Founding Legal Counsel
Founding Legal Counsel
What You’ll Do
Act as day-to-day legal partner to founders and leadership across company decisions
Draft, review, and negotiate commercial agreements including customer, partner, vendor, and research collaborations
Support hiring and people operations including employment agreements, contractor arrangements, policies, and compliance
Manage intellectual property matters including NDAs, invention assignment, open source use, and coordination with outside patent counsel
Handle corporate governance, board materials, subsidiary setup, equity administration, and related documentation
Support fundraising and financing processes alongside outside counsel
Advise on regulatory and operational risk related to robotics, autonomy, data, and deployment in the physical world
Develop practical policies and lightweight processes that enable speed while maintaining compliance
Coordinate and manage outside counsel across corporate, employment, IP, and regulatory matters
Provide clear, actionable guidance to non-legal teams
Operate as a hands-on generalist and take ownership of issues end-to-end
What You’ll Bring
J.D. and active membership in the California State Bar
Experience at a law firm or in-house role covering multiple legal domains
Comfort operating as a generalist across corporate, commercial, employment, and IP matters
Familiarity with French law and regulatory frameworks, particularly as they relate to corporate structure, employment, or cross-border operation
Experience negotiating technology, commercial, or partnership agreements
Ability to translate legal risk into practical business guidance
High ownership, autonomy, and sound judgment
Ability to work closely with engineers, researchers, and operations teams
Comfort operating in a fast-moving and ambiguous environment
Strong written and verbal communication
Ideally: Experience at a startup or high-growth technology company
Ideally: Experience supporting venture financings and board governance
Ideally: Familiarity with hardware, robotics, autonomy, or AI companies
Ideally: Experience building legal processes from zero and scaling them over time
Ideally: Experience working with intellectual property in Asia