# Sr. Commercial Counsel, Public Sector

**Company:** [xAI](https://zerogtalent.com/ai-companies/xai)
**Location:** Austin, TX; Los Angeles, CA; New York, NY; Palo Alto, CA
**Work mode:** On-site
**Seniority:** Senior
**Salary:** USD 176K–242K/yr
**Category:** Legal & Compliance
**Department:** G&A
**Listed:** 2026-11-05

[View and apply on Zero G Talent](https://zerogtalent.com/ai-jobs/xai/sr-commercial-counsel-public-sector-5279647007)

## What you'll do

- Lead negotiation of high-value enterprise and partnership agreements
- Advise business leaders on deal structure and risk
- Mentor junior counsel and review their work
- Build legal structures and processes for sales
- Use AI products daily to work smarter

## What you need

- 8+ yrs of legal experience
- JD and license to practice law in CA or NY
- Experience leading commercial transaction negotiations
- Experience negotiating AI and SaaS transactions
- Practical commercial judgment and deal structuring

## Job description

SpaceX was founded under the belief that a future where humanity is out exploring the stars is fundamentally more exciting than one where we are not. Today, SpaceX is actively developing the technologies to make this possible, with the ultimate goal of making life multiplanetary and expanding consciousness to the stars.  
  
SpaceXSI is building Super Intelligence to help humanity understand the universe. Our teams are building the full Super Intelligence stack: from our Colossus supercomputers, to Grok models, to our suite of applications, including Grok Bot, Grok Build, Grok Imagine, Grok Voice, and X. We're creating a powerful flywheel where more compute trains better models, better models power more useful products, and what we learn from people using those products shapes what we build next.

#### **SR. COMMERCIAL COUNSEL, PUBLIC SECTOR**

You'll lead negotiation of SpaceXSI's largest and most complex commercial agreements: high-value enterprise customer agreements for our AI products and services, strategic partnerships, and hyperscaler, technology and vendor agreements. You'll be a trusted advisor to leaders in Sales, Business Development, Finance and Product, set the team's negotiating positions, and mentor more junior counsel.

#### **RESPONSIBILITIES:**

-   Lead negotiation of high-value, strategic and novel agreements, including enterprise, partnership, hyperscaler and technology deals.
-   Advise business leaders on deal structure and risk, and own decisions on non-standard terms.
-   Set and refine the team's negotiating positions, playbooks and escalation paths.
-   Mentor more junior counsel and review their work.
-   Build legal structures and processes that speed up sales while managing risk.
-   Pitch in wherever Legal needs you, even on unfamiliar ground.
-   Use our AI products every day to learn faster and work smarter.

#### **BASIC QUALIFICATIONS:**

-   8+ years of legal experience.
-   JD and a license to practice law in California or New York, or eligibility to register as in-house counsel.
-   Experience leading negotiations on commercial transactions.

#### **PREFERRED SKILLS AND EXPERIENCE:**

-   Experience at both a top-tier law firm and an in-house technology company.
-   Experience negotiating AI and SaaS transactions.
-   Experience advising senior business leaders and mentoring other lawyers.
-   A track record of practical, commercial judgment and finding workable paths forward on deals.
-   Interest in AI and its everyday applications.

#### **ADDITIONAL REQUIREMENTS:**

-   Must be able to work in the office 5 days a week.

#### **COMPENSATION AND BENEFITS:**

$176,000 - $242,000 USD

Base salary is just one part of our total rewards package at SpaceXSI, which also includes equity, comprehensive medical, vision, and dental coverage, access to a 401(k) retirement plan, short & long-term disability insurance, life insurance, and various other discounts and perks.

#### **ITAR REQUIREMENTS:**

-   To conform to U.S. Government export regulations, applicant must be a (i) U.S. citizen or national, (ii) U.S. lawful, permanent resident (aka green card holder), (iii) Refugee under 8 U.S.C. § 1157, or (iv) Asylee under 8 U.S.C. § 1158, or be eligible to obtain the required authorizations from the U.S. Department of State. Learn more about the ITAR [here](https://www.pmddtc.state.gov/?id=ddtc_kb_article_page&sys_id=24d528fddbfc930044f9ff621f961987). 

_SpaceXSI is an equal opportunity employer. For details on data processing, view our_ _[Recruitment Privacy Notice](https://x.ai/legal/recruitment-privacy-notice)._

## Other open roles at xAI

- [Sr. Software Engineer, Linux Kernel](https://zerogtalent.com/ai-jobs/xai/sr-software-engineer-linux-kernel-5286865007) — Seattle, WA
- [Data Center Operations Technician - Memphis](https://zerogtalent.com/ai-jobs/xai/data-center-operations-technician-memphis-5286282007) — Southaven, MS; Memphis, TN
- [Sr. Mobile iOS Engineer](https://zerogtalent.com/ai-jobs/xai/sr-mobile-ios-engineer-5285483007) — New York, NY; Palo Alto, CA
- [Sr. Mobile Android Engineer](https://zerogtalent.com/ai-jobs/xai/sr-mobile-android-engineer-5285490007) — New York, NY; Palo Alto, CA
- [Sr. Model Engineer, RL Training Framework](https://zerogtalent.com/ai-jobs/xai/sr-model-engineer-rl-training-framework-5280951007) — Palo Alto, CA

---
*Source: [Zero G Talent](https://zerogtalent.com), the job board for space, defense, AI, robotics and frontier-tech companies.*