Catia Zuidema

Associate General Counsel at Harness

December 2024 - Present • San Francisco , USA

I lead global legal strategy and execution across AI governance, product compliance, privacy, employment, litigation support, and the company’s full intellectual property portfolio (patents and trademarks). Partnering closely with the C-suite and senior leadership, I oversee the PSAI Office and the Employment function, ensuring Harness scales responsibly, innovates securely, and maintains strong regulatory alignment. Key contributions: AI governance – Designed and implemented Harness’s first enterprise AI governance program, including AI development procedures, deployment requirements, and a risk methodology for AI use cases. – Drove adoption across product, engineering, and other teams. Product compliance & risk frameworks – Built and executed compliance roadmaps enabling product innovation while reducing regulatory friction. – Reinforced export controls, data classification, and security-adjacent controls for global product launches. Employment legal leadership – Lead global employment legal strategy across the globe – Oversee Worker Council matters, cross-border employment issues, investigations, and employment contract frameworks. IP portfolio leadership (patents & trademarks) – Manage Harness’s IP portfolio, including support of patent review and coordination with external counsel. – Established a structured IP governance process, document lifecycle management, and evaluation workflows for new inventions Cross-functional leadership – Manage teams across PSAI and Employment, driving operational excellence, legal enablement, and scalable governance frameworks. – Serve as a senior partner to product, engineering, People, and Security leaders.