Lead Legal Counsel, Employment (EMEA)

Overview

This role is remote and ideally based in the United Kingdom or Ireland.

As Lead Legal Counsel, Employment, you will serve as a senior legal advisor covering the full employment relationship—from recruiting and onboarding through compensation, performance, leave management, separation, and, when necessary, litigation. You will provide practical, business-focused guidance to help manage legal risk and support business needs across a globally distributed, all-remote organization.

You will independently lead complex employment-law matters, advise senior stakeholders, and help strengthen how the organization manages employment risk across jurisdictions. The role also contributes to scalable legal processes, shares subject-matter expertise, and mentors legal colleagues and cross-functional partners.

Responsibilities

• Provide senior, practical employment-law advice to stakeholders, balancing legal risk, business objectives, and organizational values.
• Advise on employment matters across the employment lifecycle, including:
  • Recruiting and onboarding
  • Compensation
  • Performance management
  • Leave management
  • Employee relations
  • Works council processes
  • Organizational changes
  • Separation
  • Post-employment issues
• Counsel People Business Partners, Team Member Relations partners, and business leaders on complex and sensitive team-member relations matters.
• Advise on, draft, maintain, and review employment agreements, separation agreements, policies, templates, and related documentation across multiple jurisdictions.
• Review, draft, and negotiate employment-related agreements, including separation agreements and other documents supporting employee lifecycle decisions.
• Advise on employment compliance requirements across EMEA, including identifying when local counsel is needed and incorporating that advice into business strategies.
• Monitor and analyze changes in employment, privacy, and related laws; identify legal risks; and translate developments into implementable guidance.
• Advise on employment-law and privacy implications of team-member data, with familiarity with the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and other local privacy requirements.
• Support employment litigation and contentious matters, including appeals tribunals, agency investigations, and employment disputes (strategy, fact development, and coordination with internal stakeholders).
• Manage and oversee outside counsel matters, including selecting or coordinating local counsel, defining scope, and maintaining effective relationships and advice across jurisdictions.
• Provide employment advice in regions outside EMEA as needed.
• Lead the development and continuous improvement of scalable employment-law processes, systems, playbooks, templates, and supporting documentation for the Legal and People teams.
• Build clear, consistent approaches that enable stakeholders to handle recurring matters efficiently, escalating complex or high-risk issues appropriately.
• Serve as a subject-matter resource to legal colleagues and cross-functional partners, improving team-wide employment-law practices.
• Mentor and support junior legal colleagues and other partners through training, practical guidance, and knowledge-sharing.
• Collaborate using the organization’s tools to work effectively in an asynchronous, globally distributed environment.

Requirements

• Substantial experience advising a multinational company with works councils in various regions on employment matters across the employment relationship.
• A Juris Doctor (JD), Bachelor of Laws (LLB), or local equivalent, with admission to an applicable governing body in an EMEA jurisdiction.
• Deep knowledge of employment compliance requirements across EMEA, with the judgment to identify when local counsel is needed.
• Experience advising People Business Partners, Team Member Relations partners, and business leaders on sensitive and complex team-member relations matters, investigations, litigation, compensation, and works council strategy.
• Experience drafting, reviewing, and negotiating employment agreements, separation agreements, policies, templates, and related documentation across multiple jurisdictions.
• Experience drafting employment policies that apply across multiple EMEA jurisdictions.
• Familiarity with GDPR and other local privacy requirements related to team-member data.
• Experience managing employment disputes, litigation, appeals tribunals, agency investigations, works council relationships, and outside-counsel matters.
• Experience building or significantly improving legal processes, systems, playbooks, templates, and documentation that produce consistent outcomes at scale.
• Strong issue-spotting, risk-assessment, and judgment skills, with the ability to provide clear recommendations and practical solutions.
• Ability to manage a high volume of complex legal matters independently and bring them to resolution with limited supervision.
• Clear communication and relationship-building skills, including the ability to serve as a trusted advisor to senior stakeholders across Legal, People, and the business.
• Practical and creative problem-solving, sound business judgment, attention to detail, and ability to work across functions, time zones, and cultures.
• Comfort working in a remote, globally distributed, asynchronous environment; willingness to learn and use organizational tools in day-to-day work.
• We welcome candidates with different backgrounds and transferable experience.

Preferred Qualifications

• No additional preferred qualifications were specified.

Compensation & Benefits

Benefits include:

• Flexible Paid Time Off
• Parental leave
• Home office support
• Equity Compensation & Employee Stock Purchase Plan
• Growth and Development Fund
• Team Member Resource Groups
• Benefits to support health, finances, and well-being

Location

Remote; ideally based in the United Kingdom or Ireland.

Equal Opportunity

The organization is an equal opportunity workplace and an affirmative action employer. Policies relating to recruitment, employment, career development and advancement, promotion, and retirement are based solely on merit, with no discrimination or harassment based on protected characteristics. Reasonable accommodation is available for individuals with disabilities or special needs during the recruiting process.