Commercial Counsel
Commercial Counsel roles at AI companies involve drafting, reviewing, and negotiating a high volume of commercial agreements—from enterprise SaaS and licensing deals to vendor and partnership contracts—while serving as a trusted advisor to sales, product, and leadership teams. These positions distinguish themselves by requiring fluency in AI-specific legal considerations like data governance, security compliance, and responsible AI frameworks, alongside traditional technology transaction expertise. Commercial Counsel typically sit within rapidly scaling legal teams embedded in hypergrowth companies, working closely with go-to-market functions to balance legal risk with business velocity, establishing scalable contracting processes, and providing pragmatic guidance that translates complex legal concepts for non-lawyer stakeholders.
Measured across 51 of 52 open postings.
This role is advertised at 2 levels, so a single figure for the role would describe none of them. Experience and pay are the midpoints for each level on its own.
| Level | Share | Median years | Median pay |
|---|---|---|---|
| Mid | 33%(17) | 5 | — |
| Senior | 49%(25) | 8 | $258k |
A dash means too few postings stated it to report a midpoint. Most companies do not publish a salary band, so pay is indicative rather than a market rate. 3 levels with fewer than 10 open postings are not shown.
“Exposure to privacy, IP, and/or AI-specific legal issues, with a basic understanding of AI”
“Help enterprise customers understand and navigate the legal and regulatory implications of adopting AI-powered development tools”
“Comfort with using AI workflows and operating in a fast-paced environment”
“Advise on AI-specific legal considerations in commercial agreements, including acceptable use, data retention and training restrictions, output liability”
Requirements are a share of every open posting, so a role missing from this list is one where almost nobody asks. Work mode is different: many postings never say, so that figure counts only the ones that do. A posting stops being advertised when it is filled, cancelled or reorganised, so read the last figure as how long these stay on the market, not as time to hire.
Skills
What companies are looking for in this role.
Contract negotiation
Deal structuring and negotiation
Data privacy compliance
Contract lifecycle operations
Legal operations management
IP portfolio management
Compliance program management
AI-enabled legal workflow automation
AI data and content rights counsel
AI regulatory compliance
AI governance and trust advisory
Infrastructure and energy contracting
Cross-functional collaboration
Technical communication
Translating legal into business guidance
Technology
The tools and technologies that define this role.
Open Jobs
52 open Commercial Counsel jobs across 33 companies.
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