Associate Legal Counsel

Apex.AI is seeking an Associate Legal Counsel to join our growing, dynamic legal team. The successful candidate will report directly to the VP, Legal & Compliance and will work with cross-functional teams across the company and its entities overseas. As Associate Legal Counsel at Apex.AI, you will advise the company on legal matters, mitigate risks, and ensure that our business operations comply with applicable laws and regulations. This is a fantastic opportunity to work with a forward-thinking team in the heart of Silicon Valley.

This role is a hybrid role with at least three days of presence in our Palo Alto office. Current work authorization in the United States is required.

What You'll Do—Responsibilities

• Contracting:
• Draft, review and negotiate technology contracts: Licensing agreements, partnership agreements, non-disclosure agreements, service agreements, data processing agreements, etc. 
• Provide legal guidance and analyses of applicable laws and regulations, particularly in the areas of intellectual property and software licensing 
• Draft templates, develop playbooks, create contracting SOPs 
• Provide legal content and guidance for CLM operations as needed


Compliance:
• Identify compliance issues, provide guidance and conduct periodic employee training & presentations on relevant legal and compliance issues 
• Contribute to ongoing efforts to create, improve and operationalize internal processes, develop best practices and create, update and maintain policies 
• Build and strengthen workflow processes between Legal and other departments to accelerate product development and deal-closing 
• Ensure company-wide compliance with applicable laws and regulations, in particular in the field of privacy (GDPR)


Assist in other legal matters as needed:
• General corporate issues 
• Manage trademark and patent portfolios 
• Manage memberships & partnerships 
• Assist with certification efforts, e.g. ISO certifications 

You Have

• JD Degree from an ABA-accredited law school or international equivalent 
• Active membership in good standing with the State Bar of California 
• Minimum of 4 years of experience practicing law, preferably with in-house experience in a technology or startup environment
• Experience with commercial technology transactions
• Team player with the ability to work independently
• Highly organized and strongly detail-oriented
• Ability to handle rapidly shifting priorities and circumstances with flexibility, patience, and humor
• Excellent communication skills to effectively collaborate and negotiate with both internal stakeholders and external business and legal teams
• Ability to balance legal risks with business strategy and goals
• Ability to easily break down complicated laws, regulatory frameworks and contract matters into understandable and approachable language
• Adaptability to a multicultural, fast-paced, and evolving environment 

Great to Have

• CLM experience (preferably Ironclad), incl. leveraging AI for legal efficiency 
• Experience in trademark and patent law 
• Foreign law degree  
• Language skills in German, Japanese or Korean would be a plus 


The base salary range for this role is $130,000-$200,000. Equity, benefits, and variable bonus will be provided as part of the compensation package. Not all candidates will be eligible for the upper end of the salary range. The exact salary will depend on multiple factors including the candidate's skills, experience, and other qualifications. 

Apex.AI is an international developer of safety-certified base software, enabling a faster transition to software-defined vehicles and software-defined mobility. The company’s software products are based on proven open-source software, such as ROS or Eclipse iceoryx. Through a proprietary process, we add what is necessary to support commercial and safety-critical applications such as functional safety, real-time determinism and flawless performance. The company's flagship product is Apex.Grace, an automotive-grade, real-time, reliable software development kit. Apex.AI’s headquarters is located in Palo Alto, CA, USA, with offices in Berlin, Munich, Stuttgart in Germany, Gothenburg in Sweden, Tokyo in Japan and Pangyo in South Korea. To date, Apex.AI has raised over $75 million USD from world-class venture, financial and strategic investors, including AGCO, Airbus Ventures, Canaan, Continental AG, Daimler Truck, HELLA Ventures, Jaguar Land Rover’s InMotion Ventures, Lightspeed, Orillion, Toyota Ventures, Volvo Group Venture Capital and ZF.

Apex.AI participates in E-Verify, the United States federal program for electronic verification of employment eligibility.