Legal Operations Lead
Own and scale HUD’s legal operations infrastructure while drafting and negotiating commercial technology agreements. The role combines contracting judgment with workflow automation, legal technology, and strategic outside-counsel management in a fast-growing AI startup.
About the job
Responsibilities
- Own HUD’s end-to-end legal operating system, including intake, prioritization, contracting workflows, approvals, escalation paths, document management, and outside-counsel coordination.
- Draft, review, and negotiate routine commercial agreements, including MSAs, SOWs, data licenses, SLAs, NDAs, vendor agreements, and bespoke arrangements.
- Build and improve templates and negotiation playbooks for recurring issues such as data rights and usage restrictions.
- Automate and streamline high-volume legal workflows using software and AI while preserving appropriate human review.
- Establish guidelines for internal handling, standardization, automation, and escalation to founders or outside counsel.
- Manage outside counsel by scoping work, preparing issues, controlling legal spend, and directing specialist matters appropriately.
Requirements
- Experience in legal operations, contracts management, commercial operations, transactional legal work, business operations, or a combination thereof at a fast-growing technology company.
- Strong experience drafting, reviewing, and negotiating commercial technology agreements.
- Judgment to distinguish routine contracting issues from matters requiring specialist legal advice.
- Comfort with legal technology, workflow tools, and AI, with an interest in making legal work faster and more scalable.
- Strong commercial judgment and ability to balance legal risk, speed, customer needs, and business priorities.
- Excellent written communication, attention to detail, and confidence pushing back constructively with customers, vendors, and internal stakeholders.
Nice-to-haves
- Legal training or experience at a law firm or in-house legal team.
- Experience building or scaling legal operations, contract management, or a deal desk from an early stage.
- Experience with data licensing, intellectual property-intensive transactions, marketplaces, or businesses where contractual rights are closely tied to the product.
- Experience managing outside counsel.
- Early-stage startup experience and ability to work independently in a fast-paced environment.
- Technical aptitude and learning potential.
Compensation and Benefits
- Competitive compensation.
- Medical, dental, and vision coverage for US employees.
- Office-provided lunch and dinner.
- PTO, paid holidays, and a company-wide holiday break.
- Equinox membership, 401(k), and commuter benefits for US employees.
- Access to ChatGPT, Claude Code, Cursor, and other AI tools.
Skills
Legal Operations, Contract Management, Commercial Agreements, Data Licensing, Intellectual Property, Legal Technology, Workflow Automation, Artificial Intelligence, Negotiation, Document Management, Microsoft Service Agreements, Statements Of Work, Service-Level Agreements, Non-Disclosure Agreements, Vendor Agreements
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