Commercial Counsel

Exa; New York (NY); On-site; USD 180,000 - 240,000; Full time

Job summary

Exa is building the search engine for the AI era. As an early in-house lawyer, you will scale a world class legal function, negotiating enterprise deals and handling data licensing and procurement, with a focus on the East Coast, EMEA, and APJ.

You'll shape templates, playbooks, and processes, support compliance, data privacy, and legal operations, and collaborate closely with GTM and cross-functional teams from our San Francisco or New York offices.

Qualifications

• JD, LLB or equivalent law degree and in-house counsel eligibility.
• 3–5 years of commercial legal experience with EMEA and APJ.
• Experience working across time zones with EMEA and APJ teams.
• Experience building processes and systems for legal operations.

Responsibilities

• Draft, review, and negotiate complex commercial agreements including data licensing and vendor contracts.
• Partner with GTM and other teams to enable deal velocity and provide practical legal guidance.
• Help build and scale contract templates, playbooks, and processes in the company.
• Provide guidance on compliance, data privacy, and legal operations.

Skills

Communication

Cross-functional communication

Self-motivation

Legal drafting

Education

Juris Doctor (JD)

Tools

AI tools

Job description

About Exa

We raised a $250M Series C to build the search engine for AIs. Led by a16z, with existing investors Benchmark, Lightspeed, and YC doubling down, the round brings Exa's valuation to $2.2 billion.

Exa is building a search engine for the AI era. Our Search API currently powers Agents, Fortune 500s, and AI labs as we transform an industry that hasn't been disrupted since the 90s. We're a team of ~100 from Harvard, MIT, Meta, Google Research, ex-founders, and dropouts alike. We are rapidly building the most intelligent search engine in history. We're high agency, low-ego, and united by the feeling that this is one of the last problems worth getting right.

About the Role

You will be an early legal hire and help scale a world class legal function at a leading AI company. In this role, you'll partner closely with GTM and other teams to negotiate and close enterprise customer deals, focusing on the East Coast and EMEA and APJ regions. You’ll also handle a range of other commercial work, including data licensing and procurement. As an early legal hire, you’ll also help shape the templates, playbooks, and processes that form the company’s legal foundation. You’ll also provide substantial support in other areas, including compliance, data privacy, and legal operations.

For this role, we expect the ability to work from our San Francisco or New York offices 5 days a week, though we encourage you to apply even if you might need some flexibility for a period of time.

Responsibilites:

• Draft, review, and negotiate complex commercial agreements, including customer, data licensing, and vendor contracts

• Partner closely with GTM and other teams to enable deal velocity and provide practical legal guidance
• Help build and scale the legal infrastructure, including contract templates, playbooks, and processes
• Provide guidance on compliance, data privacy, and legal operations

What you bring:

• A law degree (JD, LLB, or equivalent) and meet the local licensing requirements to work as in-house counsel where you'll be based

• At least 3-5 years of legal experience, with substantial commercial legal experience in EMEA and APJ
• Experience working effectively across time zones, particularly with teams in EMEA and APJ
• Experience building processes and systems from the ground up
• Experience leveraging AI tools in your daily work
• Excellent communication skills and ability to translate legal advice for cross-functional teams
• Embody our values of humility, urgency, and agency
• A self-starter who thrives in a fast-paced, small-team environment

Exa is an equal opportunity employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, creed, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, national origin, disability, age, veteran status, marital status, pregnancy or related conditions, criminal histories consistent with applicable law, or any other basis protected by applicable law.