Managing Counsel, Commercial

Waabi; San Francisco (CA); On-site; USD 192,000 - 250,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Competitive compensation and equity

Health and Wellness benefits

Unlimited vacation

Flexible hours

Work from home support

Daily meals and snacks

Team events

Company growth opportunities

Job summary

Waabi, a leader in Autonomous Transportation, seeks a Managing Counsel, Commercial, to lead the company's commercial contracting function and act as the senior legal advisor on strategic deals. You will manage the full contract portfolio, draft and negotiate across hardware, software, suppliers, and partnerships, and build scalable templates and playbooks.

The role requires 8+ years of legal experience, strong in-house background, and the ability to translate complex contract risk for engineers

Qualifications

• 8+ years of legal experience, with significant in-house time handling complex commercial transactions in automotive, hardware, or tech.
• Ability to translate contract risk into plain language for engineers, product, and finance teams.
• Experience structuring and negotiating OEM and corp-dev–style agreements; building from scratch as needed.
• Experience building or maintaining a forms library, templates, or contracting playbooks.
• Ability to manage a broad portfolio of agreements end-to-end without handoffs.

Responsibilities

• Lead Waabi's commercial contracting function across hardware supply chain, partnerships, software licensing, services, and NDAs.
• Draft, structure, and negotiate hardware supply agreements with Tier 1 suppliers and OEMs.
• Lead legal work on strategic partnerships, OEM collaborations, and corporate development engagements supporting robotaxi and autonomous trucks.
• Advise cross-functional teams in plain language to keep deals on track and provide clear risk guidance.
• Collaborate with engineers and business teams during negotiations to understand what is being built and how the deal works.
• Build and maintain templates, fallback positions, and negotiation playbooks to scale contracting processes.
• Own contract compliance company-wide and enforce post-signature obligations.
• Apply sound risk judgment to focus on material issues while delegating less impactful items.

Skills

In-house experience

Clear communication

Plain-language legal advice

Risk assessment

Contract playbooks

Education

J.D. and bar membership (US or Canada)

Tools

Contract management software

Job description

Waabi, founded by AI visionary Raquel Urtasun, is the leader in Physical AI. With a world-class team, we're unlocking the next era of autonomous transportation with technology that's powering commercial autonomous trucks and robotaxis. Waabi is backed by and partners with world leaders in AI, automotive, logistics, and deep tech. With offices in Toronto, San Francisco, Dallas, and Pittsburgh, Waabi is growing quickly and looking for diverse, innovative and collaborative candidates who want to impact the world in a positive way. To learn more visit: www.waabi.ai

About The Role

As Managing Counsel, Commercial, you will be responsible for Waabi's commercial contracting function and serve as the senior legal advisor on the deals that drive the business forward. Waabi builds autonomous trucks and robotaxis, and the commercial relationships behind that work range from component supply agreements with Tier 1 manufacturers to landmark OEM partnerships that define how Waabi's technology reaches the market. You will manage the full contract portfolio — routine NDAs and vendor agreements alongside critical supply chain contracts and high-stakes strategic partnerships — and own the process end to end: intake, drafting, negotiation, execution, and post-signature compliance. You will also build the templates, playbooks, and processes that allow Waabi to contract more efficiently as it scales.

You will...

• Lead Waabi's commercial contracting function, managing agreements across the full portfolio: hardware supply chain, strategic partnerships, software licensing and SaaS, professional services, consulting, testing, NDAs, vendor contracts.
• Structure, draft, and negotiate hardware supply chain agreements with Tier 1 suppliers and OEMs.
• Lead the legal work on strategic partnerships, including OEM and platform partnerships and corporate development engagements supporting robotaxi and autonomous truck adoption and use.
• Advise engineering, supply chain, finance, and business development teams in plain language — translate contract risk into clear, actionable guidance that keeps deals on track.
• Work directly alongside technical and business colleagues throughout negotiations — know what we're building and how the business works, know what's worth pushing back on, and help close deals efficiently.
• Build and maintain a forms library — templates, fallback positions, and negotiation playbooks across contract types — so the company contracts more consistently and efficiently as it scales.
• Own contract compliance company-wide, partnering with other functions to track and enforce obligations after signature.
• Apply sound risk judgment across the portfolio — distinguish real exposure from noise.
• Support additional legal workstreams as needed, including IP matters, open-source license review, regulatory questions touching commercial agreements, and data privacy issues arising from commercial deals.

Qualifications

Required

Required:

• 8+ years of legal experience, with significant time in-house, handling complex commercial transactions in the automotive, hardware, or technology space.
• Demonstrated depth in hardware supply chain agreements — you understand automotive supply chain practice, IP ownership and licensing structures, warranty and liability allocation, and quality and change-management terms.
• Experience structuring and negotiating strategic partnerships or corp-dev-style agreements — OEM deals or similar transactions where the deal framework required building from scratch.
• Effective communicator, with the ability to give legal advice in plain language. You make contract risk understandable to engineers, product managers, and finance leads, and you keep deals moving rather than creating delays.
• Comfort working directly alongside technical and business teams throughout a deal — you engage with the substance, build trust as a partner, and help get agreements across the finish line.
• Well-calibrated risk judgment — you know the difference between a real issue and a paper tiger, and you spend your credibility on the things that actually matter.
• Experience building or maintaining a forms library, templates, or contracting playbooks, and the process instincts to make contracting more scalable without adding unnecessary overhead.
• The range to handle any contract type independently, at any level of complexity or stakes, without handoffs.
• J.D. and active bar membership in a relevant jurisdiction (US or Canada).

Bonus if you have:

• In-house experience at an automotive OEM, Tier 1 supplier, or autonomous vehicle company
• Familiarity with automotive supply standards (e.g., IATF, AIAG, APQP/PPAP)
• Experience with applying AI tools to improve legal workflows and contracting efficiency
• Familiarity with open-source licensing, export control, or data privacy issues in the AV or hardware space

The US yearly salary range for this role is: $192,000 - $250,000 USD in addition to competitive perks & benefits. Waabi US Inc.’s yearly salary ranges are determined based on several factors in accordance with the Company’s compensation practices. Note: The Company provides additional compensation for employees in this role, including equity incentive awards and an annual performance bonus.

Perks & Benefits

• Competitive compensation and equity awards.
• Health and Wellness benefits encompassing Medical, Dental and Vision coverage (for full-time employees only).
• Unlimited Vacation.
• Flexible hours and Work from Home support.
• Daily drinks, snacks and catered meals (when in office).
• Regularly scheduled team building activities and social events both on-site, off-site & virtually.
• As we grow, this list continues to evolve!

Waabi is a technology start-up building technologies to transform the way the world moves. Join our talented team to be a part of the future and to make an impact!

Waabi is an equal opportunity employer. We celebrate diversity and are committed to creating a supportive, inclusive, and accessible workplace for all our employees. We seek applicants of all backgrounds and identities, across race, color, ethnicity, national origin or ancestry, age, citizenship, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, military or veteran status, marital status, pregnancy or parental status, caregiver status, disability, or any other characteristic protected by law. We make workplace accommodations for qualified individuals with disabilities as required by applicable law. If reasonable accommodation is needed to participate in the job application or interview process please let our recruiting team know.

We may use artificial intelligence (AI) tools to support parts of the hiring process, such as reviewing applications, analyzing resumes, or assessing responses and identifying potential inconsistencies or verification signals in application materials based on available information. These tools assist our recruitment team but do not replace human judgment. Final hiring decisions are ultimately made by humans. If you would like more information about how your data is processed, please contact us.