth initiatives. Shape the legal approach to strategic partnerships, commercial and data licensing, and AI and data-use initiatives that are central to the Rentals roadmaps.
• Stay ahead of the law. Analyze proposed and enacted legislative and regulatory changes affecting the business lines and partner with government relations and product teams to develop and execute implementation plans.
• Advise and escalate. Counsel business leadership on risk in usable terms, and bring strategic or novel issues to legal leadership with a clear point of view.

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

You are a highly responsive, trusted advisor and an effective people leader who has:

• 10+ years of relevant experience with a national or regional law firm or in-house legal department, preferably including product or commercial counsel work at a tech company
• A JD with active state bar admission
• Demonstrated experience managing, developing, and mentoring attorneys or other legal professionals
• Depth in several of the following: consumer protection law, real estate and rentals regulatory frameworks, FCRA and tenant screening, payments and money transmitter law, privacy, and marketing and advertising law.
• Learning agility, with a track record of getting up to speed quickly in unfamiliar regulatory areas and sound judgment about when to build expertise versus engage a subject-matter expert.
• Comfort operating in ambiguity and a low-process environment: self-directed, able to make decisions with incomplete information, and willing to do the project-management and operational work needed to move matters to closure.
• Comfort with rapid reprioritization and shifting scope as the business evolves
• Excellent judgment balancing legal risk against business goals, with the ability to give a clear point of view under uncertainty
• Excellent interpersonal, written, and verbal communication skills, including the ability to advise executives persuasively on legal issues and risk
• Outstanding attention to detail, a proactive work ethic, and strong drafting and negotiation skills
• A team-first, developmental leadership style and a demonstrated ability to collaborate across departments and levels to deliver consumer-centric, leading-edge solutions

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.

Client-provided location(s): Flexible / Remote

Job ID: Zillow-P751112

Employment Type: FULL_TIME

Posted: 2026-08-21T18:29:23