Legal Counsel, Product & Commercial

About Nominal

Nominal is building the software infrastructure powering the world’s most advanced hardware systems — from spacecraft and autonomous vehicles to next‑generation industrial machines. Our platform ingests high‑rate telemetry, validates complex autonomy software in real time, and enables engineers to iterate faster without sacrificing safety or precision. We’re a small, fast‑moving team of engineers and operators who own problems end‑to‑end, work across disciplines, and thrive on challenges at the intersection of hardware and software.

We are seeking our first dedicated Product Counsel (and second attorney overall) to join our growing team. You will be a strategic partner to our product, engineering, and business teams, providing practical, business‑oriented legal guidance with a focus on intellectual property, cross‑border data governance, privacy, and information security. This role is a key leadership position that will support the General Counsel in building and scaling the legal function.

• Legal & Organizational Strategy
  • Act as a key legal and business partner to the General Counsel, assisting in the development and execution of the company’s legal strategy and the future structure of the legal organization.
• Strategic Privacy & Security Counseling
  • Advise on compliance with a broad range of U.S. federal, state, and international privacy and security frameworks (e.g., NIST 800‑53 regimes, GDPR, AI regulations).
  • Provide proactive legal guidance on data collection, use, and security practices, balancing regulatory risk with company growth objectives.
  • Design and implement scalable privacy and security programs, including policies, procedures, and training.
• Product Development & IP
  • Review and advise on all stages of the product lifecycle for our emerging technologies, data flows, and technical architectures from a privacy, security, and IP perspective.
  • Triage and manage standard intellectual property issues, including basic patent, trademark, and copyright clearance, and partner with outside counsel for deeper specialization.
  • Draft and negotiate privacy, security, and IP‑related elements of complex commercial, partnership, and data processing/protection agreements.

• J.D. from an accredited law school and active bar membership in good standing.
• 5 years of post‑J.D. legal experience, preferably with at least 2 years of prior in‑house legal experience at a technology company.
• Demonstrated expertise in applying U.S. and international privacy and data protection regulations (FedRAMP, CMMC, Cyber Essentials Plus, ISO 27001).
• Experience with and understanding of the legal landscape for AI/ML technologies.
• Experience providing legal support to business units dealing with government, military, and/or enterprise customers in a highly regulated environment.
• Strong foundation in general technology law principles, including the ability to triage IP issues.
• Strong business judgment, excellent communication skills, and a proven ability to distill complex legal concepts for non‑legal stakeholders.

• Experience in law firm or comparable government practice, particularly in privacy, cybersecurity, or IP.
• Experience working with U.S. government contracts.
• Experience with incident response and breach management.
• Technical aptitude and comfort working directly with engineers and security professionals.

• Strategic thinking with ability to see around corners and anticipate risks.
• Pragmatic problem‑solver who finds creative solutions rather than just identifying problems.
• Excellent judgment under pressure, especially during crisis situations.
• Strong communication and stakeholder management skills.
• Collaborative team player who builds trust across functions.
• Self‑starter who can work independently and manage multiple priorities.

Nominal is scaling its legal and compliance function during a critical growth phase. This is a defining role: you will be the first Product Counsel, acting as a trusted partner to the General Counsel in building the foundation of our legal organization. Your work is not about reviewing…