Senior Director AI Commercial Counsel

Handshake was founded on a simple belief that everyone deserves a path to a great career regardless of where they went to school or who they know. Today we power 25 million job seekers 1 million employers and 1600 educational institutions.

In 2025 we started Handshake AI and built the fastest-growing AI data business in history. We work directly with frontier AI lab researchers to create evaluations publish benchmarks and push the boundary of data. Weve grown from $0 to $1B run rate and pay $60M to over 30K individuals every month.

Why join Handshake now:

• Shape how every career evolves in the AI economy at global scale with impact your friends family and peers can see and feel

• Partner hand-in-hand with world-class AI labs Fortune 500 partners and the worlds top educational institutions

• Work together with engineers scientists operators and more from Palantir Meta Scale AI and former YC founders

• Build a massive fast-growing business with billions in revenue

Human data is the core infrastructure to AI advancement. Frontier AI labs currently improve model capabilities with various data-intensive post-training techniques. We believe that data spend for AI training will increase by 3-5x in the next few years and continue for much longer as models take on new domains. Handshake AI supports all of the frontier AI labs working on their most complex data at the largest scale.

Handshakes Legal team is a strategic partner to the business helping Handshake move quickly make sound decisions and build trusted products and services. Were a lean collaborative team solving novel questions at the intersection of frontier technology and the workforce. As the senior commercial lawyer dedicated to Handshake AI and Handshake AI Enterprise youll help turn ambitious opportunities into durable commercial relationships with leading AI labs and enterprise customers. Youll join a team that values commercial judgment intellectual curiosity urgency and a deep commitment to Handshakes mission of democratizing access to opportunity.

Reporting to the General Counsel youll define and lead the commercial legal strategy for Handshake AI and Handshake AI Enterprise with a focus on our most strategic frontier lab and enterprise customers. Youll serve as lead lawyer strategic advisor and deal quarterback on high-value bespoke transactions.

• Strategic commercial transactions: Own the legal strategy and negotiation of Handshake AIs most important customer and partner transactions including AI data and training agreements enterprise AI services and strategic partnerships.

• Bespoke deal structuring: Create novel commercial structures for complex opportunities where market standards are still developingtranslating product operational and economic objectives into durable agreements and clear allocations of risk.

• Data IP privacy and security: Lead negotiations and provide practical advice on data rights model-training and output rights IP ownership and licensing privacy and security with a deep understanding of how those terms affect Handshakes products and delivery model.

• Customer and executive engagement: Represent Handshake directly with sophisticated customer legal teams and senior stakeholders lead high-stakes negotiations brief executives on material issues and drive decisions that keep strategic deals moving.

• Cross-functional partnership: Partner closely with Sales Partnerships Product and Operations throughout the deal lifecyclefrom opportunity shaping and term-sheet strategy through negotiation signature implementation renewal and expansion.

• Commercial function leadership: Build the templates playbooks approval frameworks deal-desk practices and contracting workflows needed to improve deal velocity and risk calibration; establish the commercial legal function and build the team as the business grows.

• JD and active membership in good standing in at least one U.S. state bar (California admission or eligibility to register as in-house counsel in California)

• 10 years of combined legal experience including law firm training and in-house experience at a sophisticated technology company

• A track record of structuring negotiating and closing complex high-value commercial transactions with enterprise customers

• Deep experience with enterprise technology and data licensing including data-use rights IP privacy and security terms

• Exceptional commercial instinct and judgment with the ability to identify what matters and calibrate risk to business objectives

• Executive presence and comfort with ambiguity with the communication skills to earn trust with fast-moving internal teams and senior stakeholders

• Experience with AI data or training agreements enterprise AI services or transactions with frontier AI labs; AI experience is useful but not required

• Prior experience as the first or senior commercial lawyer for a high-growth business including building scalable contracting processes

Handshake delivers benefits that help you feel supported and thrive at work and in life.

The below benefits are for full-time US employees.

Ownership: Equity in a fast-growing company

Financial Wellness: 401(k) match competitive compensation financial coaching

Family Support: Paid parental leave fertility benefits parental coaching

Wellbeing: Medical dental and vision mental health support $500 wellness stipend

Growth: $2000 learning stipend ongoing development

Remote & Office: Internet commuting and free lunch/gym in our SF office

Time Off: Flexible PTO 15 holidays 2 flex days

Connection: Team outings & referral bonuses

Explore our mission values and comprehensive US benefits at Experience:

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