[Hiring] General Counsel & Chief Commercial Officer @Willow Technologies

Role Description

Willow sells an AI digital twin platform to some of the largest owners and operators of buildings and infrastructure in the world: universities, school districts, government agencies, healthcare systems, and global enterprises. Many of them buy on their own paper and under their own procurement rules, so almost every deal has to be negotiated. At the same time, how we price, partner, and go to market shapes whether those deals are the right deals — well-structured, replicable, and margin-accretive.

We operate across Australia, Europe, and North America, and we have built the legal and commercial function to sit close to the business. There is no ticket queue here. You are in the deal with the team, from early on.

The General Counsel & Chief Commercial Officer owns the full legal and commercial operating system of Willow — from entity governance, compliance, and all legal matters, through to deal desk, pricing, partnerships, and GTM strategy — reporting directly to the CEO. We are looking for someone with the legal depth to fill Willow’s full legal mandate and the commercial ambition to go well beyond it.

What you'll do

• Enterprise contract negotiation & legal
  • Lead the negotiation of our largest and most complex US customer agreements, from first redline through to signature.
  • Own the SaaS Agreement, Order Form, and the rest of the contract suite, keeping them current, defensible, and easy to sell.
  • Take on the deals that break the template — public universities and state institutions, federal and state data residency requirements, customer-specific security and AI terms, multi-party arrangements with partners and channel.
  • Keep intake, triage, and matter tracking in good order so the business can see where things are without having to ask.
• Pricing & commercial strategy
  • Own Willow’s pricing architecture — packaging, tiers, expansion mechanics, and discount governance — ensuring pricing is competitive, margin-conscious, and aligned with how customers buy.
  • Partner with the CEO and CFO to refine the commercial model as Willow scales: new verticals, new geographies, new product surface area.
  • Track market pricing signals and competitive positioning, and bring clear recommendations to the leadership team.
  • Own the commercial approval framework so every concession is documented, approved by the right person, and visible to Finance and leadership.
• Partnerships & channel
  • Build and own Willow’s partner and channel strategy: technology partners, resellers, system integrators, and industry associations.
  • Identify, negotiate, and activate partnerships that accelerate pipeline, extend reach, and create defensible competitive advantages.
  • Own co-marketing and co-selling motions with key partners, working closely with Sales and Marketing to drive joint pipeline.
  • Structure and govern partner agreements, referral arrangements, and channel economics.
• GTM strategy & deal desk
  • Work with sales leadership on strategy for major pursuits, joining early enough to shape the deal structure, pricing, and terms.
  • Build the guardrails that let sales move without calling Legal or Commercial every time, and a clear escalation path for when they do.
  • Own Order Form governance and quote-to-cash discipline with Finance, so what we sold is what we invoice.
  • Turn our contract positions and commercial framework into language the sales team can use on a call: objection handling, talk tracks, and answers they can find for themselves.
  • Own the AI and data story with customers — our commitments on customer data, model training, and platform integrations win us deals, and they need someone who can hold that conversation confidently with a CISO.
• Legal function leadership
  • Own the full legal function globally — all legal matters, across all jurisdictions, ultimately sit with this role.
  • Lead and develop our Senior Legal Counsel in Sydney, who reports directly to this role and manages AU legal operations.
  • Manage external counsel relationships globally: scoping, instructing, negotiating fees, and holding firms to their estimates.
  • Steward the corporate legal budget.
  • Optimize throughput to support rapid growth while maintaining quality.
• Corporate & regulatory operations
  • With the support of the Senior Legal Counsel, own US entity administration and the compliance calendar, with external counsel support where required.
  • Support People & Culture and Finance on US employment matters, equity administration, and immigration, bringing in specialists where appropriate.
  • Keep regulatory intelligence flowing to sales and marketing on building performance standards, energy ratings, and climate disclosure.
  • Contribute to investor and board reporting on commercial matters and the strategic work that sits alongside it.

What success looks like in year one

• Enterprise deals are closing faster, and sales can point to the specific commercial and legal changes that made the difference.
• Willow has a pricing architecture it can defend, explain, and evolve — not just a discount structure.
• At least one partnership is generating measurable pipeline that wouldn’t have existed without it.
• Every non-standard commercial term in a signed contract traces back to a documented approval.
• The sales team asks for you by name.
• No one in the business would describe Legal or Commercial as a bottleneck.

Qualifications

• Commercial judgment, first and foremost.
• Real comfort in a negotiation.
• A business partner people want on the call.
• A builder’s mindset.
• Fluency with AI tooling.
• Strategic range.
• A law degree and real commercial legal experience are a requirement for this role.

Requirements

• 7+ years across commercial contracting and in-house legal or law firm practice, with a meaningful focus on commercial work — a law degree is required.
• A track record of owning enterprise SaaS negotiations with large, sophisticated buyers — public sector, higher education, healthcare, or real estate experience is particularly useful.
• Strong working command of the provisions that decide SaaS deals: liability and indemnity, data protection and residency, IP and license scope, service levels, termination and renewal mechanics, and security obligations.
• Experience shaping commercial strategy — pricing, partnerships, GTM motions — not just executing against it.
• Experience working alongside revenue leadership and carrying accountability for commercial outcomes.
• Hands-on use of AI tooling in a legal or commercial workflow.

Valued skills

• Qualified attorney in any US jurisdiction, or admitted in another common law jurisdiction.
• Experience building or scaling a partnership or channel program.
• Exposure to AI-specific contracting issues: model training restrictions, data use, liability allocation, and customer AI governance requirements.
• Comfort working across cultures and time zones, including with a team based in Australia.
• Familiarity with the built environment, proptech, energy, or infrastructure.

Compensation & Benefits

• $240,000 – $280,000 base salary per year.
• Equity participation also available.
• Medical, dental, vision, STD, LTD, Life & AD&D — 100% of employee and dependent premiums covered by Willow.
• 401(k) with 100% company match on the first 5% of contributions.
• 20 days accrued vacation + 10 days paid sick leave + 8 paid holidays per year.
• Willow-paid parental leave, coordinated with applicable state leave programs.
• Fully remote - West Coast only. Seattle area strongly preferred.