Shield AI is seeking an experienced in-house attorney to lead legal support for our supply chain and procurement function. This role will own the legal strategy and day-to-day execution across supplier contracting, procurement frameworks, subcontracts, and supply-chain-related regulatory support.
This role sits close to some of Shield AI’s most important growth and product efforts, including next-generation autonomy and aircraft programs such as X-BAT. The right candidate will combine strong judgment with real fluency in government contracting and defense regulatory requirements, and will be energized by building systems, shaping operating approaches, and helping the business move with speed and discipline in a regulated environment.
What you'll do:
- Build and own the legal support model for Shield AI’s supply chain, procurement, and supplier operations.
- Design and refine the contracting infrastructure for the function, including templates, fallback language, playbooks, and training materials.
- Lead the drafting, review, and negotiation of long term agreements, master supplier agreements, purchase terms and conditions, statements of work, supplier NDAs, services agreements, logistics arrangements, and other vendor facing contracts.
- Structure, draft, review, and negotiate subcontracts and related agreements supporting US government and commercial programs.
- Advise on subcontracting structures, mandatory and strategic flow down requirements, representations and certifications, and other government contracting considerations that affect supplier and procurement activity.
- Partner with supply chain and procurement leaders on the legal strategy for scaling supplier relationships, improving cycle times, and enabling disciplined growth across critical programs.
- Provide practical legal advice on FAR/DFARS-related supply chain issues, including sourcing restrictions, commercial item issues, recordkeeping expectations, cost and pricing sensitivities, and other regulatory requirements relevant to the business.
- Support supplier performance, change activity, claims, disputes, terminations, remedies, and other commercial and subcontracting issues that arise during execution.
- Work closely with compliance and trade-related stakeholders on import/export, sanctions, customs, anticorruption, cybersecurity, security, and related regulatory requirements that intersect with procurement and supplier operations.
- Help shape the legal and commercial infrastructure supporting next-generation autonomy, aircraft, and manufacturing programs across the company.
- Translate legal and regulatory risk into clear, business oriented recommendations for leadership and operational stakeholders.
- Serve as a trusted business partner to senior leaders making consequential decisions about supplier relationships, program execution, and scale.
Required qualifications:
- J.D. from an accredited law school and active membership in at least one U.S. state bar.
- 7+ years of relevant legal experience, with a meaningful portion in-house and/or at a top law firm advising companies on commercial contracting, procurement, supply chain, subcontracts, and government contracts.
- Significant experience drafting, reviewing, and negotiating complex supplier, vendor, procurement, and commercial agreements.
- Demonstrated experience advising on subcontracting and government contract related issues, including FAR/DFARS flow-downs and other regulatory requirements relevant to defense or federally funded work.
- Strong business judgment and the ability to provide pragmatic, solutions oriented advice in a fast paced environment.
- Demonstrated ability to build processes, improve contracting systems, and create scalable legal infrastructure rather than simply review agreements on an ad hoc basis.
- Excellent written and verbal communication skills, including the ability to explain nuanced legal risk to nonlawyers clearly and credibly.
- Proven ability to operate cross-functionally and build trust with procurement, operations, finance, compliance, and business teams.
- High degree of ownership, sound judgment, and comfort working in ambiguity.
Preferred qualifications:
- Experience supporting a defense technology or aerospace company.
- Experience with supplier-facing legal issues in support of US government contracts or national security programs.
- Familiarity with import/export controls, sanctions, customs, anti-corruption, cybersecurity, and related compliance frameworks affecting suppliers and supply chains.
- Experience with data rights, technical data, software licensing, or IP-adjacent issues that arise in supplier and subcontractor relationships.
- Experience building legal templates, policies, and contracting processes in a scaling or high-growth environment.
- Familiarity with manufacturing, quality, logistics, and program-execution realities in a production environment.
Why this role matters:
Shield AI’s ability to field advanced autonomy and aircraft systems depends on a supplier and procurement engine that can move at speed while meeting defense contractual and regulatory requirements. This role will help design the legal operating model behind that scale: the agreement structures, supplier risk frameworks, subcontracting approach, and decision mechanisms that support critical programs, including next generation efforts such as X-BAT.
This is an opportunity for aa attorney who wants to do more than provide legal review. It is a chance to build durable infrastructure, influence real business decisions, and help shape how Shield AI buys, builds, and delivers in support of its autonomy roadmap.
Work Cross-Functionally with:
- Supply Chain
- Procurement and Strategic Sourcing
- Finance
- Compliance and Trade/Regulatory stakeholders
- Operations and Manufacturing
- Quality
- Engineering and Program teams
- Security and other business functions as needed
Skills Required
- J.D. from an accredited law school and active membership in at least one U.S. state bar
- 7+ years of relevant legal experience, with a meaningful portion in-house and/or at a top law firm advising on commercial contracting, procurement, supply chain, subcontracts, and government contracts
- Significant experience drafting, reviewing, and negotiating complex supplier, vendor, procurement, and commercial agreements
- Demonstrated experience advising on subcontracting and government contract related issues, including FAR/DFARS flow-downs and other regulatory requirements
- Strong business judgment and ability to provide pragmatic, solutions-oriented advice in a fast-paced environment
- Demonstrated ability to build processes, improve contracting systems, and create scalable legal infrastructure
- Excellent written and verbal communication skills, including explaining nuanced legal risk to nonlawyers
- Proven ability to operate cross-functionally and build trust with procurement, operations, finance, compliance, and business teams
- High degree of ownership, sound judgment, and comfort working in ambiguity
- Experience supporting a defense technology or aerospace company
- Experience with supplier-facing legal issues in support of US government contracts or national security programs
- Familiarity with import/export controls, sanctions, customs, anti-corruption, cybersecurity, and related compliance frameworks affecting suppliers and supply chains
- Experience with data rights, technical data, software licensing, or IP-adjacent issues in supplier and subcontractor relationships
- Experience building legal templates, policies, and contracting processes in a scaling or high-growth environment
- Familiarity with manufacturing, quality, logistics, and program-execution realities in a production environment
What the Team is Saying
Shield AI Compensation & Benefits Highlights
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Healthcare Strength — Company materials describe excellent medical, dental, and vision coverage alongside a mental‑health EAP. Site perks such as an onsite gym in DC and a gym discount in San Diego support a health‑focused offering.
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Retirement Support — Careers materials highlight a 401(k) with company match as part of the standard package. A Total Rewards overview emphasizes retirement features within a broader, transparent compensation view.
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Career-Linked Recognition & Rewards — Compensation for in‑demand technical and senior go‑to‑market roles is described as competitive, with visible engineering ranges and top‑end packages. This points to meaningful upside tied to role, level, and scarce skills.
Shield AI Insights
What We Do
At Shield AI, you won't wait years to see your work reach the field. You'll build hardware and software that operates in the real world right now, in the hands of the people who depend on it. Hivemind, our AI pilot, has been flying since 2018. It has flown more than 30 platforms, including an F-16, and it now sits under a U.S. Air Force production contract for Collaborative Combat Aircraft. When you write code or shape a system here, you contribute to technology with a proven flight record and a clear production future. V-BAT flies intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance missions with an operational record that stretches from Ukraine to the Indo-Pacific. It delivers eyes where they matter most, in the most demanding conditions on earth. The teams behind it watch their work get tested where the stakes are real. X-BAT takes its first flight this year. It's an AI-piloted fighter that needs no runway, built to operate where traditional aircraft can't. Join now and you help shape a program at its earliest, most formative stage. That's the kind of ground-floor work that defines a career. Do the most impactful work of your life, on problems that matter. Autonomy at this level asks a lot of you. You'll take on problems in perception, planning, and control that few teams anywhere are equipped to solve. You'll work across disciplines, from aerospace and robotics to machine learning and systems engineering, alongside people who hold themselves to an exacting standard and expect the same from you. Our mission is clear: protect service members and civilians with intelligent systems. That purpose runs through every decision, every design review, and every deployment. It's why the work here carries a weight you can feel. Ready to join our mission? Explore our open roles and find where you fit.
Why Work With Us
Founded in 2015 by a former Navy SEAL, Shield AI builds AI pilots and uncrewed aircraft. Veterans aren't an afterthought here, they're at every level. It's why the work carries weight: AI pilots and uncrewed aircraft flying real missions, from Ukraine to the Indo-Pacific, protecting service members and civilians.
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Employees engage in a combination of remote and on-site work.
