Employee Benefits / Employment Law Attorney

About the role

The Northwestern Mutual Law Department is seeking a knowledgeable and experienced attorney to join a challenging and fast-paced practice advising the Company on a wide range of employee benefits and employment law matters. The successful candidate will play a critical role in advising and supporting the Company on matters related to employee benefits, including retirement plans and health and welfare programs, and employment law matters.

This attorney will be a member of the Law Department’s Corporate Team, responsible for providing legal support and advice in the areas of company tax, investment tax, product tax, human resources, employee benefits, and general corporate matters. This attorney will report to the Vice President – Corporate Counsel in the Law Department.

Responsibilities

• Provide legal advice on the design, implementation, and administration of employee benefit programs, including retirement plans, health and welfare plans, and other benefit programs.
• Ensure compliance with federal and state laws, including the federal tax code and the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA).
• Collaborate with the company’s human resources and management teams to develop and revise employee benefits policies and procedures, ensuring they align with current legal standards and best practices.
• Assist in drafting, reviewing, and maintaining legal documents, disclosures, and communications related to employee benefits, such as plan descriptions, regulatory filings, and claims and appeals.
• Identify potential legal risks associated with employee benefit programs and provide strategic solutions to mitigate these risks.
• Stay informed on changes in employee benefits law, tax regulations, and ERISA requirements. Provide updates and recommendations based on new legal developments.
• Support and grow expertise over time to provide counsel on employment law issues, including recruiting and hiring, wage and hour compliance, leave and accommodation programs, workplace investigations, performance management, restrictive covenants, terminations, pay equity, compensation, labor relations, and employment-related policies and procedures.
• Collaborate with other attorney specialists in the securities, distribution and sales, financial planning, and insurance areas in support of the above efforts.

Requirements

• At least three years of legal experience gained at a law firm, an in-house legal department, and/or through a government position advising on employee benefit matters.
• Significant familiarity with retirement plans, health and welfare programs, and fringe benefit programs, as well as a strong understanding of taxation and application of ERISA to such programs.
• Familiarity with federal, state, and local employment laws and regulations.
• Willingness to expand practice over time to include a broad range of employment law matters.
• Ability to analyze a variety of legal issues, synthesize complex information, research effectively, and provide solution-oriented legal advice to business professionals throughout the Company.
• Exemplary academic record and a Juris Doctorate.
• A license to practice law in the State of Wisconsin or a commitment to become licensed within the first year of employment.
• Excellent interpersonal, communication, and presentation skills.
• Highly analytical and curious mind, strong attention to detail, creative, comfortable dealing with ambiguity, of high integrity and ethical standards, and a positive demeanor.
• Proven ability to collaborate and contribute effectively in a team environment and across teams within and outside of the Law Department; exceptional partnership and relationship-building skills.
• Self-motivated with the ability to work proactively and autonomously and to effectively prioritize multiple tasks at the same time.
• A keen problem-solving approach using sound legal reasoning and practical business judgment to identify and address risks and achieve results that balance benefits for all parts of the enterprise.

Skills

• Attention to Detail: Focuses on specific details to spot and correct errors in advance of them being found and surpass quality expectations. Performs work with thorough proofreading for presentation, content, accuracy, and overall quality.
• Continuous Improvement: Utilizes available methods to identify opportunities, executes solutions, and measures impact to improve existing practices and processes. Implements feedback and lessons learned. Leverages the ability to identify and experiment with assumptions and hypotheses for products to refine and improve them at any stage of the life cycle.
• Decision Making: Makes timely, data-driven decisions by understanding the probability of success, identifying risks, gathering business requirements, and developing value statements.
• Policy & Procedure: Analyzes current policies and procedures, identifies gaps or areas for improvement, and develops and implements new policies and procedures to address those gaps. Ensures compliance with regulatory requirements and industry standards, as well as effectively communicates policies and procedures to employees and stakeholders. Understands the various components of a workflow, identifies bottlenecks, and implements improvements to increase productivity, reduce costs, and streamline operations.
• Risk Assessment & Identification: Leverages industry knowledge to determine and seek hazards that could potentially prevent the program, enterprise, or investment from achieving their objectives; designs systematic processes of identifying severity of hazards and evaluating the scale and impacts of any associated risk on the business.

About the Law Department

Of the Northwestern Mutual Law Department’s approximately 130 members, about 80 are lawyers, having come to Northwestern Mutual from all around the country after graduating from a multitude of law schools and undergraduate institutions and having practiced in a wide variety of settings. The balance of the Department consists of highly skilled paralegals and research and administrative professionals who support significant aspects of the Department’s operations.

The Law Department is dedicated to fostering an environment that embraces collegiality and teamwork. It emphasizes the importance of diverse viewpoints and strives to create a culture where everyone feels respected, valued, and a sense of belonging. The Northwestern Mutual Law Department provides the vast majority of legal services in nearly all disciplines directly to the Company, with only select utilization of outside counsel. Members of the Law Department have the opportunity to develop a thorough understanding of the Company’s business needs and are fully engaged in the execution of the Company’s business strategy, allowing for timely and effective counsel in an efficient manner and leading to greater career satisfaction.

Northwestern Mutual has been helping people and businesses achieve financial security for more than 165 years. Through a comprehensive planning approach, Northwestern Mutual combines the expertise of its financial professionals with a personalized digital experience and industry-leading products to help its clients plan for what's most important. With more than $780 billion of total assets managed across the company's institutional portfolio as well as retail investment client portfolios, more than $40 billion in revenues, and $2.5 trillion worth of life insurance protection in force, Northwestern Mutual delivers financial security to more than five million people with life insurance, disability income insurance, long-term care insurance, annuities, and brokerage and advisory services. Northwestern Mutual ranked 109 on the 2025 FORTUNE 500 and was recognized by FORTUNE® as one of the "World's Most Admired" life insurance companies in 2026.

Pay

The compensation range for this role is as follows:

• Standard Pay Range: $144,000.00 - $216,000.00
• Structure 110 Geographic Specific Pay Range: $158,400.00 - $237,600.00
• Structure 115 Geographic Specific Pay Range: $165,600.00 - $248,400.00

Final salaries are based on skills, experience, current market conditions, the location of the candidate, and other factors uncovered during the hiring process.

Benefits

• Flexible work schedules
• Concierge service
• Comprehensive benefits
• Employee resource groups