General Counsel
First in-house General Counsel for a fast-growing applied AI and AI alignment company. Shape commercial deals, research grants, government/university partnerships, IP strategy, and all in-house legal functions. Requires JD, CA bar, strength in commercial transactions and tech/AI, plus strong business judgment.
About the job
What you'll work on
- Shape deal terms for outcome-based and productized commercial work, taking on more delivery ownership.
- Help secure and implement major research grants for foundational AI alignment work.
- Structure first-of-their-kind partnerships and collaborations with government agencies, research labs, and universities.
- Expand government contracting and programs, navigating new categories with significant upside.
- Manage intellectual property: ownership, licensing, protection, and publication strategies.
- Handle steady in-house workstreams including NDAs, vendor agreements, employment matters, corporate governance, and scaling legal processes.
About you / Requirements
- JD from an accredited law school with active, good-standing membership in the California bar (open to exceptional out-of-state candidates).
- Real strength in commercial transactions and technology/AI work.
- Ideal: experience across IP, nonprofit, grants, and government contracting (growing into areas is acceptable).
- Substantial in-house experience and/or strong firm training to exercise real judgment; we weigh judgment, adaptability, and business instinct heavily.
- Technical background or deep experience with technology and technical people; comfortable around AI and engineers.
- AI-native: uses latest AI tools in legal practice with care for confidentiality, accuracy, and privilege.
- Strong business sense, negotiation skills, ability to translate between business and legal, no-job-too-small mindset, organizational/process skills, creativity, partnership with outside counsel.
- Complete integrity, discretion, comfort in fast, ambiguous, high-ownership environment.
- Alignment with fast-moving, high-variance, outcome-oriented culture.
Compensation & Benefits
Good-faith base salary range (full-time): $225,000 - $300,000, plus variable compensation and equity participation. Fractional/consulting start: mutually agreed rate or retainer.
Remote-first with flexible schedules, health insurance, free lunches at the office (when present), weekly knowledge-sharing talks, annual team retreat, performance-based raises, and diversified employee equity program.
Skills
Commercial Transactions, Technology Law, Ai Law, Intellectual Property, Government Contracting, Grants, Nonprofit Law, Corporate Governance, Contract Negotiation
Similar jobs
Legal jobs
Anthropic
San Francisco, CA
Leads discovery operations and information governance across the full EDRM lifecycle, managing legal holds, enterprise data sources, vendors, technology, and active litigation or regulatory matters. The role requires deep hands-on discovery experience, RelativityOne expertise, strong project management, and technical fluency with AI and modern infrastructure.
Fetch
United States
Senior Commercial Counsel responsible for independently negotiating, drafting, and closing high-volume revenue and vendor agreements (MSAs, SOWs, data-sharing). Partners with Sales and Finance teams using business-forward judgment, builds custom AI workflows, and improves legal processes at scale in a fast-paced tech environment. Requires 7+ years in-house tech commercial contracts experience.
Airbnb
California
Senior litigation counsel will own high-stakes disputes, investigations, and strategic counseling from assessment through resolution, manage outside counsel, and advise Airbnb business partners on legal risk. The role requires 8+ years of litigation experience, a J.D., and active California bar membership.
Carta
San Francisco, CA
Senior legal counsel will manage early-stage venture financing transactions for founders and venture capital funds, negotiate financing documents, supervise paralegals, and develop technology-enabled legal workflows. California licensure and 7+ years of relevant experience are recommended.
Databricks
Bellevue, WASenior privacy counsel will lead and mature a global privacy compliance program, advise on evolving privacy and AI regulations, assess risk, negotiate data-protection terms, and build governance processes. The role requires 7+ years of legal experience, substantial privacy-program leadership, a J.D., and bar membership.