Senior Product Counsel

About the Team

OpenAI's Legal team plays a crucial role in furthering OpenAI's mission by tackling innovative, fundamental legal issues in AI. If you're passionate about doing significant and unique work as a technology lawyer, this team is for you. The team comprises professionals from diverse fields, including technology, AI, privacy, IP, corporate, employment, tax law, regulatory, and litigation.

About the Role

As a member of our Product Counsel team, you will advise on a broad range of issues arising from hardware products and technologies, with a focus on software that power them. You’ll work closely with software engineering, product, design, and business teams from development through launch and ongoing support. This is a unique opportunity to engage directly with the forefront of AI legal issues. This role reports to our DGC of Hardware.

This role is based in San Francisco, CA. We use a hybrid work model of 3 days in the office per week and offer relocation assistance to new employees.

In this role, you will:

- Work closely with product and engineering teams, participate in architecture and product reviews, and advise throughout development, launch, and ongoing support.

- Support software and firmware licensing, open-source, compatibility and ongoing device support.

- Provide broad product counseling on consumer experiences, user terms, disclosures, marketing claims, consumer protection and regulatory requirements.

- Advise and coordinate on product, commercial, IP, privacy, security, competition, and regulatory legal issues so product decisions and external commitments are consistent.

- Build practical guidance and review processes, adapt support to changing priorities, and take ownership of emerging issues across teams.

You might thrive in this role if you:

- Have 8+ years of relevant legal experience, including substantial product counseling for consumer devices, software embedded in hardware, gained in-house, at a technology-focused law firm, or both.

- Can work with engineers on embedded software and firmware, hardware dependencies, and translate that understanding into practical advice.

- Have experience with software licensing and the legal issues that arise when device software, apps, and connected services work together.

- Build trusted cross-functional relationships and explain complex issues clearly, balancing legal risk with product goals and responsible development.

- Take ownership and bring an adaptable, collaborative working style: shift priorities, learn unfamiliar issues, and move between strategic advice and hands-on problem solving while knowing when to involve specialists.

- Have a JD and license or qualification to practice in CA.