• Spearhead jurisdictional due-diligence programs across our licensed markets, ensuring end-to-end regulatory alignment and proactive risk mitigation. • Draft, negotiate, and close complex commercial agreements, securing optimal terms while safeguarding the group’s legal position. • Architect and maintain corporate-governance frameworks, advising leadership on strategic risk and policy optimisation. • Partner with Compliance, Product, and Business verticals to align legal insights with commercial objectives and product roadmaps. • Monitor and interpret evolving regulation, trends, and best practice, translating insights into actionable guidance for the executive team. • Provide ad-hoc counsel on emerging matters to enable rapid, compliant decision-making.

• Lead and support legal work for corporate development activities at all stages of an M&A deal, including transaction structuring, term sheet negotiation, due diligence, definitive agreement drafting and negotiation, and post-closing integration. • Partner closely with the Head of M&A legal and senior leadership to drive execution of the firm’s global M&A strategy. • Support Kraken's growing corporate governance needs as the company prepares for potential public company status, including advising on board governance, committee structures, policies, and processes. • Assist in preparing for and supporting board meetings and governance matters, including board and committee materials and minutes. • Advise on and support on SEC reporting and disclosure processes, corporate policies, and compliance frameworks. • Collaborate with internal stakeholders in legal, finance, accounting, corporate development, compliance, tax, equity, HR, and other functions to drive cross-functional alignment and execution. • Manage relationships with outside counsel and ensure efficient and strategic use of external legal resources. • Provide creative, pragmatic, and business-focused legal advice to senior executives under tight timelines.

• Support corporate governance and board matters, serving as Secretary to the Board – including maintaining minute books, managing board and committee meeting logistics, preparing resolutions, and owning the governance playbook end-to-end • Manage and negotiate a wide range of key commercial agreements, including customer contracts, vendor agreements, partnership deals, data processing agreements, and advertising platform integrations • Review and advise on customer contracts, RFP responses, and order forms to support the sales team • Partner with the People Team as a trusted legal resource on employment matters, from day-to-day HR questions to more complex issues involving compliance • Maintain and improve contract templates, clause libraries, and playbooks to boost the efficiency and repeatability of the company's legal processes • Handle intellectual property matters, including licensing agreements, protecting company IP in commercial deals, and managing third-party IP usage – with particular relevance to our Data-as-a-Service (DaaS) offerings • Act as the Data Protection Officer (DPO) for the company • Own cap table management and equity administration, including option grants, vesting schedules, and compliance with securities regulations • Collaborate with teams across sales, marketing, product, data, and operations on commercial legal matters, privacy compliance, and advertising regulations • Coordinate with external counsel on complex transactions, regulatory matters, and specialized legal issues

About the role: We are looking for our first Director of Legal to build and lead Modular's legal function from the ground up. In this role, you will be a strategic partner to leadership, providing legal counsel across all aspects of our rapidly scaling business. You'll navigate the complex legal landscape of AI infrastructure, open-source software, enterprise sales, and international expansion—all while helping us move fast and maintain our commitment to building AI for everyone. This is a foundational leadership role reporting directly to the VP of Finance and working closely with Finance, People, Product, and Engineering leadership. You'll have the opportunity to shape legal strategy during a transformative period as we scale from a high-growth startup to an industry-defining AI infrastructure company. LOCATION: Candidates based in the United States are welcome to apply. You can work in our office in Los Altos, CA or remotely from home. Onboarding for new hires is conducted in-person in our Los Altos, CA office. What you will do: Strategic Legal Leadership - Serve as the primary legal advisor to the executive team and Board of Directors on corporate governance, risk management, and strategic initiatives - Build and scale the legal function, including hiring, managing external counsel relationships, and developing internal processes and playbooks - Partner with leadership to enable rapid decision-making while appropriately managing legal and business risk Commercial & Contracts - Lead commercial legal strategy for enterprise deals, including negotiating complex agreements with cloud providers, hardware partners, and Fortune 500 customers - Develop and maintain scalable contract frameworks, templates, and processes for sales, partnerships, procurement, and vendor relationships - Support revenue recognition decisions, pricing structures, and deal structuring for complex, high-value engagements Corporate & Transactions - Manage corporate governance matters, including Board meetings, equity administration, and entity management across jurisdictions - Lead legal work streams for financing rounds, M&A activities, and strategic transactions - Oversee cap table management, stock option programs, and equity-related communications in partnership with Finance and People teams Intellectual Property & Open Source - Develop and execute IP strategy to protect Modular's innovations in AI infrastructure, compilers, and programming languages - Navigate open-source licensing considerations across our products (including Mojo and MAX) and contributions - Manage patent portfolio strategy, trademark filings, and IP-related commercial terms Regulatory, Privacy & Compliance - Monitor and advise on evolving AI regulations, export controls, and data privacy requirements across global markets - Ensure compliance with relevant frameworks (GDPR, CCPA, SOC 2, etc.) in partnership with Security and Engineering teams - Develop policies and training programs to embed legal and ethical considerations into product development Employment & People - Partner with the People team on employment matters, including policy development, equity administration, international hiring, and immigration - Advise on employee relations matters, performance management, and workforce planning What you bring to the table: - J.D. from an accredited law school and active membership in good standing with at least one U.S. state bar - 8+ years of legal experience, including time at a top-tier law firm and in-house at a high-growth technology startup - A problem-solving mindset. You find ways to get to "yes" while managing risk, rather than defaulting to "no." You're energized by ambiguity and comfortable navigating rapid change in a fast-moving industry - A builder mentality. You're excited to create processes, templates, and infrastructure from scratch, not just maintain existing systems - Deep expertise in technology transactions, commercial contracts, and enterprise software/SaaS deals - Strong background in corporate governance, venture financing, and M&A - Experience with intellectual property strategy, particularly in software and open-source contexts - Demonstrated ability to operate as a strategic business partner, not just a legal advisor - Excellent judgment, communication skills, and ability to distill complex legal concepts for technical and non-technical audiences - Willingness to be hands-on. Comfortable rolling up your sleeves while also setting long-term strategy Helpful, but not required: - Experience at AI/ML infrastructure companies, developer tools companies, or companies with significant open-source components - Familiarity with hardware partnerships, cloud infrastructure agreements, or semiconductor/GPU ecosystem dynamics - Background in export control, AI governance, or emerging technology regulation - Experience with international expansion, particularly in EMEA - Prior experience supporting a company through significant growth phases (Series B+ through IPO readiness) What Modular brings to the table: - Amazing Team. We are a progressive and agile team with some of the industry’s best engineering and product leaders. - World-class Benefits. In order to attract the best, we need to offer the best. Premier insurance plans, up to 5% 401k matching, flexible paid time off, and more are available to you! Please note that specific benefit packages may vary based on your location. - Competitive Compensation. We offer very strong compensation packages, including stock options. We want people to be focused on their best work and believe in tailoring compensation plans to meet the needs of our workforce. - Team Building Events. We organize regular team onsites and local meetups in Los Altos, CA as well as different cities. Traveling 2-4 times a year is expected for all roles. Working at Modular will enable you to grow quickly as you work alongside incredibly motivated and talented people who have high standards, possess a growth mindset, and a purpose to truly change the world. The estimated base salary range for this role to be performed in the US, regardless of the state, is $275,000.00 - $350,000.00 USD. The salary for the successful applicant will depend on a variety of permissible, non-discriminatory job-related factors, which include but are not limited to education, training, work experience, business needs, or market demands. This range may be modified in the future. The total compensation for a candidate will also include annual target bonus, equity, and benefits, with equity making up a significant portion of your total compensation. For candidates who fall outside of the listed requirements, we nevertheless encourage you to apply as we may have openings that are lower/higher level than the ones advertised.