The posting
ABOUT THE FOUNDATION:
The OpenClaw Foundation is the steward of the world's largest open source AI agent project. Its mission is grounded in a foundational conviction: that AI must be open, safe, and ultimately owned by the individuals and communities who use it.
The Foundation operates across three core mandates:
- Advancing research into the human-agent relationship while continuously evolving the OpenClaw platform;
- Maintaining and hardening the codebase to ensure security, reliability, and long-term sustainability;
- Establishing interoperability standards for the emerging agent era, defining how agents configure, communicate, establish trust, transact, and represent user identity across ecosystems.
Modeled after the governance structures that shaped the open web and modern computing infrastructure, the Foundation serves as a neutral, multi-stakeholder convening body — the equivalent of W3C or the Linux Foundation for the agentic AI era. Major laboratories and infrastructure providers collaborate under its umbrella on shared, vendor-neutral infrastructure, with no single organization controlling the roadmap or direction.
The OpenClaw Foundation believes that individuals should have full sovereignty over their AI: their data, their interactions, and the behavior and personality of their agents. Open source is not incidental to this mission but central to it — code must remain free to use, modify, and build upon. The future of agentic AI will be defined by a broad, developer-driven community, not prescribed by any single commercial interest.
THE ROLE
The OpenClaw Foundation is seeking a Head of Legal / Deputy General Counsel to build and lead its legal function. This person will advise Foundation leadership and the board across intellectual property, open-source licensing, product security, commercial contracts, nonprofit governance, and international legal matters.
This is a hands-on role for a pragmatic legal leader who understands the intersection of open-source software, AI, and nonprofit institutions. You'll establish the legal frameworks that protect the Foundation's mission, enable ecosystem participation, and support long-term sustainability.
A key focus will be navigating the evolving legal and regulatory landscape surrounding AI agents, particularly as agents gain access to sensitive data, interact with third-party systems, and take actions on behalf of users. You'll help the Foundation anticipate how requirements around data access, permissions, privacy, and agent autonomy will vary across end users, enterprise customers, industries, and jurisdictions — translating these complexities into practical product guidance and scalable legal frameworks.
The ideal candidate combines deep IP and technology legal expertise with strong judgment around emerging AI regulation, data governance, and product risk. You are comfortable operating autonomously, managing outside counsel, and balancing legal rigor with the pace of innovation.
WHAT YOU'LL DO
INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY & OPEN-SOURCE GOVERNANCE
- Own IP strategy across the OpenClaw codebase, brand, and ecosystem, including copyright, licensing, trademark registration, usage policies, and enforcement.
- Develop contributor agreements, licensing frameworks, and guidelines for third-party integrations, derivative works, and commercial use.
- Establish IP governance principles that balance ecosystem openness with the Foundation's responsibility to protect the project's integrity.
PRODUCT SECURITY, DATA ACCESS & AI REGULATION
- Advise on the evolving legal and regulatory landscape governing AI agents, particularly as agents access sensitive data, interact with third-party systems, and execute actions on behalf of users.
- Partner with product and engineering leadership to establish legal frameworks for agent permissions, identity, authorization, data access, and user consent across consumer, enterprise, and other deployment environments.
- Anticipate how security requirements, data access restrictions, and compliance obligations vary by customer, end user, industry, and jurisdiction, translating these differences into practical product guidance.
- Help define legal and policy frameworks for agent autonomy, delegated authority, data ownership, and accountability when agents access information or execute actions across interconnected systems.
- Monitor emerging requirements around AI governance, privacy, cybersecurity, and data sovereignty to help ensure OpenClaw's products, architecture, and ecosystem standards can adapt as regulatory expectations evolve.
- Advise on the allocation of legal responsibility among the Foundation, developers, deploying organizations, and end users as agents operate across different trust boundaries and regulatory environments.
COMMERCIAL CONTRACTS & PARTNERSHIPS
- Draft, review, and negotiate strategic partnerships, sponsorships, grants, vendor agreements, software licenses, and other commercial contracts.
- Build scalable contract templates and processes while advising on data rights, liability, indemnification, licensing, and technology risks.
- Support partnerships with technology companies, AI labs, cloud providers, and international organizations while preserving the Foundation's neutrality.
NONPROFIT LAW & GOVERNANCE
- Advise leadership and the board on nonprofit governance, fiduciary duties, organizational structure, and regulatory compliance.
- Support board operations, governance policies, charitable donations, grantmaking, and tax-exempt organization requirements, as applicable.
- Help maintain appropriate separation between the Foundation, affiliated entities, commercial partners, and ecosystem stakeholders.
INTERNATIONAL LEGAL & REGULATORY MATTERS
- Advise on cross-border agreements, international IP protection, and trademark strategy across key jurisdictions.
- Coordinate specialist counsel on privacy, data protection, AI regulation, data sovereignty, sanctions, export controls, and local compliance requirements.
- Develop a practical framework for managing legal and regulatory risks as the Foundation and its global ecosystem grow.
LEGAL STRATEGY & OPERATIONS
- Serve as a strategic advisor to the executive team and board, translating complex legal issues into actionable recommendations.
- Build the Foundation's legal infrastructure, including policies, compliance processes, contract management, and outside counsel relationships.
- Monitor emerging legal developments affecting open-source AI, agent identity, digital ownership, autonomous systems, and decentralized technology ecosystems.
WHAT WE'RE LOOKING FOR
- JD or equivalent qualifying legal degree and admission to practice in a relevant jurisdiction, preferably the US.
- Typically 7+ years of relevant legal experience in-house, at a law firm, or within a nonprofit or foundation.
- Strong expertise in IP, software licensing, trademarks, copyright, and technology transactions.
- Familiarity with open-source licensing, contributor frameworks, and software governance.
- Experience advising on AI regulation, product counsel, data governance, privacy, cybersecurity, or technology risk.
- Ability to navigate complex questions around data access, user permissions, agent autonomy, and responsibility across multi-party technology ecosystems.
- Experience with nonprofit law, foundation governance, or tax-exempt organizations.
- International legal experience, particularly cross-border contracts, privacy, or international IP protection, strongly preferred.
- Excellent business judgment and communication skills, with the ability to operate independently in a fast-moving environment.
- A builder mentality and willingness to create legal processes from the ground up.
Particularly relevant backgrounds: Open-source foundations, AI and developer-platform companies, cybersecurity and infrastructure companies, technology-focused nonprofits, and law firms specializing in IP, technology transactions, AI regulation, privacy, or nonprofit law.
