Senior Legal Counsel - Employment, Benefits and Compensation
About the role
BMO Financial Group is seeking a Senior Legal Counsel, Employment, Benefits & Compensation to join their team. This role is hybrid, based in Chicago with a minimum of three days per week in the office at 320 S. Canal Street, with potential for increased in-office time in the future.
Responsibilities
- Provides strategic legal and regulatory advice on employment law, employee benefits (including ERISA), and compensation matters.
- Partners with business and HR leaders to shape decisions, manage legal risk, and support organizational initiatives.
- Advises on retirement plans, health and welfare plans, and issues like employee relations, performance management, leaves of absence and accommodations, wage and hour, pay equity, internal investigations, compensation and benefits, contingent workers, immigration, recruitment, inclusion, and mergers, acquisitions and outsourcing.
- Makes recommendations to senior leaders on strategy and new initiatives based on a deep understanding of the business/group.
- Designs legal advice strategies and approaches for the unit, and makes recommendations to minimize legal issues.
- Acts as a subject matter expert for internal/external stakeholders.
- Exercises judgement on complex, confidential and sensitive matters.
- Determines root causes and negotiates resolutions.
- Delivers legal advice, instructs external counsel, and ensures compliance with internal policies & procedures for a single or small number of function(s).
- Identifies and resolves moderately complex issues.
- Identifies risks and implements appropriate actions to mitigate them.
- Implements continuous improvements to ensure alignment with marketplace practices and industry standards.
- Builds effective relationships with internal/external stakeholders.
- Applies expertise and thinks creatively to address unique or ambiguous situations and find solutions to problems that can be complex and non-routine.
- Implements changes in response to shifting trends.
Requirements
- Typically 7 years of legal practice or an equivalent combination of education and experience.
- Law degree (LLB or JD) and license to practice law in relevant jurisdiction.
- Knowledge in legal field, typically with a functional or business line specialization.
- Knowledge of business and regulatory environment in which BMO Financial Group operates.
- Advanced knowledge of subject matter legal requirements and the operations of a single client group.
- Negotiation skills - in depth.
- Seasoned professional with a combination of education, experience and industry knowledge.
- Verbal & written communication skills - In-depth / Expert.
- Analytical and problem-solving skills - In-depth / Expert.
- Influence skills - In-depth / Expert.
- Collaboration & team skills; with a focus on cross-group collaboration - In-depth / Expert.
- Data driven decision making - In-depth / Expert.
Qualifications
- Salary: $132,600.00 - $247,000.00
- Pay Type: Salaried
Benefits
BMO offers a comprehensive benefits package including health insurance, tuition reimbursement, accident and life insurance, and retirement savings plans. For more information, please visit: https://jobs.bmo.com/global/en/Total-Rewards
About Us
BMO Financial Group is committed to Boldly Growing the Good in business and life. We believe in transforming lives and businesses through innovative solutions and a strong sense of purpose. Our diverse workforce brings together teams to solve complex challenges, share ideas, and build meaningful connections. We operate at a group/enterprise-wide level and serve as a specialist resource to senior leaders and stakeholders. We strive to help you make an impact from day one – for yourself and our customers. For more information about BMO, visit: https://jobs.bmo.com/us/en
Contact Information
To apply for this position, please send an email to BMOCareers.Support@bmo.com. Note to Recruiters: BMO does not accept unsolicited resumes from any source other than directly from a candidate. Any unsolicited resumes sent to BMO, directly or indirectly, will be considered BMO property. BMO will not pay a fee for any placement resulting from the receipt of an unsolicited resume. A recruiting agency must first have a valid, written and fully executed agency agreement contract for service to submit resumes.