Senior Employment Counsel, International Lifecycle

About the role

Justworks is seeking a senior employment lawyer to guide complex employee lifecycle matters across its global Employer of Record (EOR) offering. You will handle sensitive situations such as terminations, performance issues, leave, and employee relations while also building the frameworks and training that help operational teams manage routine matters independently. This position sits within the International Legal team and requires close collaboration with regional counsel, operations, and external advisors. The role demands a strategic partner who can translate nuanced legal obligations into clear operational guidance while maintaining a sharp focus on risk mitigation. You will be responsible for owning the end-to-end legal workstream for escalated employment matters that span multiple countries and regulatory frameworks. The ideal candidate will combine deep legal expertise with an operator's mindset, ensuring that compliance does not come at the expense of customer or employee experience.

Key facts

What you'll do

• Own the legal workstream for escalated EOR lifecycle matters including terminations, redundancies, settlements, protected leave, accommodations, pay equity claims, and employment disputes.
• Act as the legal point of contact for complex offboarding situations, guiding risk evaluation, stakeholder alignment, documentation, and resolution.
• Work with regional employment counsel to convert local legal requirements into actionable guidance for Operations, Customer Service, Payroll, Benefits, Product, and Sales.
• Create and maintain playbooks, escalation paths, decision frameworks, documentation standards, and training materials based on recurring matter patterns.
• Advise Product and Operations on workflow logic, case-management controls, customer-facing guidance, and standard operating procedures.
• Support Customer Service and Sales with complex EOR lifecycle questions from prospective and current customers.
• Deliver practical training on lifecycle topics for internal teams and, where appropriate, external audiences.
• Manage outside counsel on jurisdiction-specific escalations and employment disputes, focusing on practical and cost-effective advice.
• Track legal and operational developments in key markets and update internal guidance accordingly.
• Partner with HR, People Operations, and Compliance to ensure consistent application of policies across the EOR network.
• Evaluate emerging litigation trends and regulatory changes that could impact EOR service delivery and product design.
• Draft and review termination agreements, settlement documents, and protective notices to ensure enforceability and risk alignment.
• Assess reasonable accommodation requests and protected leave scenarios within a multi-jurisdictional framework.
• Coordinate structured interventions for performance-related matters to reduce legal exposure and support manager confidence.
• Monitor the effectiveness of implemented controls and refine approaches based on feedback and outcome analysis.

Requirements

• Juris Doctor or equivalent law degree with admission to practice in at least one relevant jurisdiction.
• Minimum 5 years of substantive employment law experience.
• Deep knowledge of employee lifecycle matters such as terminations, performance management, leave, employee relations, documentation, and dispute risk across multiple jurisdictions.
• Demonstrated ability to build legal standards, risk frameworks, escalation paths, playbooks, policies, and SOPs that enable non-legal teams to operate consistently.
• Strong grasp of translating employment law into operational workflows, product requirements, and internal controls.
• Sound judgment balancing legal, operational, customer, employee, financial, and reputational risk.
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills with the ability to explain complex legal concepts clearly to non-legal audiences.
• Proven cross-functional collaboration and stakeholder influence.
• Strong time management, organizational, and analytical skills with the ability to handle multiple matters across time zones.
• Experience managing outside counsel and obtaining practical, cost-effective advice across jurisdictions.
• Fluent in English.

Nice to have

• In-house experience, international employment counseling, EOR, PEO, global mobility, HR technology, or other cross-border employment operations background.
• Experience supporting an EOR business, global employment platform, international HR operations, or multi-country employment counseling.
• Proficiency in another relevant language.

Practical notes

• Occasional travel required.
• Base salary range: 149,000 to 192,000 GBP per year.
• Actual compensation depends on skill set, experience level, and work location.
• Engagement is classified as Remote, allowing flexibility in work location while maintaining the option for occasional in-person collaboration.
• The selected candidate must be available to work from the London, England location as defined in the role requirements.
• This position requires responsiveness to matters that may arise at short notice across multiple international jurisdictions.
• The role involves regular interaction with external advisors, necessitating clear and professional communication at all times.
• Applicants should be prepared to demonstrate their experience through concrete examples during the interview process.
• The successful candidate will be expected to participate in ongoing learning and development to keep pace with evolving legal landscapes.
• Performance in this role will be evaluated based on the ability to manage complex matters independently, the quality of guidance provided to operational teams, and the effectiveness of risk mitigation strategies.
• The day-to-day work will involve a combination of advisory, drafting, training, and project-based activities that directly impact the scalability and reliability of the EOR platform.
• The role is positioned to support the growth of Justworks' international footprint by ensuring that employment practices in key markets remain robust, compliant, and aligned with business objectives.
• This is a hands-on position that requires both strategic thinking and detailed execution, with a strong emphasis on documentation and knowledge management.
• The successful candidate will contribute to the development of best practices that can be replicated across regions, improving efficiency and consistency in handling lifecycle events.
• Close coordination with product and engineering teams will be necessary to ensure that legal requirements are accurately reflected in system logic and user-facing features.
• The position offers the opportunity to work on high-impact matters that affect both employees and customers across a variety of legal environments.
• The role requires a proactive approach to identifying gaps in existing processes and proposing improvements that reduce reliance on manual intervention.
• The candidate should be comfortable operating in an environment where priorities may shift quickly in response to customer needs or regulatory updates.
• Strong ownership of deliverables is essential, as the work produced will directly influence the quality and reliability of employment support across the EOR network.
• The role will involve balancing the interests of multiple stakeholders, including employees, customers, investors, and regulators, to achieve sustainable and compliant outcomes.
• The successful applicant will have the opportunity to shape the evolution of Justworks' employment practices as the company continues to expand its global capabilities.