Director, Commercial Legal

At Penguin Solutions (Nasdaq: PENG) The AI Factory Platform Company were building a team of innovators who thrive on collaboration creativity and the opportunity to help shape the future of AI. As part of the AI technology revolution our teams design build deploy and manage AI factories for enterprises sovereign AI initiatives and neocloud providers worldwide.

Headquartered in Silicon Valley California Penguin Solutions operates globally through a network of R&D manufacturing and sales locations. For nearly three decades we have operated at the intersection of memory and AI/HPC infrastructure. That engineering expertise positions us to power the next generation of AI workloads from training to inference and agentic AI at scale.

Penguin Solutions brings together differentiated infrastructure software advanced memory compute systems end-to-end services and industry-leading partner solutions in a full-stack AI factory platform designed to help customers deploy and scale AI workloads with speed and precision.

At Penguin Solutions we value ideas over hierarchy and believe in servant leadership where leaders enable teams to do their best work. We empower employees to take ownership drive innovation and grow through challenging work continuous learning and exposure to advanced AI tools and technologies. With flexibility where it matters and a strong focus on outcomes Penguin Solutions is a place to do your best work grow your career and make a meaningful impact.

Job Overview

We are seeking a Director Commercial Legal to serve as a key legal partner supporting high-impact global commercial transactionsacross 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 companys 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 deploymentsfor enterprise and next-generation customers.

You will work closely with sales operations supply chain and product teamsto structure negotiate and execute agreements that directly support Penguins 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 Penguins 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

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 $225000 - $260000; the pay ultimately offered may vary based on business considerations including location work arrangement job-related knowledge skills experience and 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.

Inclusion & Belonging Statement

We are committed to creating an inclusive environment that embraces differences and fosters belonging for all.

Equal Opportunity Statement

We are an Affirmative Action/Equal Opportunity Employer and strongly committed to all policies which will afford equal opportunity employment to all qualified persons without regard to age national origin race ethnicity creed gender disability veteran status or any other characteristic protected by law.