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Commonwealth Fusion Systems is seeking an experienced Assistant General Counsel – Commercial & Corporate to serve as a foundational legal leader as the company transitions from R&D to commercial execution. Reporting directly to the Chief Legal Officer, you will operate as both a hands-on individual contributor on CFS's most complex, mission-critical transactions and the architect of the legal infrastructure supporting the company's next phase of growth. As CFS scales, you will build and lead a commercial and corporate legal team.
You will partner with executive leaders across commercial and business development, corporate development, strategic partnerships, supply chain, finance, and engineering, giving you direct visibility into and influence over the company's most consequential strategic decisions.
Key responsibilities include:
• Build & Scale the Commercial Legal Function: Architect CFS's commercial legal capability by creating scalable contract workflows, tools, standard templates, negotiation playbooks, and training. Lay groundwork for and recruit/lead a growing team.
• Lead High-Stakes Negotiations: Structure, draft, and negotiate complex, high-value commercial and partnership agreements, including customer, supplier, and vendor deals, long-term procurement contracts, joint developments, strategic alliances, and partnerships.
• Drive Corporate Development & Strategic Partnerships: Serve as core legal partner on corporate development initiatives—strategic partnerships, joint ventures, strategic investments, technology transfers, and licensing—central to scaling commercial fusion.
• Support Core Corporate Legal Matters: Provide legal support on corporate, subsidiary and entity management, and corporate transactions related to corporate development or commercial transactions.
• Advise Supply Chain & Operations: Serve as primary legal advisor to procurement and global supply chain teams, mitigating risk across complex, multi-tiered international supply chains for advanced hardware, specialized materials, and manufacturing.
• Drive Pragmatic Risk Management: Provide business-minded, creative, and actionable legal guidance balancing risk mitigation with the urgency required to hit commercial milestones.
• Cross-Functional Leadership: Partner with commercial, corporate development, supply chain, engineering, global affairs, finance, and compliance teams to ensure alignment and seamless execution.
Requirements:
• J.D. from an accredited law school and active bar admission in good standing in at least one U.S. jurisdiction (eligible for MA In-House Counsel registration)
• 12+ years of legal experience, ideally starting at a top-tier law firm followed by significant in-house experience at a fast-growing, complex technology, energy, advanced manufacturing, or industrial company
• Deep background in drafting and negotiating complex commercial contracts, strategic partnerships, global supply chain agreements, and corporate development transactions (JVs, strategic investments, licensing, tech transfer)
• Familiarity with core corporate legal matters—governance, entity structuring, and general corporate transaction support
• Proven track record of creating, operationalizing, and/or improving commercial legal systems, contract management tools (CLM), and negotiation playbooks from the ground up
• Experience mentoring, managing, or building legal teams, or clear readiness to do so
• Exceptional judgment and ability to synthesize complex technical, operational, and legal concepts into clear, actionable advice for non-lawyers
• Comfort advising senior leadership and acting as trusted strategic partner to CLO and business unit executives
• Proactive, self-starter mentality comfortable in fast-changing, high-ambiguity environments
• Genuine passion for clean energy, deep technology, science-based product commercialization, and fusion energy
• Dedication to safety and willingness to occasionally travel or work required nights/weekends/on-call
• Compliance with U.S. export control laws
