Founding Lawyer

Founding Lawyer At Exa, we're building a next-generation AI search engine—one that outperforms Google for power users. We help people find the information they can’t get anywhere else: https://exa.ai/websets We’re an SF team of ~80 from Harvard, MIT, Apple, Palantir, etc. We recently raised an $85M Series B from Benchmark, and we are rapidly building the most intelligent search engine in history. Now, we’re looking for a Head of Legal to help build our Exa family! About the Role We're seeking an experienced Head of Legal to join our growing tech company as our first in-house legal executive. This role will own all legal functions across the organization, from commercial negotiations to corporate governance, with a particular focus on our AI-powered products and technology platform. What You’ll Do - Lead commercial negotiations - Take point on customer legal calls, contract negotiations, and partnership agreements, working directly with enterprise clients and their legal teams - Manage legal risk and compliance - Assess and mitigate legal risks related to our AI models, data usage, and highly technical product offerings - Support fundraising and corporate development - Handle legal aspects of funding rounds, M&A activity, and major corporate transactions - Oversee employment and equity matters - Manage employee agreements, equity compensation, HR legal issues, and compliance with employment law - Shape product and business strategy - Provide legal guidance on product positioning, go-to-market strategies, and business model decisions - Build legal operations - Establish legal processes, vendor relationships, and eventually hire and manage junior legal staff - Handle intellectual property matters - Advise on copyright, patents, trade secrets, and IP strategy (copyright knowledge preferred) - Ensure regulatory compliance - Navigate evolving AI regulations, data privacy laws, and industry-specific compliance requirements What You’ll Need - 8+ years of commercial legal experience with a focus on technology companies and complex B2B contracts - Deep copyright expertise with a strong understanding of U.S. and international copyright law; experience advising on content ingestion, fair use, derivative works, licensing structures, and IP risk in AI/ML contexts - Proven track record in legal negotiations with enterprise customers and technical product legal matters - AI/ML legal expertise - Experience with AI model licensing, data usage rights, and emerging AI regulations - Technical product experience - Ability to understand and provide legal counsel on highly technical products and services - Corporate law background - Experience with fundraising, corporate governance, equity compensation, and employment law - Strong business acumen - Can balance legal risk with business objectives and contribute to strategic decisions - Leadership experience - Capable of building and managing legal teams as we scale - JD from top-tier law school with bar admission in relevant jurisdiction - Startup or high-growth company experience preferred This is an in-person opportunity in San Francisco. We're big believers in in-person culture! In addition to premium healthcare benefits (medical, dental, vision), we also offer fertility benefits and a monthly wellness stipend to all of our employees.