Licensing Executive

Mistral AI Mistral AI · AI Frontier · Paris, France · Legal

Mistral AI is seeking an experienced Licensing Executive to join their legal team. This role will focus on sourcing, licensing, and managing partnerships for high-value content (books, journals, datasets, multimedia) essential for AI training, RAG, and distribution. The executive will negotiate complex agreements, build relationships with publishers and institutions, and collaborate with internal teams to ensure access to quality data. A strong background in negotiation, legal acumen related to data acquisition, and a STEM foundation are required, along with fluency in English and French. Experience with AI training data ecosystems and global copyright laws is also necessary.

What you'd actually do

  1. Build and manage a robust pipeline of high-quality content (e.g., STEM, academic, robotics, multimedia).
  2. Serve as a key point of contact for external partners (e.g., publishers, universities, and research institutions) to understand their goals and interests, addressing their needs and priorities.
  3. Collaborate with internal stakeholders (e.g., Science, Product, and Go To Market teams) to understand their needs and ensure procurement activities support their objectives.
  4. Evaluate "make vs. buy" options for content sourcing in collaboration with the Human Data team, balancing data development with external access/licensing opportunities

Skills

Required

  • Proven track record of negotiating and closing complex deals ($10M+), including revenue-sharing, licensing, or co-development agreements.
  • Deep understanding of AI training data ecosystems and ability to translate this into business terms.
  • Legal acumen: Understanding of legal concepts involved in data acquisition and content licensing.
  • Strong STEM background (e.g., degree in Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics, or related field) and a passion for academic content and research.
  • Excellent communication and stakeholder management skills (experience negotiating with C-level stakeholders), with the ability to build trust and influence partners at all levels.
  • Business acumen with experience in market analysis and financial modeling (e.g., DCF analysis)
  • Fluency in English and French; additional languages (e.g., German) are a plus.
  • Knowledge of global copyright laws.
  • Experience working in a fast-paced, global environment, with distributed teams.

Nice to have

  • Existing network in the publishing, academic, or research communities (e.g., relationships with major publishers, universities, or data providers).
  • Experience with AI training data, including familiarity with pretraining, RAG, or synthetic data generation.
  • Direct experience working for a tech company sourcing data/content for LLMs
  • Technical literacy in data formats (e.g., JSON, XML), APIs, or content management systems.

What the JD emphasized

  • Proven track record of negotiating and closing complex deals ($10M+)