Provide day-to-day ownership of commercial contracting, negotiate licensing and NDAs, advise on government contracting/DFARS, handle export control (EAR) and sanctions screening, support IP and corporate matters, and manage employment and intercompany agreements while collaborating across Product, Sales, Engineering, Finance, and Exec teams.
Assistant General CounselSynMax, Inc. · Washington, D.C. (Hybrid) · Full-time
SynMax analyzes satellite imagery and independent data to find dark ships, count gas flares, track LNG cargoes, and predict when power plants and data centers will actually come online. We're a Delaware corporation headquartered in Houston, with an office in Washington, D.C. and a UK subsidiary. Our platforms - Theia (maritime), Hyperion (energy), Vulcan (infrastructure), and BasinIQ (agentic AI for upstream oil and gas) - serve U.S. Government and allied defense customers, commercial energy companies, and institutional trading firms.
You'll be the second attorney in a two-lawyer department: the newest lawyer, the most senior associate, and the entire junior staff, simultaneously. You'll own the commercial contracting pipeline day to day and support government contracting, export control, IP protection, and corporate matters, reporting directly to the General Counsel — who is direct, moves fast, expects concrete deliverables over open-ended questions, and considers a sense of humor a genuine job requirement.
A typical week:
- A trading firm proposes a liability cap so creative it deserves an art award. You counter with our standard position and an explanation of why it exists, and everyone stays friends.
- Sales needs a yes on a redline by end of day. You deliver a yes with three changes, in language the customer can actually accept, before lunch.
- You do the second read nobody else does, catch the cross-reference that quietly rewrote the indemnity, and feel like a genius. Because you are.
What You'll Own
- Lead end-to-end negotiation of SynMax licensing instruments (MLAs, Order Forms, trials, Agents addenda, NDAs) against sophisticated counterparties in energy, trading, and defense, holding SynMax's standard positions on liability, IP ownership, data use, and model training.
- Compare every incoming redline against SynMax's last transmitted draft and deliver tiered risk analysis with proposed language, not a list of concerns.
- Support prime and subcontract work under the FAR Part 12 commercial framework, DFARS data rights protection, and disciplined flowdown review.
- Maintain SynMax's platforms and derived data products as consistently and defensibly characterized as proprietary commercial technology; flag anything touching ownership or sourcing for GC review before it goes out.
- Issue-spot export control questions under the EAR, support classification reviews and sanctions screening, and escalate to specialist outside counsel where needed.
- Handle offer letters, consultant and separation agreements, equity administration, governance matters, and UK intercompany arrangements.
Who You'll Work With
Legal touches everything at SynMax - from Product, to Sales, to People Operations and the Executive team. Colleagues should feel comfortable bringing you problems before they've become signed agreements.
Qualifications
- J.D. and active bar membership in at least one U.S. jurisdiction; D.C. Bar admission or eligibility to practice as in-house counsel under D.C. court rules.
- 6–10 years of combined law firm and in-house experience in technology transactions, data/software licensing, or government contracts, with first-chair negotiation experience against institutional counterparties.
- Working knowledge of the FAR Part 12 commercial framework and DFARS data rights regime.
- Demonstrated ability to work across sales, engineering, finance, and executive teams, translating legal concepts into plain language.
- U.S. citizenship, required for eligibility for a U.S. Government personnel security clearance, and ability to pass a comprehensive background investigation.
Preferred:
An active or recent U.S. Government security clearance (Secret or higher); in-house experience at a geospatial, remote sensing, or defense technology company; familiarity with alternative data licensing for trading firm customers; exposure to EAR/ITAR classification, OFAC compliance, or FCL sponsorship processes.
SynMax provides equal employment opportunities to all employees and applicants regardless of race, color, religion, sex (including pregnancy, sexual orientation, and gender identity), national origin, age, disability, veteran status, genetic information, or any other status protected by applicable law. The U.S. citizenship requirement for this role reflects U.S. Government contract and security clearance eligibility requirements and is applied consistent with applicable law.
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