Legal & Contract Manager MEA

About Us

Harmattan AI is a next-generation defense prime building autonomous and scalable defense systems. Following the close of a $200M Series B, valuing the company at $1.4 billion, we are expanding our teams and capabilities to deliver mission-critical systems to allied forces.

Our work is guided by clear values: building technologies with real-world impact, pursuing excellence in everything we do, setting ambitious goals, and taking on the hardest technical challenges. We operate in a demanding environment where rigor, ownership, and execution are expected.

About the Role

We're looking for a commercially minded Legal Counsel to join our legal team in Abu Dhabi. Reporting to the General Counsel, you'll be a hands-on legal business partner to Sales and teams across the company, with a particular focus on Arabic-speaking markets. This is a broad in-house role for a lawyer who enjoys working close to the business and is motivated by Harmattan AI's mission.

Key Responsibilities

• Commercial & Procurement
• Draft, review and negotiate customer, partnership, supply and procurement agreements, including defence-procurement documentation among others
• Support complex negotiations with defence ministries, armed forces, public-sector bodies and industrial partners
• Build scalable contracting standards, playbooks and approval processes
• Defence, AI & Regulated Technology
• Advise on legal and regulatory issues around autonomous and AI-enabled defence systems
• Work with the General Counsel on export-control, sanctions and trade-compliance matters
• Advise on AI, data, cybersecurity and IP issues as they affect the business
• Corporate & Governance
• Support entity governance, board documentation and statutory filings across Arabic-speaking markets
• Support employment matters alongside the People team and external counsel
• Manage disputes and pre-litigation matters with a focus on early risk assessment
• Arabic-Speaking Markets
• Act as principal legal advisor for expansion across Arabic-speaking markets
• Coordinate external local counsel and manage legal spend
• Help build the legal processes and templates that let the business scale

Requirements

• Qualified attorney or in-house legal counsel with ~5 years' relevant experience across a law firm and in-house/tech or defence environment
• Native-level Arabic and fluent professional English
• Strong track record drafting and negotiating complex commercial contracts
• Solid grounding in contract and corporate law
• Genuine interest in defence, dual-use tech, AI or other regulated sectors
• Comfortable with senior stakeholders and fast-moving, high-stakes work
• Eligible to obtain and maintain any security clearance or authorization required for the role, subject to applicable law.
• LL.M. from a US or UK institution, or exposure to defence/public-procurement/export-control matters, is a plus.
• We look forward to hearing how you can help shape the future of autonomous defense systems at Harmattan AI.