Senior Counsel – Labor & Employment

This is a fully remote position, open to applicants in United Kingdom, +3 more countries.

📋 Description

• Enhance Payward’s Labor & Employment legal team by serving as the EU and UK subject matter expert.

• Offer local-law employment guidance during European time zones and assist with MENA and APAC matters in collaboration with local counsel.

• Manage ongoing EU and UK employment issues, covering worker classification, separations, employee relations, executive compensation, and wage-and-hour concerns.

• Provide counsel to executive leadership, employment counsel, and the Payward Experience team.

• Develop processes for works councils, collective consultation, pay transparency, and employee representation.

• Assist with restructurings, acquisitions, M&A due diligence, and the integration of the European workforce post-closing.

• Create and adapt employment policies and procedures, along with delivering related training sessions.

• Offer guidance on GDPR, UK GDPR, and cross-border HR and recruiting data transfers.

• Support workplace investigations related to whistleblower claims, discrimination, and performance issues.

• Advise on matters related to European expansion, EOR, direct employment, entity decisions, global mobility, and contingent workforce strategies.

• Provide insights on trade secrets and restrictive covenants within the EU and UK.

• Oversee local outside counsel regarding legal opinions and pre-litigation issues.

• Keep track of global labor and employment trends, including developments in the crypto industry.

⛳️ Requirements

• EU- or UK-qualified attorney based in the EU or UK.

• A minimum of 8 years of legal experience providing advice in the EU, UK, and other jurisdictions on employment, labor, and executive compensation matters.

• Experience in both in-house and law firm settings, particularly in high-growth scaling and established large-enterprise environments.

• A diverse background in international labor and employment law.

• Knowledge of advising on works councils, collective consultation, and employee representative entities in the EU and/or UK.

• Familiarity with employee and candidate data privacy concerns under GDPR and UK GDPR.

• Practical proficiency in utilizing generative AI tools like Claude or ChatGPT in everyday legal tasks.

• Strong judgment in validating AI outputs against local laws while ensuring confidentiality, privilege, and personal data protection.

• A proactive, entrepreneurial mindset with a focus on creating opportunities.

• Interest in the crypto industry (preferred).

• Experience in fintech, crypto, or regulated financial services (preferred).

• Background in MENA and/or APAC employment markets (preferred).

• Familiarity with acquisition due diligence, transfer-of-undertakings regulations, and post-closing workforce integration (preferred).

🏝️ Benefits

• Fully remote work arrangement.

• Opportunity to collaborate with a global workforce.

• Diverse and inclusive workplace environment.

• Commitment to equal opportunity employment.

• Consistent application of job-related skills or work-style assessments.

• Access to Kraken products and participation in product dogfooding after joining.