Commercial Counsel

Key Skills

AI legal policy, AI technology, Commercial Law

Job Description

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, 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 up the commercial legal function as we offer our cutting-edge technologies for use. This role reports to our Head of Commercial Legal.

This role is based in our San Francisco HQ. We 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 evolve to serve new initiatives.

You might thrive in this role if you: 

• Have at least 4-8 years of legal experience at a technology-focused law firm and/or reputable technology company.
• Have significant experience with drafting and negotiating complex licensing and commercial agreements. Proficiency with IP, product, privacy, and/or regulatory issues is a big plus. 
• 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 OpenAI

OpenAI is an AI research and deployment company dedicated to ensuring that general-purpose artificial intelligence benefits all of humanity. We push the boundaries of the capabilities of AI systems and seek to safely deploy them to the world through our products. AI is an extremely powerful tool that must be created with safety and human needs at its core, and to achieve our mission, we must encompass and value the many different perspectives, voices, and experiences that form the full spectrum of humanity. 

At OpenAI, we believe artificial intelligence has the potential to help people solve immense global challenges, and we want the upside of AI to be widely shared. Join us in shaping the future of technology.

Compensation, Benefits and Perks

The annual salary range for this role is $230,000 – $285,000. Total compensation also includes generous equity and benefits.

• Medical, dental, and vision insurance for you and your family
• Mental health and wellness support
• 401(k) plan with 4% matching
• Unlimited time off and 18+ company holidays per year
• Paid parental leave (20 weeks) and family-planning support
• Annual learning & development stipend ($1,500 per year)

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.