Corporate Counsel (Commercial and Intellectual Property)

Amca•El Segundo, CA

2d•$180,000 - $250,000•Onsite

About The Position

This role is for one of the first lawyers at Amca, reporting directly to the General Counsel. The position offers significant ownership of work from the outset, including acquisitions, commercial contracts, export controls, employment questions, intellectual property matters, and equity and debt financings, with the potential for growth into a larger role. While it's a generalist position, it is ideal for someone with IP experience looking to broaden their practice. Amca's mission is to restore America's ability to engineer critical systems and reinvigorate the cycle of creation by rapidly developing and manufacturing new components and subsystems for planes, military vehicles, and core infrastructure. They aim to increase the country's capacity to imagine and realize new systems by restoring antiquated supply chains.

Requirements

JD from an accredited law school.
3+ years of legal experience at a law firm or in-house.
Substantive intellectual property experience.
Active membership in good standing with the bar of at least one U.S. state, with the ability to become authorized to practice in California.
Demonstrated ability to own matters and reach a decision with limited supervision.
Excellent drafting and negotiation skills.
Ability to explain a legal position to engineers and executives without translating it into a memo first.
Comfortable operating in an ambiguous environment where processes and procedures are still being developed.
Must be a U.S. person within the meaning of ITAR (U.S. citizen, Green Card holder, or protected person).

Nice To Haves

Aerospace, defense, or hardware manufacturing background.
Experience building or administering a trade secret protection program.
Familiarity with U.S. government technical data and IP rights frameworks.
Mergers and acquisitions experience, particularly intellectual property diligence.
Experience as an early legal hire at a growing company.
Technical or engineering background sufficient to engage substantively with engineering teams.

Responsibilities

Draft, review, and negotiate various agreements including customer and supplier contracts, non-disclosure agreements, consulting and advisory agreements, and services agreements.
Own Amca’s intellectual property, including trade secret program, confidentiality and protective agreements, invention and disclosure intake, trademark and copyright strategy, and management of outside counsel.
Handle intellectual property transactions such as inbound and outbound licensing, joint development and collaboration agreements, IP allocation in customer and supplier terms, and intercompany ownership structure.
Support Amca’s acquisitions from diligence through closing and integration, including disclosure schedules, ancillary agreements, and post-closing entity and contract cleanup.
Support corporate governance and entity management, including board and stockholder consents, entity maintenance, and equity administration.
Partner with the government contracting function on technical data and IP rights, flow-downs, and commercial terms alongside federal requirements.
Assist in building a legal department from scratch, including contract management, templates, playbooks, intake processes, and managing outside counsel.