Founding Commercial Counsel

Founding Commercial Counsel – Virtue AI

About Virtue AI

Virtue AI sets the standard for advanced AI security platforms. Built on decades of foundational and award-winning research in AI security, its AI-native architecture unifies automated red-teaming, real-time multimodal guardrails, and systematic governance for enterprise apps and agents. Deploy in minutes—across any environment—to keep your AI protected and compliant. We are a well-funded, early-stage startup founded by industry veterans, and we're looking for passionate builders to join our core team.

About the Role

Work with us to ship real safeguards into the real world. As the Founding Commercial Counsel at Virtue AI, you will be our very first legal hire, building the foundational legal framework for a company that is defining the frontier of AI security, governance, and compliance.

You will serve as a strategic partner to the executive team and the Go-to-Market (GTM) organization. This isn't a typical "maintenance" legal role; you will be helping us navigate the complex and evolving regulatory landscape for agentic AI, ensuring our platforms—like VirtueGuard, VirtueRed, and AgentSuite—can be deployed safely and legally across the world’s most regulated industries.

What You’ll Do

• Drive Commercial Velocity: Own the end-to-end commercial contract process. Draft, negotiate, and close enterprise SaaS agreements, pilot agreements, and DPAs. You will build the playbook to ensure we move fast without compromising our risk posture.

• Build the Legal Foundation: As the first lawyer, you will establish our standard templates, contract management workflows, and internal legal policies from scratch. You will define how Virtue AI handles IP, corporate governance, and employment matters.

• Product & Privacy Counsel: Partner with Engineering and Product teams to ensure our AI safety solutions are built with "privacy by design." Advise on global data protection (GDPR, CCPA) and emerging AI regulations (like the EU AI Act).

• AI Governance Strategy: Collaborate with our Research and Safeguards teams to develop novel legal frameworks for AI threat-sharing, adversarial red-teaming, and model benchmarking.

• Strategic Risk & Ethics: Provide practical, business-oriented advice on complex issues. You’ll be the bridge between "what is legally required" and "what is ethically right" in the context of autonomous agentic systems.

• Outside Counsel Management: Select and manage external specialist firms for patent filings, international expansion, and complex regulatory / compliance inquiries as applicable.

Requirements

• Legal Excellence: J.D. from an accredited law school and active membership in at least one U.S. state bar.

• Experience: 8+ years of experience, ideally starting at a top-tier law firm followed by an in-house role at a high-growth SaaS or AI startup.

• The "First Lawyer" Mindset: You thrive in ambiguity and are excited to be a "department of one." You have the grit to handle everything from high-level strategy to the fine print of a vendor NDA.

• Technical Credibility: You have a genuine interest in the technical mechanics of LLMs and agentic AI. You can comfortably discuss data flows and model trajectories with engineers.

• Commercial Savvy: You are seen as a business enabler. You know when to be flexible and when to hold the line to protect the company.

• Exceptional Communication: Ability to translate dense legal and regulatory changes into clear, actionable guidance for a fast-moving team of builders.

Nice to Haves

• Security Sector Background: Prior experience in the cybersecurity or enterprise compliance space.

• Global Exposure: Experience with international data residency requirements and global software distribution.

Why Join Virtue AI?

• Work on the Frontier: Engage with bleeding-edge AI/ML and deploy security solutions for use cases that don't yet exist anywhere else.

• Collaborative Culture: Join a mission-driven team of builders and innovators who value technical credibility and high-velocity execution.

Foundational Impact: As our first legal hire, you will have a seat at the table for the company's most critical strategic decisions.

Salary

• $180,000 - $200,000