Sr. Counsel - Labor & Employment

Kraken; Greater London; On-site; GBP 120,000 - 180,000; Full time

Job summary

Kraken seeks an experienced employment lawyer to augment the EU/UK Labor & Employment team, providing expert local-law advice across European time zones and coordinating with global counsel as needed.

You will own recurring EU/UK matters, including worker classifications, employee separations, executive compensation, and wage-and-hour issues, while shaping policies for a rapidly growing workforce. Collaborate with leadership and PX on training, policy localization, and cross-border HR matters.

Qualifications

• 8+ years of experience in EU/UK employment law and advisory.
• Experience handling GDPR/UK GDPR compliance and cross-border data transfers.
• Experience with works councils, collective consultation processes, and employee representation.
• Proactive, business-minded approach to leveraging law for company growth and option-making.
• Familiarity with M&A due diligence and post-closing workforce integration.

Responsibilities

• Augment the Labor & Employment legal team as EU/UK SME.
• First-line ownership of EU/UK employment matters: worker classification, terminations, wage-and-hour issues.
• Advise executive leadership and PX team to develop L&E practice for a growing global workforce.
• Manage works councils, consultation obligations, and employee representative matters.
• Support cross-border M&A diligence and integration, including policy harmonization.
• Provide training and localization of policies to EU/UK requirements; GDPR considerations.
• Assist with data privacy, investigations, and risk mitigation in EU/UK contexts.
• Provide strategic input on global footprint expansion, EOR and direct employment.
• Dovetail with outside counsel on local opinions and pre-litigation matters.
• Monitor global L&E trends in crypto industry to advise on talent strategy.

Tools

Claude

ChatGPT

Job description

Building the Future of Open FinancePayward - the parent company behind Kraken, NinjaTrader, Breakout, xStocks, Payward Services and CF Benchmarks - has spent the last 15 years building one of the most modern and globally accessible financial infrastructure platforms in the industry, built to advance an open, global financial system.

Before you apply, we encourage you to explore our culture page to understand what drives us and how we work.

The teamFounded in 2011, Kraken is one of the world s longest-standing crypto platforms, trusted by over 10 million individuals and institutions across the globe. It offers spot trading, margin, futures, staking, and OTC services, with products built for both individual investors and institutional clients.

The opportunity

• Augment the Labor & Employment (L&E) legal team and act as the subject matter expert for the EU and UK, providing local-law advice in European time zones and, as needed, supporting L&E matters in MENA and APAC in coordination with local counsel
• Take first-line ownership of recurring EU and UK employment matters, including worker classification issues, employee separations and employee relations, executive compensation agreements, and wage-and-hour matters
• Work with executive leadership, existing employment counsel, and the Payward Experience (PX) team to develop the L&E practice for a rapidly growing global/worldwide workforce
• Advise on and manage works council, collective consultation, pay transparency, and employee representative matters, and prepare the company for new consultation obligations as its European footprint grows, including in connection with restructurings and acquisitions
• Support M&A due diligence and post-closing workforce integration for European acquisitions, including policy harmonization and the related consultation requirements
• Work closely with the PX team and business leaders to craft on-point policies and procedures, including localizing global policies for EU and UK requirements and developing and delivering related training, for a successful global/worldwide workplace
• Advise on employee and candidate data privacy issues, including GDPR and UK GDPR compliance and cross-border transfers of HR and recruiting data
• Support the PX team and existing counsel with workplace investigations, particularly in the EU and UK, potentially involving whistleblower allegations, discrimination allegations, and personnel performance issues
• Provide expert strategic input to the business and recruiting teams on expanding Payward s global footprint, including EOR, direct employment, and entity decisions in Europe, global mobility issues, and contingent workforce
• Advise the company with risk mitigation for trade secret matters and restrictive covenants in the EU and UK
• Manage and direct local outside counsel on formal local-law opinions and pre-litigation matters in the EU and UK and, as needed, MENA and APAC, while handling routine, repeatable advice in-house
• Monitor and advise on global L&E trends including those within the crypto industry to help the Company s competitive adaptability, talent acquisition and retention, and workplace processes along with additional duties as required

Additional duties and responsibilities as assigned

What you bring

• 8+ years of legal experience advising in the EU, UK and other jurisdictions on employment, labor, and executive compensation issues, including in-house and law firm experience working with companies in both high-growth scaling and mature, large-enterprise environments
• Broad international labor and employment background
• Experience advising on works councils, collective consultation, and employee representative bodies in the EU and/or UK
• Experience advising on employee and candidate data privacy issues under the GDPR and UK GDPR
• Hands-on proficiency using generative AI tools (such as Claude or ChatGPT) in day-to-day legal work, with sound judgment on verifying outputs against local law and protecting confidentiality, privilege, and personal data
• A proactive, entrepreneurial mindset, plus an opportunity-making attitude, using the law to increase the company s optionality, not decrease it

Nice to haves

• Interest in the crypto industry / what our company is offering to the world and why
• Experience in fintech, crypto, or other regulated financial services industries
• Experience with MENA and/or APAC employment markets
• Experience with due diligence and advising on labor and employment issues in connection with acquisitions, including transfer-of-undertakings rules and post-closing workforce integration

Unless a specific application deadline is stated in the job posting, applications are accepted on an ongoing basis.

Please note, applicants are permitted to redact or remove information on their resume that identifies age, date of birth, o