Employment Counsel - EMEA in London

At Justworks, you’ll enjoy a welcoming and casual environment, great benefits, wellness program offerings, company retreats, and the ability to interact with and learn from leaders in the startup community. We work hard and care about our most prized asset - our people. We’re helping businesses get off the ground by enabling them to focus on running their business. We solve HR issues. We’re data-driven and never stop iterating. If you’d like to work in a supportive, entrepreneurial environment, are interested in building something meaningful and having fun while doing it, we’d love to hear from you.

We’re united by shared goals and shared motivations at Justworks. These are best summed up in our company values, which are reflected in our product and in our team. If this sounds like you, you’ll fit right in.

You have a labor law background and expertise and you thrive in applying that knowledge in practice, connecting and engaging with customers and stakeholders to build our legal strategy in markets and ensure ongoing compliance in a complex regulated environment. Your presence fosters reassurance from others and people know they can depend on you. You are a collaborative, team player with superior communication and negotiation skills. You are great at explaining complex legal topics in clear and concise ways to drive decision making at the organization.

As part of the Legal team, the Employment Counsel - EMEA will assist and implement the legal strategy for our EOR product in support of various functions in the organization, including Product Operations, Expansion, Customer Success, and Sales, among others. You will provide practical, business-oriented legal advice to internal stakeholders, ensuring our EOR solutions operate seamlessly and in full compliance with local labor laws. This is a unique opportunity to shape our legal strategy in a rapidly evolving market and make a significant impact on our global growth.

Your Success Profile

What You Will Work On

• Analyze and define legal risks, determine employment requirements, and advise on how to compliantly hire and manage employees as an employer-of-record across different jurisdictions in EMEA.
• Partner with Finance, Operations, and Expansion teams to establish our contractual architecture, risk frameworks, as well as the policies, processes, and workflows required to ensure compliance in existing and new jurisdictions in EMEA.
• Provide advice and strategic support to Operations and customer-facing teams on employment law matters across EMEA jurisdictions, including hiring, training, performance management, employee relations, terminations, collective bargaining agreements (CBA), labor relations and works councils, compensation, benefits, leaves of absence, accommodations, diversity and inclusion programs, and other employment-related matters.
• Draft, review and negotiate employment-related agreements, templates and other documents, including employment contracts, restrictive covenant agreements, severance agreements, and performance management documentation.
• Partner with Product to advise on new solutions in EMEA.
• Ensure adherence to the jurisdictional legal requirements in your region across Justworks products, policies, knowledge bases, and standard operating procedures.
• Structure, clarify, and advise cross-functional leadership groups on complex compliance challenges, partnering with them to reach informed, risk-based decisions.
• Draft, review, and negotiate commercial contracts.
• Support Sales teams with the resolution of complex employment or contractual requests from potential or existing customers for your region.
• Support Customer Success and Operations teams with the resolution of complex employment requests from existing customers or employees for your region.
• Prepare and enhance Justworks employment documents, policies, knowledge bases, and standard operating procedures in your region.
• Work closely with and instruct external counsel in various jurisdictions within EMEA as needed, ensuring cost-effective and high-quality legal support.
• Assist in developing and conducting training and education programs for other stakeholders, as necessary.
• Educate stakeholders on legal matters, policies, and changes in relevant laws and regulations that impact our business.
• Assist in resolving employment-related disputes and litigation.
• Support Senior Employment Counsel in the development and implementation of new EOR service offerings in the EMEA region from a legal perspective.
• Work with other Justworks teams, including Product, Engineering, Operations, Customer Success, People, Payments & Tax, Risk & Insurance, Marketing, and Sales, relating to various legal and compliance matters.
• Collaborate with internal stakeholders to manage cross-functional projects with a team-oriented approach to mitigate employment law risk related to Justworks’ business and proactively find solutions to those issues.
• Help drive compliance program awareness and handle other related responsibilities.

How You Will Do Your Work

As an Employment Counsel - EMEA, how results are achieved is paramount for your success and ultimately result in our success as an organization. In this role, your foundational knowledge, skills, abilities and personal attributes are anchored in the following competencies:

• Clear communication - the ability to articulate thoughts and express ideas effectively using oral, written, visual and non-verbal communication skills, as well as listening skills to gain understanding.
• Ethical practice - the ability to integrate core values, integrity and accountability throughout all organizational and business practices.
• Detail-oriented - exercises extreme attention to detail; is thorough, accurate, organized, and productive and seeks to understand both the cause and effect of a situation.
• Risk assessment - applying a logical step-by-step process to protect, and consequently minimize risks to, the organization, interests and employees.
• Manages complexity - making sense of complex, high quantity, and sometimes contradictory information to effectively solve problems.

In addition, all Justworkers focus on aligning their behaviors to our core values known as COGIS. It stands for:

• Camaraderie - Day to day you can be seen working together toward a higher purpose. You like to have fun. You’re an active listener, treat people respectfully, and have a strong desire to know and help others.
• Openness - Your default is to be open. You’re willing to share information, understand other perspectives, and consider new possibilities. You’re curious, ask open questions, and are receptive to thoughts and feedback from others.
• Grit - You demonstrate grit by having the courage to commit and persevere. You’re committed, earnest, and dive in to get the job done well with a positive attitude.
• Integrity - Simply put, do what you say and say what you’ll do. You’re honest and forthright, have a strong moral compass, and strive to match your words with your actions while leading by example.
• Simplicity - Be like Einstein: “Everything should be made as simple as possible, but no simpler.”

Qualifications

• Juris Doctor (JD) or equivalent law degree and admitted to practice in at least one relevant jurisdiction.
• Minimum of 2 to 3 years of substantive legal experience in employment matters with a corporate legal department and/or law firm. Proven experience in EOR across different jurisdictions in EMEA is a plus.
• Prior experience supporting EOR operations or a strong understanding of the EOR business model is a plus.
• Experience in counseling clients on EMEA employment matters across the employee lifecycle: recruitment, onboarding, recurring employment compliance and termination.
• Must possess superior knowledge and application of contract and business law with strong legal analysis skills.
• Sound judgment in managing risk and exposure.
• Proven ability to provide practical, business-oriented legal advice and solutions.
• Excellent communication (written and verbal) and interpersonal skills, with the ability to effectively communicate complex legal concepts to non-legal stakeholders.
• Demonstrated time management, organizational and analytical skills.
• Ability to multitask and meet deadlines.
• Collaborative team player with a positive attitude.
• Fluent in English; proficiency in another relevant language is a plus.
• Occasional travel is required.

Justworks is committed to maintaining a workplace where diversity of identity, culture, and life experience is the norm and is celebrated authentically and respected consistently. Diversity in our work, our people, and our product drives creativity and innovation, entrepreneurial leadership and integrity, competitiveness, and collaboration throughout our business and in the market. We depend on our differences to make our team stronger, our workplace more dynamic, and our product accessible to all of our customers.

We’re proud to be an equal opportunity employer open to all qualified applicants regardless of race, color, ancestry, religion, sex, national origin, sexual orientation, age, citizenship, marital or familial status, disability, pregnancy, gender identity or expression, veteran status, genetic information, or any other legally protected status. Justworks is fully dedicated to providing necessary support to candidates with disabilities who may require reasonable accommodations. We also provide reasonable accommodations to employees based on their sincerely held religious beliefs, as well as for other covered reasons consistent with applicable federal, state, and local laws. If you're in need of a reasonable accommodation, please reach out to us. Your comfort and success matter to us, and we’re here to ensure an inclusive experience.