Employment Counsel - Americas

Whistle; Toronto; On-site; CAD 80,000 - 120,000; Full time

Job summary

A leading company in the HR solutions sector is seeking an Employment Counsel - Americas to guide legal strategy for their EOR product. The role involves analyzing legal risks, drafting contracts, and ensuring compliance across jurisdictions. Ideal candidates will have a strong legal background, excellent communication skills, and a collaborative mindset. Join a supportive team that values diversity and encourages professional growth.

Qualifications

• Experience in employment matters with a corporate legal department or law firm.
• Proven experience in EOR across different jurisdictions is a plus.

Responsibilities

• Analyze and define legal risks for employment requirements.
• Draft, review, and negotiate commercial contracts.
• Educate stakeholders on legal matters and changes in relevant laws.

Skills

Communication

Negotiation

Risk assessment

Detail-oriented

Education

Qualified to practice in Canada

2 to 3 years of legal experience

Job description

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.

Who You Are

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, Employment Counsel - Americas will support to guide 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.

Your Success Profile

What You Will Work On

• Analyze and define legal risks, support Senior Employment Counsel to determine employment requirements, and advise on how to compliantly hire and manage employees as an employer-of-record across different jurisdictions in the Americas.
• Support Senior Employment Counsel Partner in establishing and reviewing our contractual architecture, risk frameworks, as well as the policies, processes, and workflows required to ensure compliance in existing and new jurisdictions in the Americas; in partnership with the Product, Finance, Operations, and Expansion teams.
• Collaborate with Product to advise on new solutions in the Americas.
• Ensure adherence to the jurisdictional legal requirements in your region across Justworks products, policies, knowledge bases, and standard operating procedures.
• Structure, clarify, and escalate complex compliance challenges for the risk-based acceptance of cross-functional leadership groups.
• Draft, review, and negotiate commercial contracts and assist with corporate matters and transactions in the jurisdictions in your region.
• Work closely with and manage outside counsel relating to various matters in your region.
• 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.
• Prepare and conduct training, as necessary.
• Educate stakeholders on legal matters, policies, and changes in relevant laws and regulations that impact our business.
• Work with other Justworks teams, including Product, Engineering, Customer Success, People, Payments & Tax, Risk & Insurance, Marketing, and Sales relating to various legal and compliance matters in your region.
• Help drive compliance program awareness and handle other related responsibilities. Some travel might be required.
• Other duties as needed based on department and / or organizational needs.

How You Will Do Your Work

As Employment Counsel - Americas, 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

• Qualified to practice in Canada.
• 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 the Americas is a plus.
• Experience in counseling clients on Canadian employment matters across the employee lifecycle : recruitment, onboarding, recurring employment compliance and termination. Employment experience in other jurisdictions in the Americas is a plus.
• Must possess a superior knowledge and application of contract and business law with strong legal analysis skills.
• Sound judgment in managing risk and exposure.
• Committed to being a legal business partner to internal clients.
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills
• Demonstrated time management, organizational and analytical skills
• Ability to multitask and meet deadlines.
• Collaborative team player with a positive attitude
• Fluent in English, another European language is a plus.
• Occasional travel is required.

Actual compensation is based on multiple factors that are unique to each candidate, including and not limited to skill set, level of relevant experience, and specific work location. Salary ranges for positions based in other locations may differ based on the cost of labor in that location.

For more information about Justworks’ Total Reward Philosophy, including all of the perks and benefits we are proud to offer our team members, please visit .

Diversity At Justworks

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 at . Your comfort and success matter to us, and we're here to ensure an inclusive experience.

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