Head of Legal Cupertino, CA - Etched.ai : Job Details

Etched is building AI chips that are hard-coded for individual model architectures. Our first product (Sohu) only supports transformers, but has an order of magnitude more throughput and lower latency than a B200. With Etched ASICs, you can build products that would be impossible with GPUs, like real-time video generation models and extremely deep chain-of-thought reasoning.

Head of Legal:

Etched is seeking a Head of Legal to lead all legal operations as we develop next-generation AI hardware. You will own our commercial agreements, structure legal processes, and serve as a key strategic partner to the executive team. As Etched's founding legal leader, you will build and scale our legal function, developing both the immediate infrastructure and long-term strategic vision.

Representative Projects:

• Advise on a broad range of legal matters including commercial agreements, corporate governance, intellectual property, and employment law.
• Design and negotiate complex commercial contracts including supplier agreements, customer deals, and IP licensing.
• Work closely with the finance, sales, and operations teams to structure deals, transactions, and relationships with customers and vendors.
• Build efficient legal processes and systems to support rapid company growth.
• Support employment matters including visa sponsorship, compensation, and general employment law compliance.
• Lead equity compensation programs and support corporate governance matters.
• Collaborate with external counsel on specialized technical matters.
• Structure compliance frameworks across the organization.
• Provide strategic counsel to executive team on matters such as risk management and legal strategy.

You may be a good fit if you have:

• 5-10 years of legal experience, combining big law and in-house technology experience.
• Deep expertise in commercial negotiations and contract drafting.
• Track record of independently managing complex legal operations and taking ownership over key projects and initiatives.
• Strong business judgment and ability to make independent decisions.
• Exceptional written and verbal communication skills, with the ability to explain complex legal concepts to non-legal stakeholders.
• Strong business acumen with the ability to balance legal risk and commercial objectives.
• Juris Doctor (JD) degree from an accredited law school and admission to practice law in the relevant jurisdiction (California bar preferred).

Strong candidates may also have experience with:

• Detailed understanding of key contractual concepts and risk areas in AI hardware, including but not limited to limitation of liability, indemnification, semiconductor IP rights, manufacturing agreements, hardware warranties, performance specifications, supply chain requirements, commercial licensing, test/validation frameworks, and revenue recognition.
• Working directly with engineering teams on technical contracts.
• Deep understanding of AI, hardware, and/or semiconductors.
• Deep understanding of the AI research field and broader market.

We encourage you to apply even if you do not believe you meet every single qualification.

How we're different:

Etched believes in the Bitter Lesson. We think most of the progress in the AI field has come from using more FLOPs to train and run models, and the best way to get more FLOPs is to build model-specific hardware. Larger and larger training runs encourage companies to consolidate around fewer model architectures, which creates a market for single-model ASICs.

We are a fully in-person team in Cupertino, and greatly value engineering skills. We do not have boundaries between engineering and research, and we expect all of our technical staff to contribute to both as needed.

• Full medical, dental, and vision packages, with 100% of premium covered, 90% for dependents.
• Housing subsidy of $2,000/month for those living within walking distance of the office.
• Daily lunch and dinner in our office.
• Relocation support for those moving to Cupertino.

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