Commercial Counsel

About the Team

OpenAI’s Legal team plays an indispensable role in advancing OpenAI's mission by navigating futuristic, foundational legal issues in AI. This is the team for you if you care deeply about doing meaningful and novel work as a technology lawyer. The team comprises various backgrounds, including technology, intellectual property, venture capital, M&A, employment, and tax law.

About the Role

We’re looking for a Commercial Counsel to help OpenAI draft, review, and negotiate inbound and outbound agreements, including customer, licensing, partnership, and other sales and supply agreements. 

You’ll work within a small and tight-knit team of commercial lawyers and go-to-market, engineering, and product teams to help scale the commercial legal function as we offer our cutting-edge technologies for use. This role reports to our Associate General Counsel - Commercial and Go To Market.

This role is based in San Francisco, CA. We use a hybrid work model of 3 days in the office per week and offer relocation assistance to new employees.

In this role, you will:

• Draft, review, and negotiate commercial and licensing agreements with customers, vendors, and partners, and manage regulatory, compliance, and operational issues that arise. 
• Partner closely with technical, product, and commercial teams to proactively manage risks, identify legal issues, and drive decision-making.
• Negotiate commercial agreements that enable OpenAI to move quickly while protecting the company’s resources and systems.
• Analyze and navigate cutting-edge legal and technological issues in AI.
• Help ensure commercial agreement processes and systems scale and evolve to serve new initiatives.
• Work closely with lawyers in other practice areas to deliver high quality advice and decision-making.

You might thrive in this role if you: 

• Have 5+ years of legal experience at a technology-focused law firm and/or in-house at a reputable technology company. In-house experience is strongly preferred.
• Have significant experience with drafting and negotiating complex licensing and commercial agreements. Proficiency with IP, product, privacy, and regulatory issues. 
• Have a strong sense of ownership, are inquisitive and enthusiastic about technology, enjoy being continually challenged, and can demonstrate sound judgment in ambiguous situations.
• Have a JD from an accredited law school and a license to practice in California.

About the interview process

We expect to review applications and conduct interviews through September, and onboard by mid October. The interview process may include a writing assessment and interviews with our team.

We are an equal opportunity employer and do not discriminate on the basis of race, religion, national origin, gender, sexual orientation, age, veteran status, disability or any other legally protected status. Pursuant to the San Francisco Fair Chance Ordinance, we will consider qualified applicants with arrest and conviction records. 

We are committed to providing reasonable accommodations to applicants with disabilities, and requests can be made via this link.

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