Senior Commercial Counsel, Hardware & Carrier Partnerships

Hark · San Jose · $240,000–$350,000 (stated in the posting)

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About Hark

Hark is an artificial intelligence company building advanced, personalized intelligence. One that is proactive, multimodal, and capable of interacting with the world through speech, text, vision, and persistent memory.

We're pairing that intelligence with next-generation hardware to create a universal interface between humans and machines. While today's AI largely operates through chat boxes and decade-old devices, Hark is focused on what comes next: agentic systems that interact naturally with people and the real world.

To get there, we're developing multimodal models and next-generation AI hardware together - designed from the ground up as a single, unified interface for a new era of intelligent systems.

About the Role 

Hark is seeking an exceptional Senior Commercial Counsel, Hardware & Carrier Partnerships to serve as a key legal partner to our Hardware, Product, Business Development, Operations, Finance, and Go-to-Market teams.

You will lead the structuring and negotiation of some of Hark's most important commercial relationships, with a particular focus on wireless carriers, device distribution, retail and channel partnerships, connectivity arrangements, and the commercialization of Hark's consumer hardware products.

This is not a traditional commercial counsel role. You will work at the intersection of consumer hardware, artificial intelligence, telecommunications, and global distribution as Hark creates an entirely new product category.

You should be comfortable negotiating sophisticated transactions where the commercial model may not yet have an established precedent. You will be expected not simply to identify risk, but to develop practical structures that allow Hark to move quickly while protecting its long-term strategic interests.

Responsibilities

• Carrier and channel partnerships
  • Serve as the primary legal partner for Hark's carrier and channel strategy, leading negotiations with major U.S. and international wireless operators alongside Business Development and executive leadership.
  • Structure and negotiate carrier distribution, connectivity, launch and marketing agreements, and advise on the terms that drive channel economics: pricing, volume commitments, exclusivity and most-favored terms, promotional funding, subsidies, revenue share, returns and warranties.
  • Negotiate distribution and channel agreements with retailers, distributors and e-commerce partners, and support the programs that accompany carrier launches, including trade-in and upgrade, device protection, installment financing and direct carrier billing.
  • Support direct-to-consumer sales, including terms of sale, warranty and returns policy, subscription and bundling terms, and consumer protection compliance.
• Connectivity and telecommunications
  • Structure and negotiate connectivity, embedded wireless, eSIM, MVNO and IoT arrangements supporting Hark devices.
  • Identify and manage the telecommunications obligations that attach to connected consumer devices, including equipment authorization, accessibility, and service-provider requirements where Hark embeds or resells connectivity.
• Hardware supply, certification and market entry
  • Negotiate OEM, ODM, development, manufacturing, component supply and licensing agreements, and partner with Hardware and Operations across the product lifecycle.
  • Support device certification and carrier acceptance, including FCC equipment authorization, carrier and industry certification programs, and the launch gates carriers impose as conditions of distribution.
  • Support global market entry, including export control and trade compliance, encryption classification, labeling requirements, and country-specific device approvals.
• Cross-functional leadership
  • Advise Product, Engineering, Privacy and Security teams on commercial and regulatory issues affecting connected AI devices, including transparency and disclosure obligations in the U.S., EU and other markets.
  • Build the templates, playbooks and approval frameworks that let Hark contract quickly as it scales, and represent Hark directly in its most significant negotiations.

Requirements

• A J.D. and active membership in at least one U.S. state bar.
• 7+ years of relevant legal experience, including experience at a leading law firm and/or in-house at a technology, telecommunications, consumer-electronics or hardware company.
• Significant experience drafting and negotiating complex commercial and technology transactions.
• Direct experience negotiating with wireless carriers, telecommunications companies, device manufacturers, distributors or major retail/channel partners.
• Strong understanding of the economics and commercial dynamics of carrier and device-distribution relationships.
• A demonstrated ability to lead complex negotiations independently and move transactions from initial strategy through signature.

Compensation

The US base salary range for this full-time position is between $240,000 – $350,000 annually.

The pay offered for this position may vary based on several individual factors, including job-related knowledge, skills, and experience. The total compensation package may also include additional components/benefits depending on the specific role. This information will be shared if an employment offer is extended. (edited) 

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