Senior Corporate Counsel

UKG; Ireland; On-site; EUR 91,000 - 123,000; Full time

Job summary

UKG is seeking a Senior Corporate Counsel, Privacy who will report to the attorney responsible for UKG’s data privacy program and serve as a strategic privacy advisor to global business. This high-impact role combines deep knowledge of global data protection laws with technology fluency to enable responsible growth.

You will lead privacy reviews for new products, advise on DPIAs, risk assessments, and privacy by design, partnering with product, engineering, security, and legal teams to embed

Qualifications

• Law degree and qualification to practice law in at least one jurisdiction.
• 7–10 years of relevant experience in privacy, data protection, technology, or related legal roles, either in-house or at a law firm.
• Deep knowledge of GDPR, UK GDPR, U.S. privacy laws, and global privacy frameworks.
• Experience conducting or advising on DPIAs, TIAs, LIAs, privacy reviews, and privacy risk assessments.
• Demonstrated ability to advise on complex SaaS, cloud, data analytics, AI, or other technology-related matters.
• Strong business judgment and ability to provide pragmatic, risk-calibrated legal advice.
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills in English.
• Proven ability to collaborate effectively with legal, technical, product, security, and business stakeholders.

Responsibilities

• Serve as a trusted advisor to legal, business, product, security, and technical teams on privacy and data protection issues across EMEA and globally.
• Interpret and apply GDPR, UK GDPR, U.S. privacy laws, international data transfer requirements, and other global privacy frameworks.
• Provide strategic, practical guidance on lawful bases, transparency, data minimization, retention, data subject rights, consent, data sharing, and privacy risk management.
• Support privacy aspects of regulatory inquiries, audits, assessments, mergers and acquisitions, integrations, new market entries, restructurings, and other strategic initiatives.
• Serve as an escalation point for data protection provisions in customer, vendor, partner, outsourcing, and other commercial agreements.
• Advise on third-party privacy risks, procurement reviews, international processing arrangements, and cross-border data transfer strategies.
• Support the development and enhancement of privacy governance frameworks, policies, processes, training, and operational controls.
• Partner with security, IT, legal, and business teams on privacy incidents and breach response, including risk assessment, notification obligations, remediation, and process improvements.

Skills

Privacy law & GDPR

DPIAs & privacy risk

SaaS & Cloud privacy

English proficiency

Stakeholder collaboration

Education

Law degree

Tools

OneTrust

TrustArc

ServiceNow

AI governance

Job description

Why UKG

At UKG, the work you do matters. The code you ship, the decisions you make, and the care you show a customer all add up to real impact. Today, tens of millions of workers start and end their days with our workforce operating platform. Helping people get paid, grow in their careers, and shape the future of their industries. That’s what we do.

Why UKG

At UKG, the work you do matters. The code you ship, the decisions you make, and the care you show a customer all add up to real impact. Today, tens of millions of workers start and end their days with our workforce operating platform. Helping people get paid, grow in their careers, and shape the future of their industries. That’s what we do. We never stop learning. We never stop challenging the norm. We push for better, and we celebrate the wins along the way. Here, you’ll get flexibility that’s real, benefits you can count on, and a team that succeeds together. Because at UKG, your work matters—and so do you.

Overview

The Senior Corporate Counsel, Privacy will report to the attorney responsible for UKG’s data privacy program and will serve as a strategic privacy advisor to our global business. This high-impact individual contributor role is ideal for an experienced privacy attorney who combines deep knowledge of global data protection laws with technology and AI fluency, sound business judgment, and a pragmatic approach to enabling responsible growth.

Key Responsibilities

Strategic Privacy Advisor

• Serve as a trusted advisor to legal, business, product, security, and technical teams on privacy and data protection issues across EMEA and globally.
• Interpret and apply GDPR, UK GDPR, U.S. privacy laws, international data transfer requirements, and other global privacy frameworks.
• Provide strategic, practical guidance on lawful bases, transparency, data minimization, retention, data subject rights, consent, data sharing, and privacy risk management.
• Support privacy aspects of regulatory inquiries, audits, assessments, mergers and acquisitions, integrations, new market entries, restructurings, and other strategic initiatives.
• Serve as an escalation point for data protection provisions in customer, vendor, partner, outsourcing, and other commercial agreements.
• Advise on third-party privacy risks, procurement reviews, international processing arrangements, and cross-border data transfer strategies.
• Support the development and enhancement of privacy governance frameworks, policies, processes, training, and operational controls.
• Partner with security, IT, legal, and business teams on privacy incidents and breach response, including risk assessment, notification obligations, remediation, and process improvements.

• Monitor global privacy, AI, and data protection developments and translate legal and regulatory requirements into practical guidance for business teams.

Technology and AI Fluency

• Lead privacy reviews for new products, features, technologies, data uses, and business initiatives.
• Partner with product, engineering, security, architecture, and AI governance teams to embed privacy-by-design and privacy-by-default principles into products, systems, and processes.
• Advise on privacy considerations related to AI, machine learning, analytics, automated decision-making, model training, testing, deployment, monitoring, and emerging technologies.

Required Qualifications

• Law degree and qualification to practice law in at least one jurisdiction.
• 7–10 years of relevant experience in privacy, data protection, technology, or related legal roles, either in-house or at a law firm.
• Deep knowledge of GDPR, UK GDPR, U.S. privacy laws, and global privacy frameworks.
• Experience conducting or advising on DPIAs, TIAs, LIAs, privacy reviews, and privacy risk assessments.
• Demonstrated ability to advise on complex SaaS, cloud, data analytics, AI, or other technology-related matters.
• Strong business judgment and ability to provide pragmatic, risk-calibrated legal advice.
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills in English.
• Proven ability to collaborate effectively with legal, technical, product, security, and business stakeholders.

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience at a multinational technology, SaaS, or cloud-based company, or advising similar clients at a leading law firm.
• Experience with privacy management platforms and governance tools such as OneTrust, TrustArc, or ServiceNow.
• Understanding of security and compliance frameworks such as ISO 27001, ISO 42001, SOC 2, NIST, or related standards.
• Professional privacy or AI certifications such as CIPP/E, CIPM, FIP, AIGP, or equivalent.
• Familiarity with AI governance frameworks and emerging AI regulations, including the EU AI Act.
• Experience with legal process automation and the use of technology to improve legal and privacy program effectiveness.

Company Overview

UKG is the Workforce Operating Platform that puts workforce understanding to work. With the world's largest collection of workforce insights, and people-first AI, our ability to reveal unseen ways to build trust, amplify productivity, and empower talent, is unmatched. It's this expertise that equips our customers with the intelligence to solve any challenge in any industry — because great organizations know their workforce is their competitive edge. Learn more at ukg.com.

UKG is proud to be an equal opportunity employer and is committed to promoting diversity and inclusion in the workplace, including the recruitment process.

Disability Accommodation in the Application and Interview Process

For individuals with disabilities that need additional assistance at any point in the application and interview process, please email [e-mail]

The pay range for this position in the UK is £86,400 to £116,650, in Ireland is €91,200 - €123,150 and in France is €69,000 - €93,100. The actual base pay offered may vary depending on skills, experience, job-related knowledge and work location.

• In addition to base pay, employees may be eligible to participate in a performance-based bonus plan and to receive restricted stock unit awards as part of total compensation.

Learn more about UKG’s benefits and rewards at https://www.ukg.com/about-us/careers/benefits