DescriptionIn this role, you will transition our existing commercial legal frameworks from a highly successful high-growth model into a world-class global enterprise architecture. You will serve as the chief legal architect for multi-million and billion-dollar infrastructure transactions while building an international team capable of supporting exponential GTM velocity across AMER, EMEA, and APAC. This is a rare opportunity to define the commercial legal playbook for the entire AI infrastructure sector.
Key ResponsibilitiesGlobal Commercial Strategy & Deal Architecture- Lead High-Value Transactions: Act as the primary executive legal partner on VAST's most strategic, complex multi-year software and infrastructure commitments (e.g., foundational model builders, major neocloud providers, sovereign AI funds, and Fortune 100 enterprises).
- Scale Commercial Playbooks: Design, implement, and continuously refine global commercial contract templates, including master software agreements, product-specific AI terms, and vendor procurement frameworks.
- Accelerate Velocity: Establish standardized fallback positions and tiered risk-escalation matrices to enable the global GTM and Revenue Operations teams to close deals quickly without compromising corporate governance.
AI Data Governance & Frontier Risk Management- Navigate Deep Tech Architecture: Address novel legal questions at the intersection of parallel computing, massive data ingestion, and real-time data processing.
- Global Regulatory Alignment: Ensure commercial terms proactively align with changing international compliance landscapes, including the EU AI Act, global privacy frameworks (GDPR, CCPA), and cross-border data transfer limitations.
Team Leadership & Operational Scale- Build the Function: Recruit, mentor, and lead a high-performing, geographically distributed team of commercial counsel and legal specialists across North America, Europe, and Asia-Pacific.
- AI-First Legal Operations: Build Legal Ops to enable cutting-edge legal AI and CLM infrastructure. Implement automated triage, playbooks, and contract intelligence tools to drive reductions in deal cycle times.
- Cross-Functional Enablement: Develop structured enablement and training programs for the enterprise sales teams to systematically handle common inquiries.
- Metrics-Driven Management: Establish and monitor team KPIs, evaluating contract volumes, cycle times, and negotiation friction points to optimize resource allocation.
Requirements- Experience: 12+ years of legal experience, combining top-tier law firm training with significant in-house leadership at a hyper-growth enterprise SaaS, deep tech, or AI infrastructure company. Experience leading a commercial team through rapid international scale or a pre-IPO transition is highly desirable.
- Transactional Mastery: Exceptional background drafting and negotiating complex software licenses, technology partnerships, and cloud infrastructure agreements with highly sophisticated counterparties.
- Technical Fluency: A strong interest in and clear understanding of modern AI stacks, data storage architectures, GPU-accelerated environments, and enterprise data lifecycle management.
- First-Principles Mindset: Outstanding ability to make rapid, pragmatic business decisions in an ambiguous, evolving regulatory environment where clear legal precedents do not yet exist.
- Education: JD from an accredited law school and active bar membership in good standing.
