Associate General Counsel, Commercial & IP

Arena

Join legal team at Arena Intelligence focusing on commercial and IP law. Advise on enterprise deals, IP transactions, and patent portfolio management.

Posted 4/12/2026full-timeBay Area • California • 🇺🇸 United StatesJuniorMid-LevelWebsite

Tech Stack

Tools & technologies

Open Source

About the role

Key responsibilities & impact

Come join our legal team to work on the most exciting commercial, intellectual property, and operational issues at the leading edge of AI.
You will be the second member of the legal team and have an opportunity to advise across the business, but with a focus on enterprise sales, data licensing, IP transactions, and trademark and patent portfolio management.
Drive Commercial Agreements: Lead the drafting, review, and negotiation of complex enterprise agreements, including Master Services Agreements (MSAs), Data Processing Agreements (DPAs), software licenses, vendor agreements, and strategic partnership contracts.
Strategic IP Advice: Lead IP strategy for our product development and machine learning teams, including advising on open source and IP considerations with respect to AI model training.
Build and scale our commercial legal processes, creating playbooks, standardizing templates, and implementing systems to support a high-growth sales organization. Build agents and internal software to support our operations, and procure cutting-edge legal tech tools that allow us to integrate home-grown and vendor-built software with ease.
Support the management of Arena's worldwide IP portfolio including patents and trademarks; assist with patent prosecution, trademark registration, and enforcement.
Provide counsel on machine learning, generative AI, and other technical areas, with the ability to engage effectively with technical teams on complex engineering and data evaluation issues.

Requirements

What you’ll need

8+ years of legal experience in intellectual property law and commercial transactions at a top-tier law firm and/or in-house legal department (ideally acting as commercial/IP counsel within a high-growth software or technology company).
JD and active membership in at least one U.S. state bar (California preferred) in good standing.
A proven track record of independently drafting and negotiating complex enterprise sales agreements, data licenses, and data privacy addendums.
Ability to think strategically at a high level and from deep in the details to drive complex problem-solving and develop creative, business-forward solutions.
Ability to calibrate risk, distinguish business from legal risk, and communicate it clearly to executive, sales, and technical audiences.
Roll-up-your-sleeves attitude to tackle projects large and small with a low ego, collaborative approach across the organization.
Ability to think quickly in a fast-paced environment with excellent organizational and communication skills, particularly under quarter-end sales pressure.
Deep interest in artificial intelligence, generative AI, and machine learning technology, with the ability to engage effectively with technical teams.
Ability to build and iterate on your own tools and a creative problem solving approach to building human-in-the-loop workflows that allow us to scale legal advice and work product. Experience working with tools like Cursor, Claude Code, Replit, Loveable, and/or Retool.

Benefits

Comp & perks

Comprehensive health and wellness benefits, including medical, dental, vision, and additional support programs.
Competitive compensation and equity aligned to the markets where our team members are based.

ATS Keywords

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Hard Skills & Tools

intellectual property lawcommercial transactionsdrafting agreementsnegotiating agreementsenterprise sales agreementsdata licensesdata privacy addendumspatent prosecutiontrademark registrationlegal tech tools

Soft Skills

strategic thinkingcomplex problem-solvingrisk calibrationcommunicationcollaborationorganizational skillscreativityadaptabilityattention to detailability to work under pressure

Certifications

JDactive membership in U.S. state bar