Commercial Legal Director

We are looking for a Commercial Legal Director. You will be part of a cross-functional team whose mission is to lead IonQ on its journey to build the world’s best quantum computers to solve the world’s most complex problems. 

The Commercial Legal Director will own and lead negotiating contracts with IonQ’s strategic component suppliers and service providers/vendors. This attorney will bring technical knowledge and curiosity to partner deeply with IonQ’s Engineering and Technology teams on strategic supplier agreements in the field of quantum computing in collaboration with IonQ’s supply chain and procurement teams.

Responsibilities: 

As IonQ’s Commercial Legal Director, you will ensure that all contractual terms are legally sound and in the best interest of IonQ’s business objectives. In particular, you will:

• Negotiate Contracts
  • Negotiate Terms: Work on behalf of the company to negotiate favorable terms, including pricing, timelines, deliverables, liabilities, penalties, and IP ownership/licensing.
  • Facilitate Productive Discussions: Act as a collaborative problem solver in negotiations to ensure productive discussions and conflict resolution, leading to outcomes designed to achieve the company’s strategic objectives.
• Draft Contracts
  • Create Legal Agreements: Draft a wide range of sourcing contracts, including strategic supplier agreements, consulting agreements, inbound licensing agreements, inbound patent licenses, SaaS vendor agreements, and more as IonQ continues to scale rapidly.
  • Tailor to Client Needs: Customize contracts to fit unique technical needs, ensuring contracts facilitate achieving the company’s strategic business objectives.
  • Ensure Compliance: Ensure contracts comply with local, state, and federal laws, as well as industry-specific regulations in partnership with IonQ’s Compliance & Regulatory Legal Director.
• Interpret Contracts
  • Review: Review contracts to ensure accuracy, completeness, and alignment with applicable IonQ’s business objectives, and applicable laws and regulations.
  • Assess: Identify potential risks, liabilities, and ambiguities in contract terms, and ensure the company is informed of potential risks; help clients understand complex legal language and the implications of specific clauses or terms in contracts.
  • Advise: Offer legal advice on handling specific provisions or scenarios, such as intellectual property protection, liability, and indemnity clauses with recommended options to proceed.
• Ensure Contract Enforcement
  • Monitoring Compliance: Follow up to ensure both parties adhere to the terms of the contract and take appropriate action if breaches occur.
  • Amendments and Renewals: Assist in modifying or renewing contracts when circumstances change or when contracts are due for renewal.
• Stay Updated on Laws and Regulations
  • Legal Research: Stay informed about changes in contract law, industry regulations, and judicial rulings that could impact the enforceability or structure of contracts.
  • Advising on Legal Changes: Inform clients of relevant changes in the law that may affect prior risk assessments or require contract revisions or renegotiations.
• Document Management
  • Organize Contracts: Ensure contracts remain organized in the company’s contract lifecycle management system (Ironclad) including meta data to enable efficient internal data tracking and reporting as well as to enable all easy and appropriate client access and retrieval.
  • Track Deadlines: Facilitate tracking of key contract dates in partnership with business clients, such as expiration, renewal periods, and performance milestones, to ensure contracts are followed through efficiently.

You’d be a good fit with: 

• 6-10 years’ experience in relevant work gained from law firm and in-house positions
• Excellent problem-solving and communication skills
• Excellent negotiation skills
• The ability to effectively collaborate with all levels of management, including senior leadership, to drive business results
• A demonstrated ability to manage outside counsel and to work efficiently and effectively independently and/or with limited resources
• The ability to concurrently manage multiple timely projects/issues
• A J.D. from an accredited law school and admitted to the bar of (and in good standing in) at least one state/district (preferably New York, Delaware, DC, Maryland, California, Washington, or another major state).
  
  

You’d be a great fit with:

• Significant experience lawyering for cutting-edge computer hardware and/or software companies
• Significant experience advising inhouse supply chain and/or procurement functions
• Undergraduate or additional degrees in a technology-related field (e.g., physics, engineering, software development, etc.)
• Experience negotiating outbound/sales contracts
• Experience working remotely
• Experience advising on export control regulations relevant to component purchasing
  
  

Location: This role can be located anywhere in the US with a strong preference for someone in the Eastern Timezone. 

The salary range for this position is $143,410 to $187,011.