Associate Counsel, Innovation and Thought Leadership

Overview

A global legal team is seeking an Associate Counsel to join the Commercial & Technology Legal group, focusing on intellectual property transactions and open source. This role involves partnering with technology and data science teams to support infrastructure and products used worldwide, helping the organization innovate while protecting its IP, brand, and technology ecosystem. The position emphasizes transactional and counseling work rather than litigation or patent prosecution.

Responsibilities

• Provide pragmatic guidance on open source licensing, compliance, and contribution practices, including intersections with AI such as model and dataset licenses.
• Collaborate with Engineering, Security, Infrastructure, Brand, and other teams to improve open source policies and workflows.
• Advise on open source governance topics including internal use of third-party open source, copyleft risks, contributing to external projects, and contributor license agreement (CLA) review.
• Guide decisions on when and how company code may be open sourced, including quality, maintenance, community, and project sunsetting considerations.
• Review external-facing materials such as academic papers, conference talks, developer programs, and technology-related blog posts for IP, confidentiality, trade secrets, claims substantiation, third-party rights, and messaging.
• Negotiate research and data agreements with public and private universities covering sponsored research, publication rights, IP ownership, and commercial-use rights.
• Draft and review IP and licensing terms in intercompany and commercial agreements.
• Advise senior leaders on IP release decisions, employee outside-work requests, and IP contamination risks.
• Develop and maintain playbooks, templates, and training materials to assist lawyers and business partners with common IP and open source questions.
• Provide practical legal advice on a wide range of IP matters related to data science, engineering, and business teams, including licensing issues tied to product development and infrastructure.
• Partner with Marketing, Communications, and legal colleagues internationally to ensure consistent guidance across brand, marketing, and technology narratives.

Requirements

• Minimum of three years as an attorney in a law firm, government, or in-house role, including experience with technology transactions and advising technical teams.
• Working knowledge of copyright, trademark, and patent fundamentals as they apply to technology and product contexts.
• Experience drafting and negotiating IP and licensing provisions across various agreements.
• Solid grounding in open source licensing and compliance.
• Familiarity with AI licensing, especially where it intersects with open source.
• Strong analytical and risk-framing skills with practical cost/benefit judgment in a fast-paced environment.
• Clear written and verbal communication skills, capable of translating complex legal issues for non-lawyers.
• Ability to manage multiple matters, prioritize effectively, and drive issues to resolution with high ownership.
• Sound judgment regarding independent handling of matters and escalation.
• Licensed attorney in good standing of the bar of at least one U.S. state or territory.

Preferred Qualifications

• Direct experience advising engineering, data science, infrastructure, or developer platform teams.
• Familiarity with common open source licenses (e.g., MIT, Apache 2.0, GPL/LGPL, AGPL) and compliance workflows.
• Experience negotiating sponsored research agreements and contracting with universities.
• Exposure to marketing and advertising law related to external messaging, including FTC basics and claims substantiation.
• Deeper experience with AI/ML IP issues such as training-data rights, model and dataset licensing, and output ownership.
• Technical fluency sufficient to collaborate effectively with engineers.
• Experience using or building legal self-service tools and agents.

Compensation & Benefits

• Base pay range: $157,000—$185,000 USD.
• Eligibility for bonus, equity, benefits, and employee travel credits.
• Actual base pay depends on factors such as training, transferable skills, work experience, business needs, and market demands.

Location

• This is a US-based remote-eligible position.
• Occasional work at an office or attendance at offsites may be required as agreed with management.
• Candidates must reside in a U.S. state where the employer has a registered entity; certain states are excluded.

Inclusion & Accessibility

The organization is committed to diversity, equity, and inclusion and encourages all qualified individuals to apply. Reasonable accommodations are available for candidates with disabilities during the application and interview process upon request.