Lead Commercial Counsel or Senior Commercial Counsel – New York City, NY (984-SLS)

Job description

Our client, a trusted AI platform built specifically for the finance industry, has exclusively retained Solutus Legal Search to assist the Company in its search for a Lead Commercial Counsel or Senior Commercial Counsel to join its growing legal team. This attorney will partner with the Company’s Head of Legal and scale the company’s contracting function. Strong leadership opportunity. This is a high‑impact role for a business-minded attorney who can work independently and build the legal infrastructure that enables the Company to scale with speed and consistency. ### Responsibilities include: - Advising stakeholders on legal issues and concepts. - Leading end-to-end negotiations of high-value MSAs and other commercial agreements with major banks and financial institutions. - Owning negotiations with data and content providers, including data‑licensing and partnership agreements. - Partnering closely with the Sales, Product, Security and Operations teams to structure business-aligned agreements and translate complex legal concepts into clear, actionable guidance. - Implementing and managing the Company’s commercial contracting infrastructure: operationalizing legal tech tools to increase efficiency and design negotiation templates, playbooks and approval workflows. - Partnering with the Head of Legal on high-impact strategic initiatives. ### Requirements: - Must be licensed to practice law in at least one jurisdiction. - A JD from a top law school and 5–9+ years of legal experience, with a strong preference for top-tier law firm training in a technology transactions, IP or emerging companies practice group and/or in-house experience at a high-growth SaaS, data or AI company. - Demonstrated experience owning and closing commercial agreements independently and strong working knowledge of IP licensing, privacy, data-use rights and AI. - Prior experience implementing and managing legal tech tools and enthusiasm about building scalable systems and processes from scratch. - Genuine interest in new technologies, software and finance. - Sound commercial judgment and comfort making decisions in a fast‑moving start-up environment. ### The ideal candidate: - **You thrive in fast-paced environments.**You are high-intensity and care a lot about what you do, and you're ecstatic to work at a startup. - **You are ambitious.**You have fun solving problems that others think are impossible. - **You are curious.** You find joy in learning about AI, technology, and finance. - **You are an owner.** You are autonomous, self-directed, and comfortable working with ambiguity. - **You are collaborative, organized, thoughtful, and kind**.