Corporate Legal Director (R6494)

Shield AI•San Mateo, CA

6d•Onsite

About The Position

Shield AI is seeking a Director, Legal to provide hands-on legal leadership across product counseling; marketing, AI governance and privacy; technology and company compliance programs; and general corporate, employment and litigation matters. The role supports teams that build, ship and sell Hivemind and the company’s other software, as well as People Experience (PX), Marketing and IT. It is a builder’s role focused on establishing scalable programs, policies, processes and playbooks that enable rapid development and growth while managing risk in a highly regulated environment. The Director will advise across the full product lifecycle and on AI, autonomy, data use, software, dual-use technology, IP and commercial terms. The role also covers marketing and communications review, AI governance, privacy program development, open-source software compliance, authorized and acceptable-use policies, technology controls and public-company readiness. Additional work includes employment matters, disputes and litigation, corporate projects, M&A support, outside-counsel management, and mentoring legal professionals. The position is on-site at one of Shield AI’s offices. It reports to the Senior Director, Legal, and works closely with the Chief Legal Officer and the broader Legal and Security teams. The successful candidate will bring executive and external credibility, strong action orientation amid shifting priorities, and a practical, needs-driven approach to building programs. Shield AI describes its working approach as being rigorous and going fast.

Requirements

J.D. from an accredited law school and active membership in at least one U.S. state bar.
12 or more years of legal experience, including substantial in-house product-counsel experience at a high-growth technology, software, AI, aerospace or defense company.
Deep experience in product counseling and technology transactions, including software licensing and distribution across on-premises, SaaS, embedded, OEM and channel models, and strategic technology partnerships.
Demonstrated experience building or running privacy and AI governance programs, with working knowledge of GDPR, CCPA/CPRA, the EU AI Act and NIST AI Risk Management Framework.
Hands-on experience building or running an open-source software compliance program and drafting technology policies such as acceptable-use and AI-use policies.
Experience advising marketing and communications teams on advertising, promotions and public claims.
Working knowledge of employment law and experience managing litigation and disputes with outside counsel.
Executive presence and communication skills to advise C-suite executives and senior leaders and credibly represent the company to external partners and customers.
Highly action-oriented, with a record of managing many projects and workflows simultaneously and delivering quickly amid urgent and shifting priorities.
Comfort operating at strategic and tactical levels in a lean, high-tempo environment, with a practical, risk-based approach that enables the business.

Nice To Haves

Experience supporting a large, fast-growing private company through late-venture stages to public-company or larger-private-company maturity.
Experience in AI/ML, autonomy, robotics, aerospace/aviation or dual-use technologies, and familiarity with defense and government-contracting requirements such as ITAR/EAR, DFARS data rights, FedRAMP and CMMC.
Privacy or AI governance certification, such as CIPP/US, CIPP/E or AIGP.
Experience with M&A due diligence and post-close integration, including integration of acquired products and teams.
Experience with international operations across Europe, the Middle East or Asia-Pacific.
Experience building and mentoring legal teams and deploying AI-enabled legal tools and processes.
Experience at a leading law firm.

Responsibilities

Serve as a primary legal partner to Product, Engineering, Program Management, Customer Success, Information Security and Business Development throughout the product lifecycle for Hivemind and other software offerings.
Advise on legal and regulatory issues involving AI, autonomy, data use, software and dual-use technology, including IP ownership, training data, model rights, third-party and foundation-model use, output ownership, and government data rights.
Structure, draft and negotiate software licenses, SDK and developer terms, end-user license agreements, and partner agreements, including OEM, platform integration, reseller, aggregator, joint development, technology licensing and data-sharing arrangements.
Build and operate scalable product-counsel processes, including feature and launch reviews, legal intake, playbooks, standard positions, contractual fallbacks and self-service guidance.
Partner with Trade Compliance on export classification and ITAR/EAR controls, and with Government Contracts on product licensing, DFARS data rights, cybersecurity requirements and flow-downs.
Coordinate with IP counsel on invention disclosures, patents, trade secrets, freedom-to-operate issues and protection of sensitive technology.
Review marketing and communications activities, including campaigns, product claims, press releases, social media, trade shows, events, sponsorships, contests, promotions and customer or partner case studies.
Coordinate appropriate clearance of public content regarding government customers, programs and technical capabilities, and build an AI-assisted marketing review process.
Help lead the AI Governance program, support its committee, maintain the AI use-case risk rubric and inventory, and develop policies, standards and controls for product AI and internal AI tools.
Translate AI frameworks and laws into practical requirements, including the EU AI Act, NIST AI Risk Management Framework, U.S. federal and state AI laws, and Department of Defense responsible-AI and autonomy policy.
Advise IT, Security and enterprise teams on AI vendor and model-provider agreements, AI procurement, data-processing terms and agentic AI use cases.
Develop and run parts of the privacy program, including privacy-by-design reviews, notices, data-processing agreements, cross-border transfers, data mapping and data-subject requests under applicable privacy laws.
Partner with PX and IT on employee and candidate data, data-sensitivity labeling and enterprise data governance; develop standard responses to recurring customer AI, privacy and security questionnaires.
Design, document and implement technology and software-development policies, processes and controls in support of public-company readiness and company maturity.
Build and scale the open-source software compliance program, including policies, intake and approval workflows, license review, SBOM and software-composition-analysis tooling, remediation and outbound contribution policy.
Develop, roll out and maintain AI, authorized-use and acceptable-use policies for internal AI, IT and data use, and customer-facing Hivemind and other software terms, including terms for customer AI and agentic systems.
Partner with Finance, Internal Audit, IT and Security on legal input for controls and certifications, including SOX IT general controls, ISO 27001 and CMMC; establish policy governance, ownership, review cadence, attestations and training.
Prepare IP and technology records for diligence, including chain of title, inventories of inbound licenses and third-party software and data, contract repository hygiene, and input on AI, privacy, cybersecurity and IP risk disclosures.
Train teammates on policies and processes so compliance is incorporated into everyday engineering, product and business work.
Partner with PX and employment counsel on workplace investigations, separations and releases, restrictive covenants, contractor classification, handbook and policy updates, and multi-state and international employment questions.
Help manage litigation, arbitration and pre-litigation disputes with outside counsel, including strategy, budgets, legal holds, demand letters, and IP and commercial disputes, at the direction of the Senior Director, Legal and Chief Legal Officer.
Support M&A due diligence and post-close integration, strategic partnerships and investments, Board and executive materials within the role’s scope, and other special initiatives.
Manage outside counsel and legal spend efficiently, with clear scopes, budgets and outcomes.
Collaborate with executives, business leaders, engineers, operators, external partners, customers, government stakeholders and outside counsel, adapting communication to the audience.
Manage concurrent projects and workflows, reprioritize as needs and timelines shift, own matters through completion, anticipate next steps, escalate issues with options and recommendations, and follow through.
Mentor and develop attorneys and legal professionals and help build and scale the team supporting PX, Marketing, IT/AI and Hivemind.
Build and improve templates, playbooks and trackers, and use legal technology and AI-enabled tools to improve speed, consistency and quality.
Handle confidential, sensitive and export-controlled information with discretion and professionalism.