---
title: 'Director, Contracts & Business Support at Humanoid'
canonical: 'https://feeny.ai/job/director-contracts-business-support-humanoid-london-zfx1ydmqtkb3'
type: 'job'
last_seen: '2026-10-29'
---

# Director, Contracts & Business Support at Humanoid

- **Company:** [Humanoid](https://feeny.ai/companies/humanoid)
- **Location:** London, United Kingdom
- **Employment:** full-time
- **Work type:** onsite
- **Posted:** 2026-10-26
- **Last confirmed live:** 2026-10-29
- **Apply:** https://jobs.ashbyhq.com/humanoid/9528d281-080c-4586-a5c1-d05a5ddf4081

## Job description

Here at Humanoid, we believe in a future where robots amplify human potential. That’s why we’ve set out on a mission to build the world’s most capable, commercially-scalable, and safe humanoid robots. We’re bringing that mission to life with HMND‑01 - our rapidly developed humanoid platform being deployed in real industrial environments - and we’re growing the team to take it even further.

## About the Role

Humanoid is seeking a Director of Contracts & Business Support to lead commercial contracting across the business and to build the processes, standards, and systems that support it. This is the company's senior commercial legal role, reporting directly to the CLO. It carries a global remit covering the markets Humanoid sells into, the partners it builds with, and the suppliers from which it sources. The role works in close partnership with the go-to-market (GTM) and supply chain functions, supporting transactions from initial structuring through negotiation to signature. This includes customer and reseller agreements, master supply and manufacturing contracts, technology partnerships incorporating revenue share and other non-standard commercial models, and the confidentiality and data protection arrangements that sit alongside them. Alongside transactional work, the role owns the contracting operating model: standard templates, negotiation playbooks and fallback positions, delegation of authority, escalation routes, and the selection and implementation of contract lifecycle management (CLM) and AI-assisted contract review tooling.

## What You'll Do

- Own commercial contracting end to end, drafting, negotiating, and closing customer, partner, and supplier agreements across every country we operate in.
- Act as the legal partner to our GTM and supply chain teams, from early deal shaping through to signature, with fast and commercially practical answers.
- Negotiate supply chain and manufacturing agreements, and technology partnerships including revenue share and other non-standard commercial models.
- Build and own the contracting operating model: templates, playbooks, guidelines, delegation of authority, escalation paths, and the internal processes that keep deals moving.
- Select, implement, and get real value from CLM and AI-assisted contract review tooling to manage a pipeline in the hundreds without simply adding headcount.
- Protect and commercialise our intellectual property (IP), advising on ownership, licensing, and confidentiality across customer, partner, and supplier arrangements.
- Manage commercial disputes and pre-litigation matters, working with the Head of Compliance and outside counsel where it makes sense.
- Work with the Head of Compliance and the CLO to make sure commercial terms reflect our regulatory obligations.
- Instruct and manage outside counsel with a clear view of cost and value.
- Build, manage, and develop the contracts team as it grows, while staying hands-on yourself.
- Be a trusted advisor to senior stakeholders across Sales, Supply Chain, Finance, and the executive team.

## What We're Looking For

- 10+ years' post-qualification experience (PQE); qualified solicitor in England and Wales (or equivalent), with a current practising certificate.
- 5+ years in highly regulated or safety-critical sectors, such as robotics, AI, automotive, aerospace, medical devices, or comparable technology.
- 5+ years of in-house experience.
- 5+ years of people management experience.
- A strong track record on supply chain contracts and technology partnerships, including revenue share arrangements.
- Solid IP and dispute resolution experience.
- Proficiency with contract management systems and AI contract review tools.
- Comfortable managing senior stakeholders and holding your own with commercial leadership.
- Hands-on and execution-oriented. You draft and negotiate yourself rather than only overseeing others.
- Comfortable operating in ambiguity and driving clarity in a fast-moving environment.
- Motivated by a long-term in-house role. This is a demanding position in a company building at pace, where priorities shift and no two weeks look the same.

## Nice to Have

- Dual UK/US qualification.
- Experience in deep-tech, robotics, hardware, or advanced manufacturing organisations.
- Experience implementing a CLM platform from scratch, ideally an AI-enabled one.
- Experience scaling a legal function through rapid commercial growth or a funding round.

## What We Offer

- Competitive equity: stock options with meaningful upside as we scale.
- 30+ days off, including 23 days annual leave, all UK bank holidays, and additional company closure days (including Christmas–New Year shutdown).
- Private healthcare, including virtual and in-person care.
- Pension scheme with 8% total contribution (5% employee, 3% employer) on full earnings.
- Free daily breakfast, catered lunch, and snacks in-office.
- Work at the frontier - collaborate daily with world-class engineers, researchers, and product experts building the next generation of AI and humanoid robotics.
- Real ownership - direct access to founding leadership, meaningful input on product direction, and the ability to drive key initiatives from day one.

## About Humanoid

## Company Overview
- **One-liner**: Humanoid builds commercially scalable, safe, and reliable humanoid robots designed to automate labor-intensive industrial tasks across warehousing, logistics, manufacturing, and retail.
- **Entity Type**: Private (Seed stage)
- **Headquarters**: London, United Kingdom (HQ) with offices in Cambridge, MA, USA; Burnaby, BC, Canada; and additional presence in Germany, Georgia, and the UAE.
- **Founded**: 2024
- **Founders**: Artem Sokolov (CEO & Founder)

## Core Business
- **Primary industry/industries**: Robotics Engineering, Humanoid Robotics, Industrial Automation, Artificial Intelligence
- **Target customers**: B2B / Enterprise — industrial sectors including retail, e-commerce, third-party logistics (3PL), manufacturing, and automotive.
- **Mission or purpose statement**: “Empowering humanity by building the most reliable, safe, and helpful humanoid robots.” The company aims to free people from repetitive, dangerous, and tedious work, allowing them to engage in more creative and meaningful activities.

## Products & Services
- **HMND 01 Alpha Wheeled**: A robust industrial-grade wheeled humanoid robot designed for material handling, pick-and-place, and visual inspection in warehouses and factories. Prioritizes reliability, low total cost of ownership (TCO), and minimal maintenance.
- **HMND 01 Alpha Bipedal**: A bipedal humanoid robot for more complex environments requiring advanced locomotion, navigation of confined spaces, and higher dexterity. Features human-level manipulation speeds and walking speeds up to 1.5 m/s.
- **KinetIQ**: An AI framework for orchestrating fleets of humanoid robots across both wheeled and bipedal platforms, enabling centralized control and task optimization.
- **Modular Garments**: Exchangeable protective “garments” that allow HMND 01 robots to adapt to different use cases and environments, minimizing contamination and collision damage while enabling functional customization.

## Market Standing
- **Valuation/Market Cap**: Not disclosed.
- **Key Metric**: Total funding of **$50 million** (Seed round closed October 2025, with 1 lead investor).
- **Notable Investors/Partners**: Strategic partners include leading global companies in AI, cloud computing, and research. Specific partner names are not publicly listed on the website, but the company highlights collaboration with commercial partners to scale deployment.
- **Growth Signals**:
  - Headcount grew **139.2% YoY** to ~182 employees (as of mid-2026), with 65 active job postings.
  - Opened offices in London, Boston, and Vancouver within its first year.
  - Team includes talent recruited from major robotics and AI firms: Sanctuary AI, Boston Dynamics, Dyson, Arrival, Ocado Technology, 1X, Wayve, Apptronik, and Brain Corp.
  - Focus on initial target sectors representing a combined $12 trillion in annual payroll and 250 million workers.

## Competitive Advantages
- **Human-centric design**: The world is already designed for humans, so humanoids can seamlessly integrate into existing environments without costly redesign.
- **Modularity**: HMND 01’s hardware/software modularity enables multi-task performance and easy repurposing, reducing the need for specialized robots.
- **Reliability & low TCO**: Prioritizing hardware and software stability over raw performance to deliver industrial-grade robustness suitable for mass commercialization.
- **KinetIQ fleet orchestration AI**: Proprietary framework for managing mixed fleets of wheeled and bipedal robots, differentiating from competitors focused on single-form-factor robots.
- **Experienced leadership**: CEO Artem Sokolov previously scaled a family manufacturing business into a billion-dollar enterprise (EY Entrepreneur of the Year 2021). The CTO, Jarad Cannon, has extensive experience translating research into deployment-ready robotics systems.

## Strategic Focus
- **Near-term (2027)**: Deploy robots for physical tasks in manufacturing, warehousing, logistics, and retail — tackling repetitive, dangerous, and tedious manual work.
- **Medium-term (2029)**: Expand into the service sector, targeting the 70-80% of the global economy that will be services, with a focus on assisting an aging population (1.4B people over 60).
- **Long-term (2031+)**: Enter households as assistants and companions, potentially revolutionizing everyday life across 3.5 billion homes.
- **Core strategy**: Partner with leading global companies in AI, cloud, and research for technology development, and with commercial partners for scaled deployment. The company believes the humanoid TAM will reach $38 billion by 2035 and $1 trillion by 2050.

## Why Work Here
- **High-growth environment**: Company grew headcount by 139% in a single year, indicating rapid scaling and opportunity for career advancement. 65+ open roles suggest strong hiring momentum.
- **Talent from top robotics firms**: Team includes alumni from Boston Dynamics, Sanctuary AI, Dyson, Ocado Technology, Arrival, Wayve, and others — offering a deep learning and collaboration environment.
- **Technical focus**: Engineering and technical roles represent 38% of the workforce, with senior-level hires at 23% of the team. The company emphasizes hardware, AI, machine learning, and control systems.
- **Mission-driven**: Clear purpose to automate undesirable, unsafe, and repetitive work — appealing to candidates who want to make a tangible societal impact.
- **Global presence**: Offices in London (HQ), Cambridge (USA), and Burnaby (Canada), plus operations in 16 countries — offering potential for international mobility and remote collaboration.
- **Innovation culture**: Described as a place where engineers and researchers “move from demo to deployment” and “not just in the lab.” The CTO emphasizes building systems that perform in the real world from day one.
- **Office/Hybrid policy**: Not explicitly stated, but the company has physical offices in three countries and a distributed team across 16 nations — likely supports hybrid/remote with in-office collaboration for engineering roles.

## Sources
1. [thehumanoid.ai](https://thehumanoid.ai/)
2. [thehumanoid.ai/about-us/](https://thehumanoid.ai/about-us/)
3. [thehumanoid.ai/team/](https://thehumanoid.ai/team/)
4. [thehumanoid.ai/careers/](https://thehumanoid.ai/careers/)
5. [LinkedIn Company Page](https://www.linkedin.com/company/humanoidai)
6. [Jobs.ashbyhq.com/humanoid](https://jobs.ashbyhq.com/humanoid)

## Other roles at Humanoid

- [Robotics Applied Research Lead](https://feeny.ai/job/robotics-applied-research-lead-humanoid-london-kdzy2nr1hm5n) — London, United Kingdom
- [Senior Group Accountant](https://feeny.ai/job/senior-group-accountant-humanoid-london-cqasb4hw8wxf) — London, United Kingdom
- [Field Operations Team Lead / Shift Supervisor](https://feeny.ai/job/field-operations-team-lead-shift-supervisor-humanoid-germany-5rkne6a7vwkx) — Germany
- [Senior Robotics Integration Engineer](https://feeny.ai/job/senior-robotics-integration-engineer-humanoid-us-san-diego-jwbdn8yvkj2d) — US San Diego, CA
- [Senior Prototype Engineer](https://feeny.ai/job/senior-prototype-engineer-humanoid-canada-vancouver-h4es3e704yrh) — Canada Vancouver, Canada
- [Cloud Infrastructure Engineer](https://feeny.ai/job/cloud-infrastructure-engineer-humanoid-london-2c3keb64kq3c) — London, United Kingdom
- [Chief Scientist](https://feeny.ai/job/chief-scientist-humanoid-london-ykk58pnzbvgs) — London, United Kingdom
- [Technical Program Manager](https://feeny.ai/job/technical-program-manager-humanoid-london-rn0n02fe7xm0) — London, United Kingdom
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- [Head of Workplace & Facilities](https://feeny.ai/job/head-of-workplace-facilities-humanoid-london-htk5bj3g5c50) — London, United Kingdom