Energy Exploration Technologies has a mission to become a worldwide leader in the global transition to sustainable energy. Founded in 2018, the company is fundamentally changing the way humanity is powering our world and storing clean energy with breakthrough lithium-ion technology and energy storage solutions.
The Role
The Procurement/Commercial Counsel will provide legal support to the senior leadership team as well as the Sales, Engineering, and Procurement departments on a wide range of commercial and procurement-related contracts. The role may also involve coordinating with outside counsel on related matters. This position is on-site in Austin, TX.
Key Responsibilities/ Tasks
The successful candidate will be responsible for:
- Drafting and negotiating complex commercial agreements (confidentiality, master service agreements, change orders, T&Cs, customer offtake agreements, technology licensing agreements).
- Partnering closely with Sales, Engineering, Procurement and Executive leadership to provide counsel on commercial contracts with customers, vendors, and partnersDeveloping template forms and playbooks for commercial transactions.
- Train and mentor internal stakeholders on legal and negotiation best practices to improve contract turnaround.
- Responding promptly to legal questions and requests from various stakeholders in the business.
- Managing outside counsel relationships to ensure access to high-quality, cost-effective subject matter expertise and specialized support.
- Assisting with vendor KYC and compliance matters.
- Assisting with special projects as needed, including projects focused on the development, implementation and improvement of contracting workflows and contract lifecycle management.
- Ensuring accurate documentation and tracking of contractual terms and risk exposure.
- Tracking regulatory compliance and staying up to date on trends affecting the energy industry, especially as it pertains to lithium. Experience in the energy industry is a plus!
Qualifications/Requirements
- Law degree (JD) or LL.M from U.S. accredited law school and active, good standing membership in at least one U.S. State bar
- 2 years or more of experience in a law firm.
- Strong business acumen.
- Excellent negotiation skills.
Benefits:
- Healthcare (Health, Dental, Vision) with employer contribution
- PTO
- Sick Leave
- Equity Compensation
- 401k plan
EnergyX is an Equal Opportunity Employer; employment with EnergyX is governed on the basis of merit, competence, and qualifications and will not be influenced in any manner by race, color, religion, gender, national origin/ethnicity, veteran status, disability status, age, sexual orientation, gender identity, marital status, mental or physical disability or any other legally protected status.
What We Do
EnergyX is a sustainable energy company focused on direct lithium extraction, refinery and battery technology. Combining these technologies from brine to battery will create a process dramatically lowering the cost of lithium resources. The company’s goal is to develop technology and assets that turn it into one of the premier, low-cost lithium providers for the growing lithium-ion battery industry.
The electric vehicle (EV) and energy storage revolution is generating high demand for lithium, with some analysts forecasting orders-of-magnitude demand increases. As the EV market rapidly expands, millions of large-scale battery packs will be in demand. The estimated annual production of EV’s is 20,000,000 per year. For one 85-kWh car, the price of the lithium in the battery is approximately $2,945 per car. Residential (home) and commercial batteries are also gaining market demand traction, and California has implemented law stating by 2020 all new homes will require solar arrays.
Companies already producing lithium are attempting to increase production as battery cell manufacturers are scaling up lithium-ion production with mega factories and actively acquiring raw materials through long term off-take supply agreements. In the Lithium Triangle, where 50-70% of the world’s known lithium reserve is located, current methods of extraction are based off outdated, natural evaporation pond technology, which takes 18 months, and loses 50-70% of the lithium due to co-precipitation.
Our solution is to optimize and apply a highly scalable lithium extraction membrane to the process. The ability to efficiently extract and aggregate the lithium elements from the salt brines using proprietary, multi-level, synthetic ion separation techniques can increase time efficiency by 100x and recovery rate by 300%.
