Senior Legal Counsel: IP & Commercial

About HappyRobot

HappyRobot is the AI-native operating system for the real economy—a system that closes the circuit between intelligence and action. By combining real-time truth, specialized AI workers, and an orchestrating intelligence, we help enterprises run complex, mission-critical operations with true autonomy.

Our AI OS compounds knowledge, optimizes at every level, and evolves over time. We’re starting with supply chain and industrial-scale operations, where resilience, speed, and continuous improvement matter most—freeing humans to focus on strategy, creativity, and other high-value tasks.

About the Role

We’re looking for a smart, practical, and business-oriented Legal Counsel to support our growing business with a focus on intellectual property and commercial agreements. This role will work cross-functionally with product, engineering, sales, partnerships, and operations teams to ensure our IP is protected and our commercial arrangements are sound, scalable, and aligned with our strategic goals.

Responsibilities

• Draft, review, and negotiate a wide range of commercial agreements, including SaaS agreements, MSAs, enterprise agreements, licensing agreements, vendor agreements, reseller agreements, partnership agreements, Order Forms, DPAs, NDAs, and services agreements.
• Advise internal stakeholders on commercial, intellectual property, and data privacy matters related to product development, partnerships, customer relationships, and business operations.
• Review and negotiate data processing agreements (DPAs) and advise on compliance with EU data privacy laws and regulations, including GDPR and other applicable state privacy frameworks.
• Support the company’s intellectual property strategy, including trademark, copyright, patent, trade secret, and IP ownership matters.
• Assist with open-source software compliance, employee and contractor IP assignment matters, and IP diligence processes.
• Build, improve, and maintain legal templates, negotiation playbooks, internal policies, and scalable contracting workflows to increase operational efficiency.
• Provide practical, business-oriented legal advice that balances risk mitigation with commercial objectives and enables business growth.
• Monitor legal and regulatory developments related to commercial law, intellectual property, SaaS businesses, and data privacy, and assess their impact on the company.
• Support fundraising, due diligence, and other strategic corporate initiatives as needed.
• Manage external counsel effectively when specialized legal support is required.

Requirements

• 6+ years of relevant legal experience, ideally combining experience at a reputable law firm and an in-house legal team at a startup or high-growth technology company.
• Strong experience drafting, reviewing, and negotiating SaaS agreements, MSAs, enterprise agreements, NDAs, DPAs, Order Forms and other commercial contracts.
• Solid understanding of EU data privacy laws and regulations, including GDPR and other state-specific privacy requirements.
• Experience handling intellectual property matters, including trademarks, patents, copyright, licensing, and IP ownership issues.
• Excellent drafting, negotiation, and communication skills with a pragmatic, solution-oriented, and risk-based approach.
• Strong commercial judgment and ability to balance legal risk with business priorities.
• Ability to manage multiple priorities and high contract volume efficiently in a fast-paced, high-growth environment.
• Strong sense of ownership, accountability, and execution with attention to detail and urgency.
• Proven ability to work cross-functionally and build trusted relationships with business stakeholders.

Nice to Have

• Experience supporting fundraising transactions, due diligence exercises, and broader corporate legal matters.
• Familiarity with employment law and general corporate governance matters.
• Experience creating and implementing legal automation processes, templates, and operational workflows.
• Background in software, AI/ML, digital content, or other technology-driven industries.

Why join us?

• Opportunity to work at a high-growth AI startup, backed by top investors.
• Rapidly growing and backed by top investors including a16z, Y Combinator, and Base10.
• Ownership & Autonomy - Take full ownership of projects and ship fast.
• Top-Tier Compensation - Competitive salary + equity in a high-growth startup.
• Work With the Best - Join a world-class team of engineers and builders.

Our Operating Principles

• Extreme Ownership - We take full responsibility for our work, outcomes, and team success.
• Craftsmanship - Putting care and intention into every task, striving for excellence.
• We are “majos” - Be friendly & have fun with your coworkers.
• Urgency with Focus - Create the highest impact in the shortest amount of time.
• Talent Density and Meritocracy - Hire only people who can raise the average.
• First-Principles Thinking - Strip a problem to physics-level facts, ignore industry dogma.