Associate General Counsel - Product - Partnerships

The Role

IonQ's Legal team supports the company's global legal affairs, including intellectual property, corporate and securities matters, commercial contracting, regulatory compliance, and enterprise risk management. As IonQ scales its quantum computing, networking, sensing, and fabrication businesses, we're building a dedicated product legal function to partner directly with product, research, engineering, and go-to-market teams from the earliest stages of development, and this role is foundational to that effort.

As Associate General Counsel, Product, you'll report to the Head of Product Legal and serve as a trusted legal partner to the teams building IonQ's products, in a role defined not by practice area but by impact: if a matter shapes how IonQ's products are designed, built, or brought to market, the product legal team helps get it done. The successful candidate will bring deep strategic partnership expertise for technology products alongside the drive to take complex, technology-driven transactions across the finish line.

Responsibilities

• Counsel IonQ's product and research teams, providing practical, business-calibrated legal guidance across the full product lifecycle - with strategic transactions and partnerships as signature areas of expertise
• Draft, negotiate, and execute complex technology-driven transactions that directly advance IonQ's product strategy, including strategic partnerships, licensing, joint development, and supply and manufacturing arrangements
• Shape the playbooks, processes, and infrastructure of a new product legal function designed to scale with the business
• Collaborate closely with product, research, engineering, finance, privacy, compliance, trade, and other cross-functional stakeholders, as well as outside counsel
• Translate in both directions - distill complex legal concepts into clear, actionable guidance for non-lawyers, and render product, engineering, and business strategy in terms that sharpen product legal's advice and priorities

Requirements

• A J.D. from an accredited law school and active membership in good standing in at least one U.S. state bar (or eligibility for in-house/registered counsel status in your state of employment)
• 8+ years of relevant experience at a leading law firm and/or in-house legal department
• Substantial experience advising on strategic partnerships for the manufacturing, distribution, and sale of technology products, both in the US and abroad
• A proven track record of drafting, negotiating, and executing complex technology transactions with direct impact on business or product strategy
• Demonstrated versatility - the range to move between product and transactional matters, and the mindset to build your skills on matters outside your core practice areas
• An appetite for genuinely novel legal questions - the judgment to advise confidently amid ambiguity, and the drive to work where technology is unprecedented and legal frameworks are still being written
• A desire to become a force-multiplier for your team, uncovering new opportunities for speed and efficiency - including leveraging existing AI tools and helping to build superior ones

Preferred Qualifications

• In-house legal experience with a mature US technology company
• Experience specific to hardware products or hardware-focused businesses
• Experience supporting post-acquisition integration of products, technologies, or businesses
• Proficiency with multiple languages

The total compensation package includes base, bonus, equity, and a range of benefit options found on our career site.

Pay and benefits

If this role has a commission structure, the compensation range below just reflects the base compensation range.

Wage Transparency

$160,000—$200,000 USD

Compensation will vary based on individual factors such as education, qualifications, and experience of the final candidate(s), specific office location, and calibration against relevant market data and internal team equity. Posted base salary figures are subject to change as new market data becomes available. Our benefits include comprehensive medical, dental, and vision plans, matching 401(k), unlimited PTO and paid holidays, parental/adoption leave, legal insurance, and a home technology stipend. Details of participation in these benefit plans will be provided when a candidate receives an offer of employment.

At IonQ, we believe in fair treatment, access, opportunity, and advancement for all while striving to identify and eliminate barriers. We empower employees to thrive by fostering a culture of autonomy, productivity, and respect. We are dedicated to creating an environment where individuals can feel welcomed, respected, supported, and valued.

US Technical Jobs. The position you are applying for will require access to technology that is subject to U.S. export control and government contract restrictions.

Employment with IonQ is contingent on either verifying "U.S. Person" (e.g., U.S. citizen, U.S. national, U.S. permanent resident, or lawfully admitted into the U.S. as a refugee or granted asylum) status for export controls and government contracts work, obtaining any necessary license, and/or confirming the availability of a license exception under U.S. export controls.

Please note that in the absence of confirming you are a U.S. Person for export control and government contracts work purposes, IonQ may choose not to apply for a license or decline to use a license exception (if available) for you to access export-controlled technology that may require authorization, and similarly, you may not qualify for government contracts work that requires U.S. Persons, and IonQ may decline to proceed with your application on those bases alone.

Accordingly, we will have some additional questions regarding your immigration status that will be used for export control and compliance purposes, and the answers will be reviewed by compliance personnel to ensure compliance with federal law.

US Non-Technical Jobs. Due to applicable export control laws and regulations, candidates must be a U.S. citizen or national, U.S. permanent resident (i.e., current Green Card holder), or lawfully admitted into the U.S. as a refugee or granted asylum. Accordingly, we will have some additional questions regarding your immigration status that will be used for export control and compliance purposes, and the answers will be reviewed by compliance personnel to ensure compliance with federal law.

If you are interested in being a part of our team and mission, we encourage you to apply!