General Counsel
AE Studio is a bootstrapped AI company that combines frontier AI alignment research with applied AI consulting and production software development. It serves enterprises, startups, private-equity portfolios, schools, airlines, healthcare organizations, and other organizations with high-stakes AI needs.
About AE Studio
Founded in 2016, AE Studio operates as a bootstrapped product and technology studio with two connected divisions: frontier AI alignment research and applied AI services. Its applied work includes AI-native products, custom machine learning, agentic automation, knowledge graphs, AI platforms, evaluation, red-teaming, observability, and AI transformation. The company embeds senior technical and product teams with clients to build and operate production systems. Its published work covers airline revenue optimization, education technology, healthcare and neurotechnology, manufacturing automation, financial services, gaming, blockchain, and enterprise software. AE Studio states that it is self-funded, has no outside investors, and reinvests consulting profits into alignment research.
Skills
Candidate Availability
Required and preferred rules are kept separate and reflect the wording in the original posting.
About the Role
You will serve as the first in-house lawyer, advising executives and shaping commercial transactions, research grants, government contracts, university and research partnerships, intellectual property strategy, and corporate legal processes. You will negotiate agreements, provide practical guidance, manage outside counsel, and build a scalable legal function across rapidly evolving AI-related work.
Requirements
- JD from an accredited law school
- Active, good-standing membership in the California bar
- Strength in commercial transactions and technology or AI work
- Experience in intellectual property, nonprofit matters, grants, or government work is ideal
- Substantial in-house experience and/or strong law firm training
- Complete integrity and discretion with sensitive matters
- Comfort in a fast, ambiguous, high-ownership environment
- Business judgment and practical legal guidance
- Negotiation skills
- Ability to translate complex business dynamics into plain strategy
- Technical background or deep experience with technology and technical people
- Familiarity with AI tools in legal practice
- Strong organizational and process skills
- Systems mindset and ownership mentality
- Creativity in developing legal solutions
- Ability to work effectively with outside counsel
Responsibilities
- Shape deal terms for outcome-based and productized commercial work
- Help secure and administer research grants
- Shape collaborations with government agencies, research labs, and universities
- Develop government contracts and programs
- Own, license, protect, and publish intellectual property
- Handle NDAs and vendor agreements
- Manage employment and corporate governance matters
- Build processes that allow the legal function to scale
- Advise executives on key legal and business decisions
- Negotiate agreements and determine which terms require protection
- Manage relationships with outside counsel
Benefits
- Remote-first work
- Flexible schedules
- Health insurance
- Free lunches at the office
- Weekly knowledge-sharing talks
- Annual team retreat
- Regular performance-based raises
- Employee equity program
