Senior Commercial Counsel

The world still has coverage blind spots. You could help eliminate them at Skylo.

Skylo has pioneered a standards-based approach to satellite connectivity. We connect smartphones and IoT devices directly to satellites. No special hardware, no entirely new networks. Just billions of existing devices, suddenly reachable anywhere on Earth. We're not building toward this future. We're already in it.

Our direct-to-device service is live on millions of activated devices across five continents, covering more than 72 million square kilometers, in partnership with leading satellite operators, mobile network operators, Tier-1 chipset makers, and OEMs worldwide. And we're just getting started.

At the heart of it all is Skylo's commercial NTN vRAN: a 3GPP standards-based, cloud-native platform that seamlessly bridges terrestrial and satellite networks. It's the infrastructure that makes true anywhere, anytime connectivity possible.

When you join Skylo, you'll work at the intersection of three markets reshaping how the world stays connected: mass-market consumer devices, automotive, and industrial IoT. Enabling people outdoors and critical workflows in the world's most remote places.

This is a rare chance to work on technology that matters, at a company that's already proving it works

This role can be performed remotely. While we welcome applications from all qualified candidates, we prefer individuals located in the U.S. Eastern or Central time zones to support team collaboration.

Summary Of How You Will Impact Skylo

Skylo is hiring a Senior Commercial Counsel to be the second lawyer on a lean, high-impact legal team — and a trusted partner to the business. This isn't a role where you'll be reviewing contracts in a queue. You'll own the full commercial legal workstream: structuring deals, negotiating complex agreements, advising stakeholders directly, and building the legal infrastructure that scales with us.

We move fast. Our deals are technically complex and commercially high-stakes — MNO partnerships, satellite operator agreements, SaaS arrangements, and OEM contracts that cross jurisdictions and touch cutting-edge regulatory terrain. You'll need to be the kind of lawyer who finds ways to get to yes, not one who defaults to no.

How You Will Contribute 

• Own commercial agreements end-to-end — from initial structuring through negotiation and execution — with full autonomy and minimal escalation.

• Draft, review, and negotiate a high volume of complex commercial contracts: MNO and satellite operator partnerships, SaaS agreements, MSAs, SOWs, NDAs, vendor agreements, and OEM/hardware deals.

• Use AI to research and synthesize regulatory developments affecting NTN/satellite operations across relevant jurisdictions.

• Serve as the primary legal partner for business development, product, and procurement teams — providing pragmatic, business-forward guidance that unblocks deals rather than stalls them.

• Navigate the legal and regulatory landscape unique to non-terrestrial networks (NTN), direct-to-device connectivity, and cross-border telco partnerships.

• Build and maintain scalable legal infrastructure: contract templates, playbooks, and a contract management system that the whole company can use.

• Contribute to compliance initiatives and internal training as Skylo's commercial footprint expands across new markets and jurisdictions.

• Partner with the VP of Legal to develop and refine the legal team's operational practices as the company scales.

What We Look For 

• 5–7+ years of legal experience with a strong focus on commercial transactions — this is not a generalist role.

• Meaningful in-house experience is required; candidates coming exclusively from Big Law without in-house time will not be considered.

• Demonstrated experience in a lean legal environment — ideally as one of the first few lawyers at a growth-stage company — where you've had to build process, not just follow it.

• Can describe a contract review or legal research workflow they built with AI, including what changed and what they measured.

• Deep expertise drafting and negotiating complex commercial agreements; you should be able to lead a negotiation entirely on your own.

• Experience with telco, satellite, connectivity, or adjacent technology industries strongly preferred; enterprise SaaS or hardware experience considered.

• JD and active bar membership in at least one U.S. jurisdiction (or equivalent qualification for UK-based candidates).

• A business-forward mindset: you understand that your job is to help the company move, not just to manage risk.

• Excellent communication and executive presence — comfortable advising senior leadership and holding your own in complex deal negotiations.

• Has connected AI tooling to a contract management or matter tracking system to reduce manual triage and status updates (strong plus).

   

What We Offer

With employees working across three continents, Skylo is proud to be an equal opportunity employer dedicated to building an inclusive and diverse workforce. Our worldwide and inclusive culture encourages a flexible approach to work, and we also offer an attractive range benefits such as: 

• Competitive compensation packages including a stock option based equity program 

• Comprehensive benefits including medical, dental, vision, retirement plan

• Monthly allowances for wellness and education reimbursement

• A generous time off policy, holidays, and the opportunity to temporarily work abroad

• Once in a lifetime opportunity to be a part of developing and running world’s first commercial, live direct-to-device satellite network and service 

• Access to world-class team and talent across tech domains: software, hardware, chipsets, telecom, satellite and network virtualization 

• Open, transparent, inclusive culture that blends the Silicon Valley, Nordic and South Asia characteristics
  

Additional information 

The compensation range for this position is dependent on location. These ranges reflects the low and high end of the range Skylo reasonably and generally expects to pay the hired candidate in this role.

• Non–Bay Area (U.S.): $160,000 - $170,000

• SF Bay Area, CA: $180,000-$195,000 

EEO Statement
Skylo is an equal-opportunity employer and we celebrate diversity. We do not discriminate on the basis of race, religion, color, ancestry, national origin, caste, sex, sexual orientation, parent or caregiver status, political affiliation, gender, gender identity or expression, age, disability, medical condition, pregnancy, genetic makeup, marital status, or military service consistent with applicable federal, state, and local laws.

We are also committed to providing reasonable accommodations for qualified individuals with disabilities and disabled veterans in our job application procedures. Please let us know if you need assistance or accommodation due to a disability.