Fractional General Counsel

Gofractional; Berkeley (CA); Hybrid; USD 250,000 - 350,000; Part time

Benefits offered by this job

Health Insurance

401(k) matching

PTO 25 days

Paid Leave

WFH stipend

Catered lunches

Job summary

FAR.AI is seeking its first General Counsel to build the legal infrastructure from scratch and partner with leadership to shape the organization's future. This practical in-house leader will move quickly, flag issues that require outside counsel, and embed governance across the company.

You’ll own contracts, compliance, data privacy, IP, and employment policies across jurisdictions, leverage AI tools such as Claude for Legal, and help scale risk management as FAR.AI grows.

Qualifications

• Strong judgment and ability to translate legal complexity into clear recommendations.
• Experience across contracting, governance, employment, data privacy, and compliance.
• Proven track record building legal programs from scratch.
• Experience at a technology or AI company.
• Willingness to use AI legal tools like Claude for Legal.

Responsibilities

• Draft and negotiate contracts for grants, consulting, vendor agreements.
• Assess risk and advise on commercial terms.
• Oversee contractual compliance across government, commercial, and grants.
• Develop internal policies on employment, privacy, conflicts of interest.
• Support board governance and related-party matters.
• Advise on international hiring, visa issues, and policy updates.
• Lead data privacy and security programs including GDPR.
• Protect IP ownership and licensing across entities.
• Handle statutory reporting and regulatory filings.
• Contribute to risk register and cross-border issue resolution.

Skills

Strong judgment and clear recs

In-house experience

Build legal programs from scratch

Tech/AI company experience

AI legal tools awareness

Education

Juris Doctor (US)

Tools

Claude for Legal

Legal tech platforms

Job description

The Role

As our first General Counsel, you'll have the unique opportunity to build FAR.AI's legal infrastructure from scratch and work directly with leadership to shape the organization's future. We're looking for someone practical who has done it in-house, knows what good looks like, and is comfortable making clear calls quickly while flagging issues that warrant outside counsel. We're looking for an embedded legal partner who can assess risk in context and establish governance and controls that scale with us.

We expect our GC to use AI legal tools as a core part of their practice. Comfort using tools like Claude for Legal, or equivalents, is part of how we expect legal work to be done at FAR.AI.

Why This Role / Why Now

FAR.AI is entering a pivotal phase of growth, backed by over $75M in funding and expanding opportunities to shape how advanced AI systems are developed and governed. Our work spans technical research, policy, and operations, including partnerships, such as red-teaming frontier models with leading AI companies and governments. FAR.AI also runs the events, programs, HR, communications, and community spaces that connect the global AI safety ecosystem. We are leveling up our legal capacity as the scope and impact of our work accelerate.

Your work, as FAR.AI's General Counsel, will enable much of what we do, from funding AI safety research and events to expanding into new geographies. If you join, you're not supporting the organization; you're building the institutional backbone of a field that didn't exist five years ago.

For lawyers who enjoy building (e.g., would be excited to build a legal agent), who are proactive problem-solvers, and who roll up their sleeves to get things done, this is a rare opportunity to drive long-term societal impact.

Key Responsibilities

• Commercial contracting. Partner with leaders across the organization to review, advise, and draft contracts for grants, consulting agreements, vendor contracts, compute commitments, research partnerships, and any other needs. Advise on risk and commercial terms across the organization.

• Contractual compliance. Oversee FAR.AI's compliance obligations across its contract portfolio (government, commercial, and grant agreements), in coordination with the operations team.

• Internal policies. Support and build FAR.AI's policies across employment, data privacy, conflicts of interest, and related areas. Keep policies concise, current, practical, and accessible.

• Governance and related-party matters. Support board governance, related-party relationships, and compliance for the 501(c)(3), LLC, Singapore CLG, and future entities.

• Employment. Partner with the People team on offers, contractor agreements, visa issues, international hiring, performance matters, and policy updates. Keep FAR.AI compliant with employment law across jurisdictions.

• Data privacy and security. Partner with and advise Operations to improve and maintain our data protection program covering employee data, research data, and partner data. Support or own incident response readiness, partner diligence, and compliance (e.g., GDPR).

• Intellectual property. Steward IP ownership, licensing, and protection across entities and partnerships, including research IP, trademarks, and licenses.

• Statutory reporting and compliance. Support Operations on filings across entities: federal and state, Singapore, charity filings, registrations, and other obligations.

• Risk assessment. Contribute to the organization's risk register. Recommend mitigations proportionate to exposure. Own the solutioning of complex legal challenges e.g., cross-border, multi-jurisdictional exposure, export controls, etc. Engage external counsel when the situation warrants it.

Must-Have Qualifications

• Strong judgment and comfort making calls with imperfect information. You can translate legal complexity into clear recommendations for non-lawyers.

• Demonstrated experience across the full scope of a legal function: contracting, governance, employment, data privacy, and compliance. You don't need to be a specialist in all of them, but you do need experience in different areas.

• Track record of building, not just maintaining. You have stood up legal programs, or at least key parts, from scratch and made them stick.

• Experience at a technology or AI organization.

• Comfort using AI legal tools such as Claude for Legal or equivalent.

Nice-to-Have Qualifications

• Experience in fast-paced environments. You've worked in startups, nimble nonprofits, or high-growth teams before and can adapt to change quickly.

• Experience as in-house counsel.

• Nonprofit experience, including 501(c)(3) governance and grantmaking compliance.

• Experience with international entities, especially related-party flows, transfer pricing, EoR arrangements, and standing up subsidiaries.

• An active US bar membership in good standing.

• Experience contributing to an impact-driven organization or passionate about AI safety.

Employment Details

• Employment Type: Part time (full-time or part-time available; preference for part-time/fractional)
• Structure: Open to employment relationship, independent contractor engagement, or engagement through your firm
• Location: Berkeley, CA (onsite/hybrid) or Remote, based in the US; international remote considered for the right candidate
• Hours: Full-time: 40 hours/week; Part-time: 12 to 32 hours per week, depending on scope, with flexibility to adjust over time
• Reporting: Reports to a member of the executive team
• Compensation: $250K – $350K annualized salary based on structure and experience

Benefits

• Health Insurance - 94% of Insurance premium paid by Organization commencing within 1 month after your start date
• Retirement - 401(k) plan with up to 2% match
• PTO - 25 days Paid Time Off per year, accrued weekly and up to 10 days of paid sick leave per year
• Paid Leave - Paid Bereavement, Family, Medical and Pregnancy Disability Leave
• WFH Stipend & Equipment - Work computer and stipend provided for eligible employees
• Catered Lunches (Berkeley Office Only) - Catered lunches and dinners on workdays at our office

Benefits available only to full-time employees located in the US