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Nominal builds software that lets hardware teams test, iterate, and deploy as fast as software teams.
The Role
Owns commercial contracting and proposals, including SaaS, software licensing, services, NDAs, MSAs, partner, and vendor agreements. Negotiates deals, maintains contract playbooks and templates, manages approvals and signatures, tracks post-signature obligations, improves CLM workflows and metrics, and advises cross-functional teams. The role requires experience with defense and aerospace prime contracts, FAR and DFARS flowdowns, institutional RFPs/RFQs, export controls, and commercial technology agreements.
Summary Generated by Built In
About Nominal
🚀 About the role
👨🏻💻 What You'll Do
🔍 We're looking for someone with
⚡ Skills that accelerate us
✨ Benefits/Perks
Engineers today are building some of the most ambitious machines humanity has ever seen. They should have AI that’s purpose-built for them.
Nominal is building the Hardware Intelligence Platform that gives engineers increased visibility into complex physical systems, helps them make better decisions, and ultimately gets their products into the real world faster. It brings together the systems, data, intelligence, and applications hardware engineering requires to meet the AI moment. Hardware engineering teams use Nominal to simulate, test, manufacture, and operate the physical systems that keep the world moving, from spacecraft and autonomous vehicles to next-generation energy systems and robotics.
Our customers span aerospace, defense, manufacturing, transportation, energy, and robotics. They include Anduril, Shield AI, Wisk Aero, Pratt Miller Motorsports, Antares, and Shinkei Systems, amongst others, alongside programs within the U.S. Air Force and Navy. Our team draws from SpaceX, Palantir, Anduril, Applied Intuition, Tesla, and other leading companies, united by a common mission: giving hardware engineers the tools to build the future with speed, safety, and confidence. We're a fast-moving team that owns problems end-to-end, works across disciplines, and thrives at the intersection of hardware and software.
Some of the world’s leading technology investors, including Sequoia, Lightspeed, Founders Fund, General Catalyst, Lux Capital, and Insight Partners, are backing Nominal’s ambition to change how machines are built and operated.
🚀 About the role
Nominal's Legal team supports every deal we sign, from commercial software agreements with aerospace and autonomy companies to deals with prime contractors across the defense industrial base. As our commercial business grows, contract volume and complexity are growing with it. As a Commercial Contracts Manager, you'll own commercial contracting and proposals, so our attorneys can focus on the highest-risk legal work.
This role is ideal for a contracts professional who knows commercial technology deals and how defense primes contract, and who wants to shape how a contracts function runs, not just process paper, in partnership with Sales, Finance, Security and our Government team, in addition to Legal.
👨🏻💻 What You'll Do
- Negotiate and manage commercial agreements end to end, including software licenses, SaaS subscriptions, MSAs, NDAs, and partner and vendor contracts.
- Build and maintain Nominal's commercial contracts playbook, templates, and fallback positions so most deals close without escalating to an attorney.
- Shape how contracting runs at Nominal, from intake and approvals to signature, by improving our contract tools, automations, and metrics in partnership with our Deal-Ops team.
- Track post-signature obligations such as renewals, notice periods, and customer commitments, and make sure the right teams act on them.
- Mentor future contracts teammates and serve as a go-to partner for commercial deal questions across the company.
- Experience negotiating commercial technology contracts, such as SaaS, software licensing, or services agreements, in-house or at a firm.
- Hands-on experience with contracts between commercial suppliers and defense or aerospace prime contractors, including FAR and DFARS flowdowns plus security and commerciality addendums.
- A track record of owning a high volume of deals end to end while keeping turnaround times short.
- Experience writing or managing proposals and responses to institutional RFPs or RFQs from large procurement or CIO functions.
- Working knowledge of contract lifecycle management (CLM) tools and e-signature workflows.
- Sound judgment on which risks to accept, which need a fallback, and when to bring in an attorney.
- Clear communication with Sales, Finance, and Engineering partners who aren't contract specialists.
⚡ Skills that accelerate us
- Familiarity with export controls (ITAR and EAR) and deployability considerations (common cloud hosting and support structures) in commercial contracts.
- Experience building a contracts function at a global venture-backed startup.
- Familiarity with commercial SaaS pricing and global (e.g., UK) contracting considerations beyond the U.S.
- 🏥 100% coverage of medical, dental, and vision insurance
- 🏖️ Unlimited PTO and sick leave
- 🍽️ Free lunch, snacks, and coffee
- 🚀 Professional Development Stipend
- ✈️ Annual company retreat
All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, or national origin.
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.
Skills Required
- Experience negotiating commercial technology contracts, including SaaS, software licensing, or services agreements, in-house or at a law firm.
- Hands-on experience with contracts between commercial suppliers and defense or aerospace prime contractors.
- Experience with FAR and DFARS flowdowns, security addendums, and commerciality addendums.
- Track record of owning a high volume of deals end to end while maintaining short turnaround times.
- Experience writing or managing proposals and responses to institutional RFPs or RFQs.
- Working knowledge of contract lifecycle management tools and e-signature workflows.
- Sound judgment regarding risk acceptance, fallback positions, and attorney escalation.
- Clear communication with Sales, Finance, and Engineering stakeholders.
- Familiarity with export controls, including ITAR and EAR, and commercial cloud deployability considerations.
- Experience building a contracts function at a global venture-backed startup.
- Familiarity with commercial SaaS pricing and international contracting considerations, such as UK contracting.
- Must meet applicable ITAR eligibility requirements or be eligible to obtain required U.S. Department of State authorizations.
Nominal Compensation & Benefits Highlights
The following summarizes recurring compensation and benefits themes identified from responses generated by popular LLMs to common candidate questions about Nominal and has not been reviewed or approved by Nominal.
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Healthcare Strength — 100% employer-paid medical, dental, and vision coverage is repeatedly described as covering both employees and dependents, indicating unusually strong healthcare provisioning. Additional mentions of “Platinum” coverage reinforce the sense of a high-tier plan offering.
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Leave & Time Off Breadth — Unlimited PTO and paid holidays/sick time are presented as part of the core package, suggesting broad time-off benefits on paper. Parental leave is also framed as fully paid in several places, reinforcing overall leave breadth.
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Wellbeing & Lifestyle Benefits — Wellness stipends, daily gourmet lunch (and sometimes dinner), and periodic retreats are consistently highlighted as meaningful lifestyle perks. Learning/development and other small stipends further round out a perks-heavy total rewards posture.
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The Company
What We Do
Nominal builds the essential software stack that enables hardware teams to test and iterate as rapidly as software teams. Nominal empowers engineers to continuously monitor, validate, and deploy innovations, transforming how mission-critical hardware is built and operated.
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