Drafts, reviews, and negotiates commercial, launch, vendor, supplier, lease, confidentiality, and other business agreements. Advises stakeholders on contract interpretation, performance issues, amendments, disputes, renewals, and terminations. Maintains templates, playbooks, and contract tracking processes while identifying legal and commercial risks and escalating complex matters. Collaborates with business development, finance, mission management, and external counterparties in a fast-paced aerospace environment.
As part of Impulse’s legal team, the Contracts Counsel will support a fast-growing and dynamic company across a broad range of contracts, including customer-facing commercial agreements, launch-related agreements, vendor and supplier agreements, leases and other business arrangements. This role reports to the Assistant General Counsel and is intended to add experienced execution capacity to the legal team: independently handling day-to-day drafting, review and negotiation of assigned matters after alignment on strategy, while coordinating on material deviations, non-standard risk positions, novel issues and complex or high-stakes matters. The Contracts Counsel will work directly with internal stakeholders on assigned matters and may support additional practice areas as the company grows.
NOTE: This position is on-site in Redondo Beach
Responsibilities
- Support the team in drafting, reviewing and negotiating a wide range of agreements, including customer-facing launch and mission services agreements, other commercial customer agreements, launch provider agreements, vendor and supplier agreements, leases, confidentiality agreements and other business arrangements
- Prepare initial drafts, reviews and redlines for assigned matters; identify key legal and business issues; and propose practical paths forward as appropriate
- Handle routine negotiations within established legal positions and agreed deal strategy, with appropriate escalation of material deviations, non-standard risk positions, novel issues, and complex or high-stakes matters
- Support customer contract work in coordination with the Assistant General Counsel, including working with Business Development, Finance, Mission Management and other stakeholders on deal structuring, negotiation preparation, contract execution and follow-up matters
- Support internal stakeholders on contract interpretation and performance issues, including amendments, change requests, claims, disputes, renewals and terminations
- Help create, maintain and improve contract templates, standard positions and playbooks, subject to alignment with legal leadership, and assist with key contract lifecycle tracking for assigned matters
- Contribute to scalable legal processes, training and other projects, and assist the legal team with additional practice areas as needed
Minimum Qualifications
- J.D. from an accredited law school and active U.S. bar membership
- 6+ years of contracts experience in a law firm and/or in-house legal department, including meaningful experience drafting and negotiating commercial agreements
- Demonstrated ability to independently handle routine drafting and negotiations within established parameters, together with strong judgment about when to escalate legal or business risk
- Sound business judgment and the ability to identify and articulate legal and commercial risk clearly and propose practical, risk-based solutions
- Strong communicator with a highly collaborative working style and comfort working directly with internal stakeholders and external counterparties in a fast-paced, high-growth environment.
Preferred Skills and Experience
- In-house experience in a fast-paced startup or growth-stage environment, preferably in aerospace, defense, technology or engineering-driven company\
- Demonstrated experience supporting customer-facing services agreements, launch or satellite contracting, or other complex commercial transactions
- Demonstrated experience helping develop or improve contract templates, playbooks, tracking and other contract operations processes
Additional Information:
Compensation bands are determined by role, level, location, and alignment with market data. Individual level and base pay is determined on a case-by-case basis and may vary based on job-related skills, education, experience, technical capabilities and internal equity. In addition to base salary, for full-time hires, you may also be eligible for long-term incentives, in the form of stock options, and access to medical, vision & dental coverage as well as access to a 401(k) retirement plan.
Impulse Space’s spacecraft manufacturing business is subject to U.S. export regulations including the International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR) and Export Administration Regulations (EAR). This position requires applicants to be either U.S. Persons (i.e., U.S. citizen, U.S. national, lawful permanent U.S. resident (green card holder), an individual granted asylum in the U.S., or an individual admitted in U.S. refugee status) or persons eligible to obtain an export license from the U.S. Departments of State, Commerce, or other applicable U.S. government agencies. Learn more about the ITAR here.
Compensation bands are determined by role, level, location, and alignment with market data. Individual level and base pay is determined on a case-by-case basis and may vary based on job-related skills, education, experience, technical capabilities and internal equity. In addition to base salary, for full-time hires, you may also be eligible for long-term incentives, in the form of stock options, and access to medical, vision & dental coverage as well as access to a 401(k) retirement plan.
Impulse Space’s spacecraft manufacturing business is subject to U.S. export regulations including the International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR) and Export Administration Regulations (EAR). This position requires applicants to be either U.S. Persons (i.e., U.S. citizen, U.S. national, lawful permanent U.S. resident (green card holder), an individual granted asylum in the U.S., or an individual admitted in U.S. refugee status) or persons eligible to obtain an export license from the U.S. Departments of State, Commerce, or other applicable U.S. government agencies. Learn more about the ITAR here.
Impulse Space is an Equal Opportunity Employer; employment with Impulse Space 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.
About
Impulse Space, the in-space transportation company founded by Tom Mueller, is opening access beyond Low Earth Orbit (LEO) with its fleet of in-space transportation vehicles. The high-energy Helios vehicle unlocks orbits beyond LEO with its powerful Deneb engine, dropping off payloads in MEO, GEO, heliocentric, lunar, and other planetary orbits. The flight-proven Mira vehicle uses a nontoxic, high-impulse chemical propulsion system to offer orbital transport, constellation deployment, and precision reentry services to customers throughout LEO. Led by a team that delivered the most reliable rockets in history, Impulse provides economical and efficient in-space transportation by reliably and rapidly getting customers where they want to go.
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