Counsel/Senior Counsel, Litigation

We are building AI to simulate the world through merging art and science.

We believe that world models are at the frontier of progress in artificial intelligence. Language models alone won’t solve the world’s hardest problems – robotics, disease, scientific discovery. Real progress requires models that experience the world and learn from their mistakes, the same way that humans do. And this kind of trial and error can be massively accelerated when done in simulation, rather than in the real world.

World models offer the most clear path to general-purpose simulation, changing how stories are told, how scientific progress is made and how the next frontiers of humanity are reached.

Our team consists of creative, open minded, caring and ambitious people who are determined to change the world. We aspire to continuously build impossible things and our ability to do so relies on building an incredible team. If you are driven to do the same, we'd love to hear from you.

*Titles posted to our careers page are updated regularly to best advertise the role and expected seniority, but internally we have a flat titling system with two types of titles: one for individual contributors and one for people managers.

ABOUT THE ROLE

The company’s Legal team is looking for a Litigation Counsel to help manage the company’s litigation and dispute resolution work day-to-day, with strategic guidance from the Associate General Counsel, Litigation. You’ll work on a broad docket of litigation and pre-litigation matters, advise business stakeholders on litigation risk, and help to build out the litigation function as the business scales. You’ll join a lean team where everyone carries real responsibility, and you may have the opportunity to pitch in on a variety of other legal domains to support the team.

You’ll work at the cutting edge of a highly technical and rapidly evolving area of the law, navigating challenges that are shaping the future of the industry. This role reports to the Associate General Counsel, Litigation.

WHAT YOU’LL DO

• Manage litigation, third-party process, dispute resolution, and regulatory requests involving the company. This spans everything from helping Runway develop its strategy on cutting-edge legal questions to owning all in-house-side discovery execution

• Manage outside counsel across all stages of litigation, with a focus on case strategy and the quality of written advocacy

• Build, improve, document, and execute repeatable processes for the areas above to help the litigation function operate efficiently and effectively at scale

• Advise key stakeholders on litigation risk, aligning legal strategy with business priorities

• Field day-to-day requests from legal team members and cross-functional partners who want your litigation perspective on their commercial, product, and other legal work

• Partner with the company’s Customer Support Team to advise on and help resolve small disputes and escalations

• Monitor regulatory and policy developments relating to generative AI, and advise our AI safety, product, and engineering teams on them as appropriate

• Dive into the technical aspects of the product and industry to learn them inside and out, and use that knowledge to inform your advice to the business

• Support the team in other legal domains, which may include employment, trust & safety, policy, commercial, privacy, and IP

WHAT YOU'LL NEED

• A J.D. and admission in good standing with at least one state bar

• 5+ years of dedicated litigation experience (can include clerkships)

• Litigation experience in some combination of copyright, class action, securities, and regulatory matters

• Deep knowledge of complex civil litigation practice and procedure, including discovery and federal and state court rules

• A track record of running litigation matters, including developing case strategy, managing discovery, drafting and editing briefs, gathering information efficiently and preparing witnesses for depositions

• A working knowledge of the key legal issues in the company’s industry

• Excellent written and oral communication skills. This includes giving practical, clear, and commercially sensible advice, and advocating for a position while staying open-minded

• Sound judgment under pressure and strong business acumen

• The ability to manage multiple workstreams, prioritize effectively, and consistently deliver results

• A strong sense of ownership, both in the highest-level strategic work and in smaller day-to-day tasks

• Creative problem-solving, low ego, curiosity, and a bias for action

NICE TO HAVE

• In-house experience (particularly at a technology company)

• Experience with emerging technologies, particularly generative AI and copyright litigation

• Familiarity with Runway and the generative AI video industry

• Excitement about generative AI, and the motivation to become a leading expert in the legal landscape governing a rapidly innovating industry

Runway strives to recruit and retain exceptional talent from diverse backgrounds while ensuring pay equity for our team. Our salary ranges are based on competitive market rates for our size, stage and industry, and salary is just one part of the overall compensation package we provide.

There are many factors that go into salary determinations, including relevant experience, skill level and qualifications assessed during the interview process, and maintaining internal equity with peers on the team. The range shared below is a general expectation for the function as posted, but we are also open to considering candidates who may be more or less experienced than outlined in the job description. In this case, we will communicate any updates in the expected salary range.

Lastly, the provided range is the expected salary for candidates in the U.S. Outside of those regions, there may be a change in the range, which again, will be communicated to candidates.

WORKING AT RUNWAY

Great things come from great teams. [link for members] We’d love to hear from you.

We’re committed to creating a space where our employees can bring their full selves to work and have equal opportunity to succeed. So regardless of race, gender identity or expression, sexual orientation, religion, origin, ability, age, veteran status, if joining this mission speaks to you, we encourage you to apply.

More about the company

• Universal World Simulator [link for members]

• GWM-1 [link for members]

• Gen-4.5 [link for members]

• General World Models [link for members]

• Robotics SDK [link for members]

• Conversational Real-time Agents [link for members]

• Runway Studios [link for members]

We're excited to be recognized as a best place to work

Crain's [link for members] | InHerSight [link for members] | BuiltIn NYC [link for members] | INC [link for members]