Sr. Counsel - Labor & Employment

Overview

This is a fully remote role for an EU- or UK-qualified attorney working out of the EU or the UK. You will join the organization’s in-house Labor & Employment (L&E) legal department, reporting to the Global Head of Labor & Employment. The role covers EU and UK employment matters, with additional support for MENA and APAC as needed in coordination with local counsel.

Responsibilities

• Serve as the EU and UK subject matter expert, providing local-law advice across European time zones.
• Provide first-line ownership of recurring EU and UK employment matters, including:
  • Worker classification issues
  • Employee separations
  • Employee relations
  • Executive compensation agreements
  • Wage-and-hour matters
• Partner with executive leadership, existing employment counsel, and internal teams to develop the L&E practice for a rapidly growing global workforce.
• Advise on and manage works council, collective consultation, pay transparency, and employee representative matters.
• Prepare the organization for new consultation obligations as its European footprint grows, including in connection with restructurings and acquisitions.
• Support M&A due diligence and post-closing workforce integration for European acquisitions, including policy harmonization and related consultation requirements.
• Collaborate with business leaders to craft and localize policies and procedures for EU and UK requirements, including development and delivery of related training.
• Advise on employee and candidate data privacy issues, including GDPR and UK GDPR compliance and cross-border transfers of HR and recruiting data.
• Support workplace investigations (particularly in the EU and UK), potentially involving whistleblower allegations, discrimination allegations, and personnel performance issues.
• Provide strategic risk and guidance to business and recruiting teams on expanding the organization’s global footprint, including decisions involving EOR, direct employment, and entity structuring in Europe.
• Advise on global mobility issues and contingent workforce considerations.
• Provide risk mitigation guidance for trade secret matters and restrictive covenants in the EU and UK.
• Manage and direct local outside counsel on formal local-law opinions and pre-litigation matters in the EU and UK, and as needed in MENA and APAC, while handling routine, repeatable advice in-house.
• Monitor and advise on global L&E trends, including those within the crypto industry, to support competitive adaptability, talent acquisition and retention, and workplace processes.
• Perform additional duties as assigned.

Requirements

• 8+ years of legal experience advising in the EU, UK, and other jurisdictions on employment, labor, and executive compensation issues, including in-house and law firm experience.
• Experience advising companies across both high-growth scaling and mature, large-enterprise environments.
• Broad international labor and employment background.
• Experience advising on works councils, collective consultation, and employee representative bodies in the EU and/or UK.
• Experience advising on employee and candidate data privacy issues under the GDPR and UK GDPR.
• Hands-on proficiency using generative AI tools (such as Claude or ChatGPT) in day-to-day legal work, with sound judgment on verifying outputs against local law and protecting confidentiality, privilege, and personal data.
• Proactive, entrepreneurial mindset and ability to use legal expertise to increase organizational optionality.

Preferred Qualifications

• Interest in the crypto industry.
• Experience in fintech, crypto, or other regulated financial services industries.
• Experience with MENA and/or APAC employment markets.
• Experience with due diligence and advising on labor and employment issues in connection with acquisitions, including transfer-of-undertakings rules and post-closing workforce integration.

Compensation & Benefits

• Compensation details are not specified in the job description.

Location

• Fully remote.
• For an EU- or UK-qualified attorney working out of the EU or the UK.

Additional Information

• Applications are accepted on an ongoing basis unless a specific deadline is stated in the job posting.
• Applicants may redact or remove information on their resume that identifies age, date of birth, or dates of attendance at or graduation from an educational institution.
• The organization considers qualified applicants with criminal histories in accordance with the San Francisco Fair Chance Ordinance.
• Job-related skills or work-style assessments may be requested as part of the hiring process. Results are considered alongside experience and interviews and are not the sole basis for employment decisions.
• Equal opportunity employer; discrimination or harassment is not tolerated.