IP and Data Privacy Counsel

Surge AI; Oregon; Hybrid; USD 180,000 - 260,000; Full time

Job summary

Surge AI is seeking an IP and Data Privacy Counsel to be the in-house expert on data collection/handling, ownership, and privacy and IP law as AI work rapidly evolves.

You will join a small legal team, work with our General Counsel, and guide data terms in agreements while partnering with product, engineering, security, and HR to navigate growth with compliance in mind.

Qualifications

• Hands-on experience with US and EU/UK privacy laws, filings, compliance programs, and new legislation.
• Strong working knowledge of trademark and copyright, and current case law shaping AI content usage.

Responsibilities

• Advise on data privacy across US and EU/UK law and build our privacy program (policies, notices, DPA, cross-border transfers).
• Handle privacy filings and registrations and respond to regulator, customer, and contributor inquiries.
• Advise on copyright, trademark, and other IP questions in AI data work across Surge, customers, vendors, and contributors.
• Track litigation, legislation, and regulation on AI, data, and IP and alert to issues affecting the business.
• Set IP and data terms in customer and vendor agreements with our corporate counsel.
• Collaborate with product, engineering, security, and HR on new data flows and features.

Skills

Privacy law

Data protection

Trademark

Copyright

Regulatory compliance

Legal drafting

Cross-functional collaboration

Education

J.D. degree

Job description

About Us

Our mission is to raise AGI with the richness of human intelligence - curious, witty, imaginative, and full of unexpected brilliance.Surge was founded by engineers and researchers who dreamed of building the next generation of AI. Our platform powers the most capable models in the world, in partnership with the AI models you use every day.At Surge, we believe the path to AGI isn’t just about scaling compute - it’s about embracing the unlimited ceiling of human intelligence and creativity in the data that shapes these systems. Our platform combines elite human expertise with cutting-edge tools for scalable oversight, from building rich RL environments to conducting rigorous evaluations that go beyond benchmarks. We’ve run a profitable business from day one without raising venture funding.

The Role

As IP and Data Privacy Counsel at Surge, you’ll be our in-house expert on the legal questions at the center of our business: how data is collected and handled, who owns the data and content that AI systems are built on, and how our work fits into privacy and IP law that is changing quickly. You’ll be an early member of a new legal team and work directly with our General Counsel.

What You’ll Do

• Advise on data privacy across US and EU/UK law, and build and maintain our privacy program, including policies, notices, data processing agreements, and our approach to cross-border transfers.
• Handle privacy filings and registrations, and respond to regulator, customer, and contributor inquiries.
• Advise on copyright, trademark, and other IP questions that come up in AI data work, including how IP flows between Surge, our customers, our vendors and our contributors.
• Track litigation, legislation, and regulation on AI, data, and IP, and act as an early warning indicator for any issues that impact our business.
• Work with our corporate counsel to set IP and data terms in customer and vendor agreements.
• Partner with product, engineering, security, and HR on new data flows and features.
• Manage outside counsel, and decide what we handle in-house.
• Write guidance that people can actually use.

What We’re Looking for

• 5-10 years of experience as a lawyer, at a law firm (mid-level associate or higher) or in-house.
• Hands-on experience with US and EU/UK privacy laws, including filings, compliance programs, and following new legislation.
• Strong working knowledge of trademark and copyright, and of current case law, especially the cases shaping how AI companies use and produce content.
• Clear, practical communication. You give a recommendation and explain the risk in plain language, not a memo that avoids a call.
• Comfortable with ambiguity. You can structure a question nobody has answered yet and keep moving.
• Able to work with engineers, researchers, and business teams who want to move fast, and find a path that holds up legally.
• Genuinely curious about AI and how models are built and evaluated.
• Willing to do the work yourself, from drafting to filings, while the team is small, and interested in leading and developing new talent as we grow.