Senior AI Legal Counsel - AI Legal

The Global Legal Business Partner, AI team provides front-line legal support for ByteDance’s AI products and businesses, spanning foundation models, AI platforms and applications, enterprise services, robotics, and hardware. We partner with teams throughout the product lifecycle to help turn emerging technologies into responsible products and services for users and businesses around the world.AI technology is advancing rapidly while laws, regulatory expectations, and industry standards continue to take shape across markets. We work alongside Product, Trust and Safety, Policy, Communications, and other cross‑functional teams to strengthen AI governance, provide guidance on safety, privacy, and intellectual property considerations, and support responsible product development in line with evolving requirements.You will contribute as significant AI products and capabilities are being built, bringing legal judgment to decisions that shape their design, development, and deployment. This is an opportunity to influence how ByteDance advances AI responsibly at scale while working at the forefront of law and technology.

About the Team

ByteDance's AI Product and Frontier Risk Counseling team provides domain expert legal support to the company's AI products and models, in particular supporting our Seed business. The team is growing fast and as we scale, we’re looking for a seasoned lawyer to serve as a global legal expert and strategist who can pair deep policy expertise with a builder’s mindset as they help to guide our teams to turn cutting‑edge ideas into trusted, world‑class products. The role will be an integral resource for ByteDance's AI product and business teams by helping to craft strategic, market‑facing narratives for our AI businesses that unlock new opportunities while also helping to solve some of the most challenging AI issues globally, including implementing policies, standards and best practices relating to frontier AI risk domains.

Responsibilities

• You will champion AI, working as a global subject matter expert helping to identify and resolve legal issues relating to emerging and frontier AI risks. You will also help craft strategic, market‑leading legal strategies for our AI businesses that unlock new opportunities.
• Collaborate with the AI product, TnS, Legal, AI Safety, PR and GR teams to establish and implement solutions to emerging compliance issues for frontier AI models.
• Identify, assess, and communicate the rapidly evolving global AI regulatory requirements and trends; support implementations by the product team.

This is a highly collaborative, on‑site role that requires five days per week in the office located in Washington, D.C.

Qualifications

Minimum Qualifications

• Juris Doctor from an ABA‑accredited law school and active membership in good standing in at least one U.S. state bar.
• Have a strong knowledge and interest in the legal challenges in frontier and emerging AI risk areas, including CBRN, cyber and loss of control as well as areas including IP, privacy, bias and AI transparency.
• Proven experience counseling on AI and ML, IP and cyber security,. Experience in both private practice and in‑house experience at a technology platform company would be advantageous.
• Demonstrated success shaping policy outcomes or market launches for novel technologies.
• Possess the highest standard of ethics and a positive attitude in learning and willing to pick up new knowledge and skills; comfortable navigating through ambiguous legal issues.
• A builder's bias for action, you can turn ambiguity into frameworks, experiments, and shipped products and have a strong track record of achieving alignment with internal cross‑functional teams and external partners.
• Credibility with engineers and policymakers alike: you can dive into model architectures one minute and brief a regulator the next.

Preferred Qualifications

• Willingness to be flexible to attend meetings outside of office hours, due to the global nature of this team.

Job Information

The base salary range for this position in the selected city is $ 156600 - $ 266220 annually.

Compensation may vary outside of this range depending on a number of factors, including a candidate’s qualifications, skills, competencies and experience, and location. Base pay is one part of the Total Package that is provided to compensate and recognize employees for their work, and this role may be eligible for additional discretionary bonuses/incentives, and restricted stock units.

Benefits may vary depending on the nature of employment and the country work location. Employees have day one access to medical, dental, and vision insurance, a 401(k) savings plan with company match, paid parental leave, short‑term and long‑term disability coverage, life insurance, wellbeing benefits, among others. Employees also receive 10 paid holidays per year, 10 paid sick days per year and 17 days of Paid Personal Time (prorated upon hire with increasing accruals by tenure).

The Company reserves the right to modify or change these benefits programs at any time, with or without notice.

About Us

Founded in 2012, ByteDance's mission is to inspire creativity and enrich life. With a suite of more than a dozen products, including TikTok, Lemon8, CapCut and Pico as well as platforms specific to the China market, including Toutiao, Douyin, and Xigua, ByteDance has made it easier and more fun for people to connect with, consume, and create content.

Why Join ByteDance

Inspiring creativity is at the core of ByteDance's mission. Our innovative products are built to help people authentically express themselves, discover and connect - and our global, diverse teams make that possible. Together, we create value for our communities, inspire creativity and enrich life - a mission we work towards every day.

As ByteDancers, we strive to do great things with great people. We lead with curiosity, humility, and a desire to make impact in a rapidly growing tech company. By constantly iterating and fostering an "Always Day 1" mindset, we achieve meaningful breakthroughs for ourselves, our Company, and our users. When we create and grow together, the possibilities are limitless. Join us.

Diversity & Inclusion

ByteDance is committed to creating an inclusive space where employees are valued for their skills, experiences, and unique perspectives. Our platform connects people from across the globe and so does our workplace. At ByteDance, our mission is to inspire creativity and enrich life. To achieve that goal, we are committed to celebrating our diverse voices and to creating an environment that reflects the many communities we reach. We are passionate about this and hope you are too.

Reasonable Accommodation

ByteDance is committed to providing reasonable accommodations in our recruitment processes for candidates with disabilities, pregnancy, sincerely held religious beliefs or other reasons protected by applicable laws. If you need assistance or a reasonable accommodation, please reach out to us at