We are seeking a Director, Legal to provide hands-on legal leadership across four core areas: (i) product counseling; (ii) marketing, AI governance and privacy; (iii) public-company readiness, including building the technology and software development compliance processes and policies, such as open source software, AI and other authorized usage policies; and (iv) general corporate project work, including helping manage employment matters and litigation. The goal is to help the business move at the speed of the mission while managing risk in a highly regulated environment.
This is a builder’s role in one of the fastest-moving defense technology companies in the world. You will be a primary legal partner to the teams that build, ship and sell Hivemind and Shield AI’s other software, and to People Experience (PX), Marketing and IT. You will stand up the programs, policies and playbooks that let those teams launch products, run campaigns, adopt AI, and you will be accountable for making Legal an enabler of rapid development and growth.
Three qualities are non-negotiable:
Executive and external credibility. You must have the presence, judgment and technical fluency to advise C-suite and executive leaders directly, and to represent Shield AI with confidence to partners, customers and outside counsel on AI, software, data and product questions.
Action orientation under shifting priorities. You must be able to run many projects and workflows at once, move quickly on urgent requests, re-prioritize without losing track of anything, and see matters through from intake to completion. In Shield AI’s words: be rigorous and go fast.
Practical, needs-driven program building. You must understand what product, engineering, marketing and PX teams actually need, and then proactively build scalable processes, policies and self-serve guidance that meet those needs, while doing what honor dictates when the answer is hard.
Product counseling
Serve as a primary legal partner to Product, Engineering, Program Management, Customer Success, Information Security and Business Development across the full product lifecycle for Hivemind and Shield AI’s other software offerings, from feature design and data use through go-to-market and customer-facing terms.
Advise on legal and regulatory issues specific to AI, autonomy, data use, software and dual-use technology, including IP ownership, training data and model rights, third-party and foundation-model use, output ownership, and how commercial IP terms interact with government data rights.
Structure, draft and negotiate software license agreements, SDK and developer terms, end user license agreements and partner agreements that support Hivemind’s growing ecosystem, including OEM and platform integration, reseller and aggregator, joint development, technology licensing and data-sharing arrangements.
Build and run scalable product counsel processes, including feature and launch reviews, legal intake, playbooks, standard positions and contractual fallbacks, and self-serve guidance that lets Sales, Product and Customer Success resolve common questions without legal escalation.
Partner with Trade Compliance on export classification and controls (ITAR/EAR) at the point of product decision, and with Government Contracts on product licensing terms, DFARS data rights, cybersecurity requirements and flow-downs.
Qualification
Experience supporting a largeExperience in AI/MLPrivacy or AI governance certificationRequired Qualifictions
Preferred
Experience supporting a large, fast-growing private company through multiple phases of late venture to public company or larger private company maturity.
Experience in AI/ML, autonomy, robotics, aerospace/aviation or dual-use technologies, and familiarity with defense and government contracting requirements such as ITAR/EAR, DFARS data rights, FedRAMP and CMMC.
Privacy or AI governance certification, such as CIPP/US, CIPP/E or AIGP.
Experience with M&A due diligence and post-close integration, including integrating acquired products and teams.
Experience with international operations across Europe, the Middle East or Asia-Pacific.
Experience building and mentoring legal teams and deploying AI-enabled legal tools and processes.
Required Qualifictions:
J.D. from an accredited law school; active membership in at least one U.S. state bar.
