Head of Legal (AI)

Location: Hybrid in San Carlos, California, with 3+ days per week onsite; all work must be performed in the United States. Only U.S. Persons may be hired due to export control regulations. Visa sponsorship and visa transfers are not available.

Salary: $225,000–$275,000 annual base salary plus equity.

Company

hirify.global is a defense tech and dual-use company building an AI platform for safer, more efficient aviation, supported by Department of Defense contracts and partnerships with major airlines.

What you will do

• Own intake, drafting, review, negotiation support, signature, and filing for NDAs, vendor agreements, consulting agreements, partnership and pilot agreements, MSAs, and SOWs.
• Maintain contract templates, fallback positions, approval workflows, obligation trackers, and renewal records.
• Coordinate government and prime/subcontract agreements, flowdowns, outside counsel reviews, and escalation decisions.
• Manage invention assignment, contractor IP, employment agreement, confidentiality, separation, patent, trademark, and open-source compliance workflows.
• Own operational workflows such as vendor onboarding, insurance renewals, corporate filings, document retention, signature authority, and related tooling administration.
• Translate legal advice into actionable next steps for executives and cross-functional teams while reducing routine legal and operations workload for founders.

Requirements

• 5+ years of in-house or law firm legal support experience for the senior paralegal/contracts and operations path, or a Juris Doctor and ideally legal practice experience for the former lawyer path.
• Hands-on experience with commercial contract negotiation and end-to-end process ownership.
• Excellent organization, writing, prioritization, judgment, and ability to identify risks and escalate appropriately.
• Ability to communicate tradeoffs in plain English and work directly with executives and cross-functional partners.
• Must be a U.S. Person and able to perform all work in the United States.

Nice to have

• Government contracting knowledge, including FAR/DFARS basics, prime and subcontract agreements, and flowdowns.
• Export controls familiarity.
• IP workflow experience, including invention intake, patent counsel coordination, and open-source compliance.
• Startup experience.

Culture & Benefits

• Hybrid work with at least three onsite days per week in San Carlos.
• 100% of employee medical premiums covered and 25% of dependent premiums covered.
• Three weeks of paid time off and 13+ paid company holidays.
• 401(k) plan offered without a current employer match.
• Small, focused teams with direct ownership, rapid execution, and low bureaucracy.