Commercial Counsel Fellowship

Runway; United States; Hybrid; USD 140,000 - 190,000; Full time

Job summary

Runway is seeking a Commercial Counsel Fellow (1 year, full-time) in the U.S. to draft and negotiate commercial agreements, learn our in-house practice, and grow with the AI-focused legal team.

You’ll collaborate across sales, partnerships, product, and marketing while gaining hands-on experience with live deals and mentorship from senior in-house lawyers. A J.D. and bar admission are required, with 0–3 years of legal experience. Start date flexible.

Qualifications

• Must have a J.D. and bar admission in good standing with at least one state bar.
• 0–3 years of legal experience in a law firm, clerkship, in-house or government role.
• Strong academic record and excellent legal writing and analytical skills.
• Bias for action and willingness to take ownership.
• Growth mindset and eagerness to learn quickly, take feedback, and improve processes.
• Clear, practical communication with non-lawyers.
• Operational mindset.
• Excitement about generative AI and motivation to learn more about the legal landscape.
• Nice to have: exposure to tech transactions, SaaS agreements, IP, or data privacy.
• Experience using AI tools in your legal work.
• Familiarity with how AI or software products are built.

Responsibilities

• Draft, review, and negotiate commercial agreements including B2B SaaS contracts for our AI platform and APIs.
• Partner with sales to provide fast, practical answers to close deals.
• Scale and automate commercial processes and templates, playbooks, and contract review tools.
• Learn the technical side of our generative AI products to ground advice in how they work.
• Research and track developments in generative AI law and share relevant insights with the team.
• Contribute to broader legal team projects like privacy, IP, product counseling, or compliance.

Skills

Legal writing

Analytical skills

Bias for action

Growth mindset

Clear communication with non-lawyers

Operational mindset

Generative AI enthusiasm

AI tools experience

Willingness to learn quickly

Education

J.D. with bar admission

Tools

SaaS agreements

Technology transactions

IP & data privacy

Job description

We are building AI to simulate the world through merging art and science.

We believe that world models are at the frontier of progress in artificial intelligence. Language models alone won’t solve the world’s hardest problems – robotics, disease, scientific discovery. Real progress requires models that experience the world and learn from their mistakes, the same way that humans do. And this kind of trial and error can be massively accelerated when done in simulation, rather than in the real world.

World models offer the most clear path to general-purpose simulation, changing how stories are told, how scientific progress is made and how the next frontiers of humanity are reached.

Our team consists of creative, open minded, caring and ambitious people who are determined to change the world. We aspire to continuously build impossible things and our ability to do so relies on building an incredible team. If you are driven to do the same, we'd love to hear from you.

*Titles posted to our careers page are updated regularly to best advertise the role and expected seniority, but internally we have a flat titling system with two types of titles: one for individual contributors and one for people managers.

About the rolePreferable to have someone near one of our offices in NYC or San Francisco.

the company’s Commercial Counsel Fellowship is an intensive, full-time, 1 year venture dedicated to fostering high caliber early-career lawyers who want to build real in-house experience at a fast-moving AI company. You'll work directly alongside our Commercial Counsel team on live deals from your first weeks, with hands-on training and mentorship along the way.

No prior commercial or in-house experience is required. We care more about sharp judgment, strong writing, and a fast learning curve than a specific background. Comfort working in a highly technical, rapidly evolving area of the law is a must. Whether you're coming from a law firm, a clerkship, or straight out of law school, we'll teach you how to negotiate commercial agreements and partner with the business.

What you'll do

• Draft, review, and negotiate the company's commercial agreements, including B2B SaaS customer contracts for our generative AI platform and APIs, DPAs, partnership agreements, and vendor agreements, taking on more complex deals as you ramp
• Partner with the sales team with fast, practical answers that help close deals
• Help scale and automate our commercial processes and tools, including templates, playbooks, contract review automation, and our legal tech stack
• Learn the technical side of our generative AI products inside and out, so your advice to the business is grounded in how they work
• Research and track technical, legal, and policy developments in generative AI, and share what matters with the team
• Depending on your interests, contribute to projects across the broader legal team, such as privacy, IP, product counseling, or compliance

What you'll get

• Hands-on training in commercial contracting and in-house practice, with real ownership from early on
• Mentorship from experienced in-house lawyers, with regular feedback on your work
• Exposure to cross-functional teams across sales, partnerships, product, and marketing, and to the the company Executive Team
• A front-row seat to the legal questions shaping generative AI video
• Potential to convert to a full-time role at the end of the fellowship, in Commercial Counsel or another area of the legal team

What you’ll need

• A J.D. plus admission in good standing with at least one state bar (or sitting for the bar before the fellowship starts)
• 0–3 years of legal experience, for example at a law firm, in a clerkship, in an in-house or government role
• A strong academic record and excellent legal writing and analytical skills
• Bias for action and a willingness to take ownership
• Growth mindset and an eagerness to learn quickly, take feedback, and improve how things get done
• Clear, practical communication with non-lawyers
• Operational mindset
• Excitement about generative AI and motivation to continuously learn more about the legal landscape governing a new and exciting industry

Nice to have

• Exposure to technology transactions, SaaS agreements, IP, or data privacy, through practice, coursework, a clinic, or a summer associate role
• Experience using AI tools in your own legal work
• Familiarity with how AI or software products are built

FAQs

• Are there specific fellowship start dates or can I start anytime?
• We do not currently have specific start dates. Start dates can be year round.
• I am 10 years out of law school. Can I still apply for the fellowship?
• The fellowship is meant for early‑career lawyers (first 3 years of legal practice). However, lots of lawyers take different, non‑traditional paths. If you are an experienced lawyer who is early in your commercial counsel career, you are still welcome to apply. Explain your career transition and interest in commercial legal work in your application.

the company strives to recruit and retain exceptional talent from diverse backgrounds while ensuring pay equity for our team. Our salary ranges are based on competitive market rates for our size, stage and industry, and salary is just one part of the overall compensation package we provide.

There are many factors that go into salary determinations, including relevant experience, skill level and qualifications assessed during the interview process, and maintaining internal equity with peers on the team. The range shared below is a general expectation for the function as posted, but we are also open to considering candidates who may be more or less experienced than outlined in the job description. In this case, we will communicate any updates in the expected salary range.

Lastly, the provided range is the expected salary for candidates in the U.S. Outside of those regions, there may be a change in the range, which again, will be communicated to candidates.

Working at RunwayGreat things come from great teams. We’d love to hear from you.

We’re committed to creating a space where our employees can bring their full selves to work and have equal opportunity to succeed. So regardless of race, gender identity or expression, sexual orientation, religion, origin, ability, age, veteran status, if joining this mission speaks to you, we encourage you to apply.

More about the company

• Universal World Simulator
• GWM-1
• Gen-4.5
• General World Models
• Robotics SDK
• Conversational Real-time Agents
• the company Studios

We're excited to be recognized as a best place to work:

Crain's | InHerSight | BuiltIn NYC | INC

Compensation: $140K – $190K