Director, Commercial Legal

Penguin Solutions•Durham, NC

8d•$225,000 - $260,000•Hybrid

About The Position

At Penguin Solutions (Nasdaq: PENG) – The AI Factory Platform Company – we’re building a team of innovators who thrive on collaboration, creativity, and the opportunity to help shape the future of AI. As part of the AI technology revolution, our teams design, build, deploy, and manage AI factories for enterprises, sovereign AI initiatives, and neocloud providers worldwide. Headquartered in Silicon Valley, California, Penguin Solutions operates globally through a network of R&D, manufacturing, and sales locations. For nearly three decades, we have operated at the intersection of memory and AI/HPC infrastructure. That engineering expertise positions us to power the next generation of AI workloads, from training to inference and agentic AI at scale. Penguin Solutions brings together differentiated infrastructure software, advanced memory, compute systems, end-to-end services, and industry-leading partner solutions in a full-stack AI factory platform designed to help customers deploy and scale AI workloads with speed and precision. At Penguin Solutions, we value ideas over hierarchy and believe in servant leadership, where leaders enable teams to do their best work. We empower employees to take ownership, drive innovation, and grow through challenging work, continuous learning, and exposure to advanced AI tools and technologies. With flexibility where it matters and a strong focus on outcomes, Penguin Solutions is a place to do your best work, grow your career, and make a meaningful impact. Job Overview We are seeking a Director, Commercial Legal to serve as a key legal partner supporting high-impact, global commercial transactions across our AI infrastructure, memory, and advanced computing businesses. The level will depend on experience, but the mandate is clear: this person will be the day-to-day owner of the company's commercial legal function for large, complex transactions, with significant autonomy to shape strategy and priorities. This is a position at the center of a rapidly scaling AI business where you will own and drive large, complex commercial transactions end-to-end, while managing a high-volume, diverse portfolio of commercial deals. Your work will span everything from routine vendor and procurement agreements to complex, high-value transactions that enable production-scale AI deployments for enterprise and next-generation customers. You will work closely with sales, operations, supply chain, and product teams to structure, negotiate, and execute agreements that directly support Penguin’s strategic growth and customer expansion. The ideal candidate brings a strong commercial foundation, thrives in a dynamic environment, and can translate legal risk into business velocity, while knowing when to escalate novel or high-risk issues. Why This Role Front-row seat to the AI infrastructure transformation from training to inference and enterprise deployment Direct impact on strategic, revenue-generating transactions Ownership of a broad, high-volume deal portfolio spanning routine agreements to strategic, novel transactions Exposure to cutting-edge technologies (AI systems, memory architectures, data center infrastructure) High visibility across legal leadership and business teams Opportunity to help scale contracting frameworks for a rapidly growing global platform company

Requirements

JD from an accredited law school
Active bar membership in good standing
12+ years of relevant legal experience, with substantial commercial contracting expertise
Demonstrated ability to independently negotiate complex customer and vendor agreements
Experience supporting technology, hardware, infrastructure, or supply chain-driven businesses
Strong business judgment and ability to translate legal risk into practical guidance
Excellent communication skills with both legal and non-legal stakeholders
Comfort operating in a remote, fast-paced, and cross-functional environment
Comfortable using AI tools in legal workflows, with an interest in identifying opportunities to deploy AI to improve efficiency, quality, and scalability within the legal function.
Highly pragmatic, business-oriented, and solutions-driven
Comfortable operating with autonomy and accountability
Strong collaborator across technical and commercial teams
Curious and adaptable in a rapidly evolving AI landscape
Organized and capable of managing multiple priorities
Positive, low-ego, and team-oriented

Nice To Haves

Experience in AI infrastructure, data centers, memory systems, or advanced computing environments
Familiarity with export controls or regulated customer environments
In-house experience at a high-growth technology or infrastructure company
Prior law firm experience handling complex commercial transactions

Responsibilities

Own large, complex commercial transactions end-to-end, from structuring through negotiation and execution, while independently managing a range of deal complexity from standard to highly customized, strategic transactions
Lead drafting, review, and negotiation of simple to complex commercial agreements, including: Enterprise customer agreements for AI infrastructure and hardware solutions Vendor, supplier, and procurement agreements Supply chain, manufacturing, logistics, and distribution arrangements
Balance legal risk, deal velocity, and commercial objectives in a fast-moving environment
Provide clear, actionable guidance to business stakeholders on contract structure, risk allocation, and negotiation strategy
Support transactions involving AI infrastructure deployments, hardware systems, and memory-driven architectures
Advise on key issues including: Delivery, acceptance, and performance standards Warranty frameworks and support models Liability allocation in complex, multi-party environments Downstream customer and ecosystem obligations
Partner closely with operations and supply chain teams to ensure contracts align with real-world deployment and scaling requirements
Identify recurring risk patterns and drive standardization and scalability in contracting approaches
Act as a trusted advisor to sales, product, finance, and operations teams
Enable efficient deal execution by delivering practical, business-oriented legal solutions
Support Penguin’s expansion into enterprise, neocloud, and sovereign AI markets, including longer-cycle, high-value deployments
Contribute to development of: Contract templates and playbooks Scalable processes for increasing deal volume Training and enablement for business teams
Exercise strong judgment in determining when to act independently versus escalate
Spot and escalate regulatory, compliance, or non-standard risk issues
Support transactions involving regulated or government-adjacent customers, as applicable