IP and Regulatory Counsel

Code Metal; United States; Hybrid; USD 190,000 - 230,000; Full time

Job summary

Code Metal is seeking a legal professional to help build its intellectual property and regulatory function from the ground up. You will work with Engineering, Product, Research, and Marketing to protect innovations and move them into defense and national security contexts.

The role centers on IP and regulatory work, with opportunities to engage across the company's fast-moving initiatives and collaborate with cross-functional teams to shape policy, licensing, and compliance strategies.

Responsibilities

• Be one of the first members of Code Metal's small, dynamic legal team, reporting to the Head of Legal and partnering daily with engineers and researchers.
• Build and manage the company's global patent and trademark portfolios, including filing strategy, prosecution, docket and renewal management, and portfolio decisions across the U.S. and key international markets.
• Draft and prosecute patent applications covering software, AI and machine learning systems, compilers, code translation, verification methods, and related technologies.
• Advise on export control compliance under ITAR and the EAR, including jurisdiction and classification of software, models, and technical data.
• Advise on the AI regulatory landscape, including federal and Department of Defense AI policy, state AI laws, and international frameworks such as the EU AI Act.
• Review marketing, sales, and proposal materials and support claims substantiation to ensure descriptions of performance, accuracy, and verification capabilities are defensible.
• Prepare, review, negotiate, and administer IP agreements, including patent and technology licenses and collaborations with federal labs and universities.

Job description

About Code Metal

Code Metal is the leader in automated software engineering you can trust. As AI writes more of the world's code, the bottleneck in software has shifted from writing code to verifying it works, and AI cannot verify its own work with certainty. Code Metal takes a fundamentally different approach: constrain AI to what it does reliably, verify every step independently of the model using formal methods, and keep engineers in the loop on the decisions that matter. The result isn't code that probably works - it's code that is provably correct, with auditable proof. Customers including the U.S. Air Force, L3Harris, RTX, and Toshiba use Code Metal to modernize legacy code, optimize performance on real hardware, and move prototypes to production, fast. Founded in 2023 with offices in Boston and San Francisco, Code Metal is funded by Accel, Salesforce Ventures, B Capital, Smith Point Capital, J2 Ventures, Shield Capital, Overmatch, RTX, and others.

Learn more at codemetal.ai .

The Role

This is a chance to be one of the first members of the legal team and to build Code Metal's intellectual property and regulatory function from the ground up. You'll report directly to the Head of Legal and work closely with Engineering, Product, Research, and Marketing teams. You'll protect what makes our technology valuable and keep it moving lawfully into the defense and national security environments that depend on it.

You will sit at the center of how the company protects and commercializes its innovation. That means turning engineering breakthroughs into a strategic patent portfolio, building and defending our brands, and advising on the export control and AI regulatory frameworks that govern our products. You'll also review how we describe what our technology can do, and build the policies, training, and infrastructure a scaling company needs.

You will draw on technical fluency, sound commercial judgment, and excellent communication skills to take on novel, complex issues as they arise. We don't expect experience in every area below; we do expect a willingness to learn and adapt. The role is grounded in IP and regulatory work, but you'll have the chance to work across the full range of issues a fast moving company faces and to partner broadly across legal and the wider business.

What You'll Do

• Be one of the first members of Code Metal's small, dynamic legal team, reporting to the Head of Legal and partnering daily with engineers and researchers.
• Build and manage the company's global patent and trademark portfolios, including filing strategy, prosecution, docket and renewal management, and portfolio decisions across the U.S. and key international markets.
• Draft and prosecute patent applications covering software, AI and machine learning systems, compilers, code translation, verification methods, and related technologies. Respond to USPTO office actions, including subject matter eligibility rejections.
• Work with Engineering and Research on invention disclosures, patentability assessments, and choosing the right form of protection for each asset (patent, trade secret, copyright, or defensive publication). Help run the company's patent review process.
• Adviseon export control compliance under ITAR and the EAR, including jurisdictionand classification of software, models, and technical data. Ownclassification requests, license applications, and technology control plans, and manage outside specialists where needed.
• Adviseonthe AI regulatory landscape, including federal and DepartmentofDefense AI policy, state AI laws, and international frameworks such as the EU AI Act. Turndevelopmentsinto practical guidanceforproductand gotomarketdecisions.
• Reviewmarketing, sales, and proposal materialsand supportclaimssubstantiation,sothathowwe describeour technology’s performance, accuracy, and verification capabilitiesis accurate and defensible.
• Owndatarightsassertion, markings, and IP protection strategy underFAR,DFARS,andSBIR/STTR, working alongside Commercial Counsel on how those termsare negotiated.
• Prepare,review, negotiate,andadministerIPagreements, including patent and technologylicenses, joint‑developmentand sponsored research agreements,CRADAs and collaborations with federal labs and universities, confidentiality agreements, and IPassignments.
• ConductIPdue diligence for acquisitions, partnerships, and strategic investments, and support postclose integration of acquired IP.
• Conductfreedomto operate analysesand trademark clearance for new products, features, and brand names, and advisethe businessonthe results.
• Maintainthe company's confidentiality, invention assignment, and trade secret protection infrastructure, including open source use policies and controls on AI training data andmodeloutputs.
• Supportbrand protection, including trademarkoppositions, domain disputes, and enforcement actions.
• Adviseon infringementrisk, enforcement strategy, and defen