Job Overview

We are seeking a Director, Commercial Legal to serve as a key legal partner supporting high-impact, global commercial transactions across our AI infrastructure, memory, and advanced computing businesses. The level will depend on experience, but the mandate is clear: this person will be the day-to-day owner of the company's commercial legal function for large, complex transactions, with significant autonomy to shape strategy and priorities.

This is a position at the center of a rapidly scaling AI business where you will own and drive large, complex commercial transactions end-to-end, while managing a high-volume, diverse portfolio of commercial deals. Your work will span everything from routine vendor and procurement agreements to complex, high-value transactions that enable production-scale AI deployments for enterprise and next-generation customers.

You will work closely with sales, operations, supply chain, and product teams to structure, negotiate, and execute agreements that directly support Penguin's strategic growth and customer expansion.

The ideal candidate brings a strong commercial foundation, thrives in a dynamic environment, and can translate legal risk into business velocity, while knowing when to escalate novel or high-risk issues.

Why This Role

• Front-row seat to the AI infrastructure transformation from training to inference and enterprise deployment
• Direct impact on strategic, revenue-generating transactions
• Ownership of a broad, high-volume deal portfolio spanning routine agreements to strategic, novel transactions
• Exposure to cutting-edge technologies (AI systems, memory architectures, data center infrastructure)
• High visibility across legal leadership and business teams
• Opportunity to help scale contracting frameworks for a rapidly growing global platform company

Responsibilities

1. Strategic Commercial Contracting (Core Focus)

• Own large, complex commercial transactions end-to-end, from structuring through negotiation and execution, while independently managing a range of deal complexity from standard to highly customized, strategic transactions
• Lead drafting, review, and negotiation of simple to complex commercial agreements, including:
  • Enterprise customer agreements for AI infrastructure and hardware solutions
  • Vendor, supplier, and procurement agreements
  • Supply chain, manufacturing, logistics, and distribution arrangements
• Balance legal risk, deal velocity, and commercial objectives in a fast-moving environment
• Provide clear, actionable guidance to business stakeholders on contract structure, risk allocation, and negotiation strategy

2. AI Infrastructure, Hardware & Supply Chain Focus

• Support transactions involving AI infrastructure deployments, hardware systems, and memory-driven architectures
• Advise on key issues including:
  • Delivery, acceptance, and performance standards
  • Warranty frameworks and support models
  • Liability allocation in complex, multi-party environments
  • Downstream customer and ecosystem obligations
• Partner closely with operations and supply chain teams to ensure contracts align with real-world deployment and scaling requirements
• Identify recurring risk patterns and drive standardization and scalability in contracting approaches

3. Business Partnership & Growth Enablement

• Act as a trusted advisor to sales, product, finance, and operations teams
• Enable efficient deal execution by delivering practical, business-oriented legal solutions
• Support Penguin's expansion into enterprise, neocloud, and sovereign AI markets, including longer-cycle, high-value deployments
• Contribute to development of:
  • Contract templates and playbooks
  • Scalable processes for increasing deal volume
  • Training and enablement for business teams

4. Risk Management & Escalation

• Exercise strong judgment in determining when to act independently versus escalate
• Spot and escalate regulatory, compliance, or non-standard risk issues
• Support transactions involving regulated or government-adjacent customers, as applicable

Qualifications

• JD from an accredited law school

• Active bar membership in good standing

• 12+ years of relevant legal experience, with substantial commercial contracting expertise

• Demonstrated ability to independently negotiate complex customer and vendor agreements

• Experience supporting technology, hardware, infrastructure, or supply chain-driven businesses

• Strong business judgment and ability to translate legal risk into practical guidance

• Excellent communication skills with both legal and non-legal stakeholders

• Comfort operating in a remote, fast-paced, and cross-functional environment

• Comfortable using AI tools in legal workflows, with an interest in identifying opportunities to deploy AI to improve efficiency, quality, and scalability within the legal function.

• Highly pragmatic, business-oriented, and solutions-driven

• Comfortable operating with autonomy and accountability

• Strong collaborator across technical and commercial teams

• Curious and adaptable in a rapidly evolving AI landscape

• Organized and capable of managing multiple priorities

• Positive, low-ego, and team-oriented

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience in AI infrastructure, data centers, memory systems, or advanced computing environments

• Familiarity with export controls or regulated customer environments

• In-house experience at a high-growth technology or infrastructure company

• Prior law firm experience handling complex commercial transactions

Location

This position is a hybrid position in Durham, North Carolina or Fremont, California. Our hybrid schedule is 3x per week onsite. However, we are open to strong remote candidates in the United States.

Travel

This position may require periodic travel to our headquarters in the California Bay Area for transaction-related work, customer meetings, and team meetings. Travel is purposeful and planned around key business events.

Compensation & Benefits

The base pay range that the Company reasonably expects to pay for this position in the United States is $225,000 - $260,000; the pay ultimately offered may vary based on business considerations, including location, work arrangement, job-related knowledge, skills, experience, and education. The position is bonus-eligible, and there are medical, dental, and vision benefits available. There is a 401k saving plan and other benefits, such as Paid Time Off, Life Insurance, and an Employee Assistance Plan.