About the Job

Array Labs is looking for our first internal legal hire who is ready to step into a true zero-to-one environment. You will partner directly with our business development and sales teams to help structure and close agreements across our diverse business lines, including imagery and data licensing, radar hardware/payload sales, and government contracting.

Rather than functioning as a traditional gatekeeper, you will act as a strategic advisor and enabler who helps us solve complex business problems while appropriately calibrating risk. In addition to deal work, you will build out our foundational legal infrastructure and serve as the central liaison for our specialized outside counsel.

Responsibilities

• Partner hand-in-hand with the business development and sales teams to draft, review, and negotiate commercial contracts. You will take the lead on structuring agreements across our core revenue streams: imagery and data licensing, radar hardware, and payloads. Your goal is to facilitate the timely execution of agreements that advance the company's commercial interests.
• Advise the team on balancing business objectives with legal protections, offering actionable solutions (such as structuring practical indemnities) rather than simply identifying roadblocks. You will provide guidance on where to hold firm on critical risk exposure and where concessions are commercially reasonable.
• Help build our commercial legal function from the ground up. You will draft standard templates, establish scalable contracting processes, and work with capture teams to develop negotiation playbooks that will serve as the foundation for the company's long-term legal infrastructure.
• Serve as the interface for specialized external counsel and corporate attorneys. You will ensure that their work on IP, regulatory compliance, and fundraising remains fully aligned with the company's operational priorities and broader business strategy, while exercising internal judgment on risk decisions that require a business-informed perspective.

Basic Qualifications

• J.D. from an accredited law school and an active membership in good standing with the California State Bar.
• 8+ years of relevant legal experience, including at least one in-house counsel role where you have operated as an embedded business partner.
• A strong background in technology agreements, data and software licensing, and hardware sales, with demonstrated experience drafting, reviewing, and negotiating a broad range of commercial contracts. Experience with government contracting is highly desirable.
• Demonstrated business acumen to distinguish between theoretical legal risk and actual commercial exposure. You have a track record of offering constructive solutions that find a way to "yes" without compromising critical legal protections.
• Comfortable building a legal function from the ground up, with a track record of translating ad-hoc legal work into repeatable, scalable processes and templates, including doing the foundational work required of a startup environment.

Preferred Skills & Experience

• Demonstrated experience structuring and negotiating complex hardware component, manufacturing, and supply chain agreements, with an understanding of the legal and operational interdependencies across the full commercial lifecycle.
• Familiarity with the regulatory and IP landscape governing hardware development, with experience directing external counsel on IP and compliance matters ensuring legal strategy remains aligned with operational realities.
• Prior legal experience in aerospace, satellite, or Earth observation, with a particular emphasis on commercializing geospatial data or Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) products.
• Deep understanding of the Legal and Business dynamic, with experience establishing clear roles and responsibilities during negotiations to ensure legal strategy is fully integrated with and supportive of business execution.
• Understands the critical dynamic between Legal and Business. Takes a collaborative approach to defining clear roles and responsibilities with the business team, presenting a unified front during negotiations and ensuring legal strategy seamlessly supports business execution.
• Experience operating within a high-growth, venture-backed environment, including supporting corporate governance and venture financing rounds in close coordination with outside corporate counsel.
• Practical experience navigating complex defense or intelligence community procurements, including demonstrated familiarity with FAR/DFARS requirements.
• Experience leveraging modern legal technology, including contract lifecycle management (CLM) systems and AI-driven drafting and review tools, to drive efficiency, automation, and scale the legal function without immediately adding headcount.

Compensation & Benefits

Our hiring and compensation strategy is simple: find uncommonly good people and pay them uncommonly well.

We offer high flexibility between salary and equity-based compensation. Final candidates can choose from three compensation mixes: low, medium, or high equity. Equity is a significant component of total compensation, and we aim to provide meaningful ownership for this role.

Full-time employees also enjoy a comprehensive benefits package including health, dental, vision, a 401(k) with company match, commuter benefits, and more.

Interview Process

We will conduct interviews via Google Meet with the potential for an onsite visit; the typical process takes around 3-5 weeks to complete from start to finish.

ITAR Requirements

To conform to U.S. Government space technology export regulations, including the International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR) you must be a U.S. citizen, lawful permanent resident of the U.S., protected individual as defined by 8 U.S.C. 1324b(a)(3), or eligible to obtain the required authorizations from the U.S. Department of State.

$265,000 - $280,000 a year