Legal Counsel

Legal Counsel

Seattle, WA

Base Salary Range

Our base salary range is $175,000 - $225,000, and in addition we have generous bonus plans to provide a competitive compensation package.

Who You Are

You are an agile and critical thinker who is energized by creative problem solving and building things. You thrive in ambiguity and working in dynamic environments. You enjoy learning and navigating novel and complex legal issues at the forefront of AI research and development. You are able to listen to a team's business needs, identify priorities, and reconcile gaps between legal and technical requirements. You build relationships across the organization to maximize business results. You are able to juggle competing demands from many interested and energetic stakeholders. You love an aggressive deadline and relish an unexpected twist.

Please submit your application by April 30, 2026 to be considered for this role. We will start the application review process in early May 2026, followed by interviews.

Who We Are

We are an existing legal team of three lawyers and one contracts and procurement manager. We are collegial and collaborative. We like to make up fun project names for our strategic initiatives. We work in a hybrid setting that includes a beautiful new office on Lake Union. We like in-person whiteboard sessions. We all work with a large amount of autonomy. As a team, we are slightly more pro-dog than pro-cat. We are passionate about Ai2's mission.

Your Next Challenge

This is a rare and unique opportunity to be fully immersed in truly open and cutting-edge AI research. The essential functions include, but are not limited to the following:

• Support all stages of development for open AI artifacts and technologies, including data curation, model training, release planning, and post-release management.
• Provide direct AI counseling for applications, research demos, scientific agents, and environmental and conservation tools, including diligence, data governance, and bridging legal and technical requirements.
• Review and prepare data licenses, open source licenses, and related documentation.
• Create and improve frameworks for responsible AI development and processes to streamline AI releases.
• Create AI development guides, playbooks, and templates for releasing AI resources and artifacts.
• Exercise sound judgment and provide strategic and practical legal guidance that balances business priorities, nonprofit mission, compliance, and evolving AI policies and regulation.
• Provide support and due diligence across Ai2's charitable, scientific, and educational activities and ensure that they are conducted within appropriate legal and regulatory frameworks.
• Collaborate and coach others across the organization on areas of expertise to drive success and impact.

What You'll Need

Education/Certifications:

• Minimum Degree required: JD
• Licensed to practice law in Washington State

Required:

• 6+ years of technology transactions experience in a law firm or equivalent corporate environment.
• Experience with copyright and IP licensing.
• Experience with data governance and privacy laws like GDPR, CCPA, and/or HIPAA, and other international regulations like EU AI Act.
• Excellent presentation and facilitation skills: polished, concise, catered messages to different audiences.
• Self-starter: Does not need daily directions or close supervision to make decisions.
• Start-up mentality: adaptable, can pivot quickly.
• Skilled in working with ambiguity: comfortable identifying and solving for novel risks.
• Ability to adjust rapidly to new strategies and approaches for building support in a fast-moving environment.
• Ability to work on complex issues where problems are not clearly defined and where fundamental principles do not fully apply.
• Sufficient technical experience to communicate effectively with research and engineering experts.

Preferred:

• Prior experience in AI or product counseling.
• Experience and/or interest in project management to establish or improve processes and streamline legal team efforts with existing workflows in the company.

Physical Demands and Work Environment

The physical demands described here are representative of those that must be met by a team member to successfully perform the essential functions of this position. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the functions.

• Must be able to remain in a stationary position for long periods of time.
• The ability to communicate information and ideas so others will understand. Must be able to exchange accurate information in these situations.
• The ability to observe details at close range.
• Can work under deadlines.

A Little More About Ai2

Ai2 is a Seattle based non-profit AI research institute founded in 2014 by the late Paul Allen. Our mission is building breakthrough AI to solve the world's biggest problems. We develop foundational AI research and innovation to deliver real-world impact through large-scale open models, data, robotics, conservation, and beyond.

In addition to Ai2's core mission, we also aim to contribute to humanity through our treatment of each member of the Ai2 Team. Some highlights are:

• We are a learning organization – because everything Ai2 does is ground-breaking, we are learning every day. Similarly, through weekly Ai2 Academy lectures, a wide variety of world-class AI experts as guest speakers, and our commitment to your personal on-going education, Ai2 is a place where you will have opportunities to continue learning alongside your coworkers.
• We value diversity – We seek to hire, support, and promote people from all genders, ethnicities, and all levels of experience regardless of age. We particularly encourage applications from women, non-binary individuals, people of color, members of the LGBTQA+ community, and people with disabilities of any kind.
• We value inclusion – We understand the value that people's individual experiences and perspectives can bring to an organization, and we are building a culture in which all voices are heard, respected and considered.
• We emphasize a healthy work/life balance – we believe our team members are happiest and most productive when their work/life balance is optimized. While we value powerful research results which drive our mission forward, we also value dinner with family, weekend time, and vacation time. We offer generous paid vacation and sick leave as well as family leave.
• We are collaborative and transparent – we consider ourselves a team, all moving with a common purpose. We are quick to cheer our successes, and even quicker to share and jointly problem solve our failures.
• We are in Seattle – and our office is on the water! We have mountains, we have lakes, we have four seasons, we bike to work, we have a vibrant theater scene, and we have so much else. We even have kayaks for you to paddle right outside our front door. We welcome interest from applicants from outside of the United States.
• We are friendly – chances are you will like every one of the 200+ (and growing) people who work here. We do.

Ai2 is proud to be an Equal Opportunity employer. We do not discriminate based upon race, religion, color, national origin, sex (including pregnancy, childbirth, or related medical conditions), sexual orientation, gender, gender identity, gender expression, transgender status, sexual stereotypes, age, status as a protected veteran, status as an individual with a disability, or other applicable legally protected characteristics. You may view the related Know Your Rights compliance poster and the Pay Transparency Nondiscrimination Provision by clicking on their corresponding links.

This employer participates in E-Verify and will provide the federal government with your Form I-9 information to confirm that you are authorized to work in the U.S. If E-Verify cannot confirm that you are authorized to work, this employer is required to give you written instructions and an opportunity to contact the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) or Social Security Administration (SSA) so you can begin to resolve the issue before the employer can take any action against you, including terminating your employment. Employers can only use E-Verify once you have accepted a job offer and completed the Form I-9.

We are committed to providing reasonable accommodations to employees and applicants with disabilities to the full extent required by the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). If you feel you need a reasonable accommodation pursuant to the ADA, you are encouraged to contact us at View email address on click.appcast.io.

Benefits

• Team members and their families are covered by medical, dental, vision, and an employee assistance program.
• Team members are able to enroll in