Compute & Infrastructure Counsel, Real Estate

United States Digital Space LLC; San Francisco (CA, WA); On-site; USD 265,000 - 335,000; Full time

Job summary

United States Digital Space LLC in San Francisco or Seattle seeks a Compute & Infrastructure Counsel, Real Estate to lead legal execution for large datacenter leases, construction agreements, and financing structures enabling infrastructure investments at scale. You will coordinate with outside counsel and internal teams (compute, finance, and corporate) to ensure legal work aligns with commercial objectives and the broader compute strategy.

Ideal candidates hold a JD and active U.S.

Qualifications

• JD and active membership in at least one U.S. state bar.
• Fluency in commercial real estate and construction contracting for datacenter leases and related financing structures.
• Experience with EPC, AIA, and design‑build arrangements at scale.

Responsibilities

• Negotiate long‑term datacenter leases with major developers and manage large capital commitments.
• Coordinate construction‑adjacent agreements including design‑build contracts and equipment procurement.
• Manage complex financing structures (sale‑leasebacks, tax components, project finance vehicles).
• Collaborate with outside counsel who specialize in real estate and financing to align work with commercial objectives.
• Partner with compute transaction managers for legal support and risk management in operations.

Skills

Commercial real estate

Construction contracting

Datacenter leases

Project finance

Financing structures

Outside counsel coordination

Risk assessment

Stakeholder communication

Education

JD and US state bar admission

Job description

About the company

the company’s mission is to create reliable, interpretable, and steerable AI systems. We want AI to be safe and beneficial for our users and for society as a whole. Our team is a quickly growing group of committed researchers, engineers, policy experts, and business leaders working together to build beneficial AI systems.

About the role

As Compute & Infrastructure Counsel, Real Estate at the company, you'll drive legal execution for the company's largest physical infrastructure transactions: direct datacenter leases, construction agreements, and the financing structures that enable infrastructure investments at massive scale. This role focuses on facilities where the company has direct control through ownership or long-term lease, complementing the colo & networks, and cloud compute legal teammates (facilities where the company is tenant, and our hyperscaler relationships, respectively). You'll work in close partnership with specialized outside counsel on financing and real estate matters, serving as the in-house coordinator who ensures external work product aligns with the company's commercial objectives and integrates with our overall compute strategy.

Responsibilities

• Negotiate long‑term datacenter leases with major developers, and represent some of the company's largest and lengthiest capital commitments
• Coordinate construction‑adjacent agreements including design‑build contracts, equipment procurement, and commissioning schedules
• Manage legal workstreams for complex financing structures (e.g., sale‑leasebacks, tax components, or project finance vehicles)
• Work closely with specialized outside counsel (real estate and financing specialists), ensuring their work product aligns with the company's commercial objectives
• Collaborate with compute team's transaction managers who handle operational execution and project management, providing legal and risk management expertise
• Coordinate with finance and corporate development on strategic deal structuring
• Understand how datacenter legal structures interact with the compute capacity they will house e.g., power requirements, cooling specifications, security standards, and expansion rights all flow from decisions made elsewhere in the Compute organization
• Escalate novel structures or terms that create downstream risk for the company's operational flexibility to managers; ensure facility designs accommodate AI‑specific requirements including high‑density power, liquid cooling infrastructure, and rapid scaling capacity

Minimum qualifications

• JD and active membership in at least one U.S. state bar
• Fluency in commercial real estate and construction contracting; datacenter lease structures, construction risk allocation, and financing arrangements (and how they will interact)
• Experience with EPC, AIA, and design‑build arrangements at scale
• Comfort with project finance structures and the interplay between lease, financing, and development agreements
• Ability to coordinate effectively with specialized outside counsel while maintaining strategic direction
• Strong judgment about when deal terms create downstream risk for operational flexibility
• Effective collaboration skills for working with business teams who handle transaction management and site selection
• Communication skills that translate complex real estate and financing concepts into clear risk assessments for business stakeholders
• Genuine interest in infrastructure development and appreciation for why datacenter capacity is mission‑critical for frontier AI

Preferred qualifications

• At least 8 years of relevant legal experience with meaningful exposure to infrastructure real‑estate transactions, project finance, or construction contracts
• In‑house experience at datacenter developers supporting leasing, project development, and financing transactions
• Background at infrastructure private equity firms with exposure to datacenter or similar infrastructure investments
• Experience at large technology companies with datacenter construction programs supporting development transactions from the buy side
• Law firm experience at practices with infrastructure finance or project development specialization, particularly those who have worked on datacenter, power, or similar infrastructure financings
• Prior involvement in transactions requiring sophisticated understanding of construction timelines, commissioning requirements, and operational handoff
• Familiarity with tax structures, sale‑leaseback arrangements, or other financing vehicles used in large‑scale infrastructure development

Role‑specific policy

For this role, we expect all staff to be able to work from our San Francisco or Seattle office at least 3 days a week.

Annual Salary

For sales roles, the range provided is the role’s On Target Earnings ("OTE") range, meaning that the range includes both the sales commissions/sales bonuses target and annual base salary for the role.

$265,000—$335,000 USD

Logistics Minimum education

Bachelor’s degree or an equivalent combination of education, training, and/or experience

Required field of study

A field relevant to the role as demonstrated through coursework, training, or professional experience

Minimum years of experience

Years of experience required will correlate with the internal job level requirements for the position

Location-based hybrid policy

Currently, we expect all staff to be in one of our offices at least 25% of the time. However, some roles may require more time in our offices.

Visa sponsorship

We do sponsor visas! However, we aren't able to successfully sponsor visas for every role and every candidate. But if we make you an offer, we will make every reasonable effort to get you a visa, and we retain an immigration lawyer to help with this.

Your safety matters to us

In some cases, we may partner with vetted recruiting agencies.