Principal, Employment Counsel

About the role

This position is listed on behalf of a partner company, who manages all applications and next steps. Our partner is looking for a Principal, Employment Counsel based in United States. As a Principal, Employment Counsel, you’ll serve as a trusted legal advisor to People teams and business leaders on complex employment and employee relations matters. You’ll provide practical, solutions-focused guidance across the full employee lifecycle, balancing legal risk, business priorities, employee experience, and operational realities. The role spans U.S. and international employment matters, including investigations, disputes, litigation, compliance, contracts, and workforce transitions. You’ll work closely with cross-functional stakeholders and local counsel to navigate evolving employment laws across multiple jurisdictions. You’ll also help develop scalable policies, processes, templates, and compliance frameworks that strengthen the organization’s legal and risk infrastructure. This is a highly collaborative role requiring strong judgment, emotional intelligence, independence, and the ability to communicate complex legal issues clearly. The position offers meaningful exposure to enterprise compliance, risk management, and strategic business initiatives in a fast-paced global environment.

Responsibilities

• Provide timely and practical legal advice to internal stakeholders on employment matters across recruiting, hiring, onboarding, performance management, employee relations, and workforce transitions.
• Advise People teams, managers, and business leaders on sensitive and complex employee relations matters while balancing legal risk, employee experience, business objectives, and operational considerations.
• Translate complex employment laws and regulatory requirements into clear, actionable guidance for non-legal stakeholders.
• Build strong relationships with internal partners and develop a deep understanding of workforce needs, business priorities, and operational practices.
• Draft, review, and negotiate employment-related documents, including offer letters, employment agreements, restrictive covenant agreements, confidentiality and intellectual property agreements, separation agreements, releases, incentive plans, and workforce transition materials.
• Review employment communications for legal risk, clarity, consistency, and alignment with established practices.
• Develop practical templates, playbooks, checklists, and self-service resources to support common employment matters and improve legal efficiency.
• Periodically review employment policies and practices to identify compliance gaps, standardization opportunities, and areas for process improvement.
• Provide employment law guidance across multiple jurisdictions, working with local counsel and regional stakeholders where appropriate.
• Monitor developments in global labor and employment laws and recommend updates to policies, agreements, practices, and processes.
• Develop and maintain tools to identify, prioritize, and manage employment-related legal and compliance risks, including employee training and compliance support.
• Advise on and conduct workplace investigations involving discrimination, harassment, retaliation, misconduct, conflicts of interest, policy violations, and other sensitive matters.
• Partner with People teams to establish appropriate investigation plans, privilege structures, interim measures, documentation approaches, findings, remediation, and follow-up.
• Provide balanced recommendations on corrective action, remediation, process improvements, and retaliation monitoring.
• Manage employment litigation, administrative charges, labor proceedings, pre-litigation disputes, demand letters, and settlement negotiations in the U.S. and internationally.
• Develop case strategy with internal stakeholders and external counsel, including factual analysis, exposure assessment, preservation and discovery strategy, and settlement evaluation.
• Engage and supervise external counsel as needed.
• Support broader enterprise compliance initiatives, including enterprise risk management, ESG, and other regulatory compliance programs.
• Strengthen compliance infrastructure through effective policies, controls, documentation, risk