Litigation Counsel

Litigation Counsel

Houston, TX

Intuitive Machines is an innovative and cutting-edge space company making cislunar space accessible to both public and private customers. Our mission is to further science and exploration, communications, and economic progress from the Earth to the Moon and beyond. With multiple NASA lunar missions in development and additional private missions on our manifest, we pride ourselves in supporting NASA, our customers, and the nation in paving the way to return humans to the surface of the Moon. Our world-class team includes experts in all aspects of spacecraft subsystems design, development, and test, on-orbit operations, and safety.

The Litigation Counsel serves as a key legal advisor responsible for managing the Company's litigation, disputes, claims, and related legal risk. The role has primary responsibility for commercial, contractual, regulatory, and other corporate litigation and pre-litigation matters, including litigation strategy, management of outside counsel, discovery and document preservation, settlement strategy, and dispute resolution.

The Counsel works closely with Contracts, Supply Chain, Finance, Engineering, Programs, Mission Operations, Security, and other business functions to identify and manage potential disputes, develop practical resolution strategies, and protect the Company's legal and business interests.

The successful candidate will bring strong litigation judgment, significant experience managing complex commercial disputes, demonstrated experience managing outside counsel and litigation budgets, and the ability to provide practical, business-oriented legal advice in a fast-paced aerospace and government-contracting environment.

Responsibilities:

Litigation, Claims & Dispute Management

• Manage the Company's portfolio of commercial, contractual, regulatory, and other litigation, claims, and disputes from pre-litigation assessment through resolution.
• Develop litigation and dispute-resolution strategies that balance legal risk, business objectives, cost, and operational impact.
• Manage outside counsel, including case strategy, budgets, billing, performance, and outcomes.
• Advise on settlement negotiations, mediations, arbitrations, and other dispute-resolution proceedings.
• Manage responses to subpoenas, government inquiries, third-party demands, and other legal process.
• Oversee litigation holds, document preservation, discovery, and e-discovery in coordination with relevant business functions.
• Provide reporting on significant litigation and claims to senior management and the Board or relevant committees, as appropriate.

Pre-Litigation & Dispute Prevention

• Provide early legal assessment of potential claims, threatened litigation, contractual disputes, and other contentious matters.
• Work with business teams to develop strategies to avoid, mitigate, or efficiently resolve disputes before litigation where appropriate.
• Advise on demand letters, notices of breach, reservation-of-rights communications, settlement proposals, and other dispute-related correspondence.
• Partner with Contracts, Supply Chain, Programs, Finance, and other functions on customer, supplier, subcontractor, and other commercial disputes.
• Advise on contractual provisions affecting litigation and dispute risk, including indemnification, limitation of liability, warranties, remedies, dispute resolution, and governing-law provisions.
• Support Legal and business teams in incorporating lessons learned from disputes and litigation into contracts, policies, procedures, and business practices.

Cross-Functional Partnership & Risk Management

• Work directly with Contracts, Supply Chain, Finance, Engineering, Programs, Mission Operations, Security, IT, and other functions to identify and manage litigation and dispute risk.
• Partner with Compliance Counsel and other Legal team members on matters involving overlapping litigation, regulatory, compliance, investigation, or government-contracting issues.
• Develop strong working relationships with business leaders and serve as a trusted escalation point for significant disputes, claims, and litigation risk.

Requirements:

• Juris Doctor (J.D.) degree from an accredited law school.
• Active membership in good standing with at least one U.S. state bar.
• 6–9+ years of relevant legal experience, including significant litigation experience at a law firm and/or in-house legal department.
• Demonstrated experience managing complex commercial litigation, contractual disputes, and other significant claims.
• Experience developing litigation strategy and managing matters through discovery, motion practice, settlement, mediation, arbitration, and/or trial.
• Experience managing outside counsel, litigation budgets, discovery, and case strategy.
• Experience with litigation holds, document preservation, subpoenas, and discovery processes.
• Ability to assess complex legal issues and provide practical, risk-based advice aligned with business objectives.
• Strong judgment, advocacy, negotiation, written and verbal communication, and project-management skills, with the ability to operate independently.

Preferred Knowledge and Skill Competencies

• Experience handling or overseeing commercial disputes, regulatory matters, government inquiries, investigations, and other complex corporate litigation.
• Experience with e-discovery, document preservation, subpoenas, and large-scale discovery management.
• Experience with mediation, arbitration, settlement negotiations, and other alternative dispute-resolution processes.
• Experience with disputes involving customers, suppliers, subcontractors, strategic partners, or government contracts.
• Familiarity with government-contracting disputes, claims, audits, investigations, or regulatory enforcement matters.
• Experience advising senior management and providing litigation and risk reporting to executive leadership or Boards.
• Experience in aerospace, defense, government contracting, technology, or another highly regulated industry preferred.

US EEO Statement:

Intuitive Machines is an Equal Opportunity employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to sex, gender identity, sexual orientation, race, color, religion, national origin, disability, protected veteran status, age, or any other characteristic protected by law.