Associate General Counsel, Employment

digital Marketing And Graphic Design; Apurímac; Hybrid; PEN 618,000 - 893,000; Full time

Job summary

Shopify is seeking an Associate General Counsel, Employment to support our global, remote-first workforce. You will provide strategic guidance on US and EMEA employment matters, partnering with the Talent team and senior stakeholders to balance compliance with our fast-paced, innovative culture.

The role requires deep expertise across jurisdictions, excellent judgment, and the ability to triage complex issues quickly.

Qualifications

• Qualified law degree and license to practice in relevant jurisdiction.
• Significant employment law experience, ideally starting at a law firm and moving in-house.
• Experience handling high urgency matters with senior stakeholders and discretion is essential.
• Excellent business judgment, analytical thinking, problem-solving and relationship-building skills.
• Self-starter who thrives with minimal oversight.
• Willingness to learn employment law in new jurisdictions.
• Ability to move quickly in ambiguous environments and manage change.
• Experience managing external counsel.
• Demonstrated, fluent use of AI tools as part of daily work.

Responsibilities

• Provide expert advice on all aspects of employment law, including investigations, human rights and accommodations, compensation, mobility, standards and terminations, with global scope as needed.
• Act as strategic partner for the Talent team.
• Build scalable legal frameworks to enable velocity rather than one-off answers.
• Identify opportunities for new systems and playbooks and lead change.
• Draft internal policies and key employment documents.
• Lead pre-litigation matters and coordinate with outside counsel.
• Maintain subject matter expertise in evolving global employment law.

Skills

Employment law

Stakeholder mgmt

AI tools usage

Education

Juris Doctor (JD) or equivalent

Tools

AI tools

Job description

Associate General Counsel, Employment

• Remote - Americas

The Team & Opportunity

Shopify’s Employment Legal Team focuses on the issues that affect Shopify as a global, remote-first employer. Our core goal is to ensure that Shopify remains a trusted employer that can strike a balance between compliance with legal requirements and maintaining our amazing, mission-driven work environment.

With thousands of employees spread across the globe, there is never a dull moment on this team. Shopify marches to the beat of its own drum, and we’re faced with nuanced and exciting issues you couldn’t dream up if you tried. Working with other members of our Legal team and providing support to leadership and our global Talent team, you’ll apply your knowledge and experience to new scenarios while skillfully providing business-oriented advice in an efficient, succinct, and easy-to-understand way. No legal memos or law school lectures here!

We’re looking for experienced employment lawyers with a “put me in, coach” attitude, with experience advising on US employment law, EMEA employment law, or both. You must be able to juggle competing priorities, directly manage high pressure situations, and be equally adept at playing a lead role on some projects and a supporting role on others. You’ll need to be energized by working in a fast-paced environment and tackling complex problems without clear answers. You need to be enough of a generalist to issue spot and triage a broad range of employment risks globally, with the ability to go deep and learn quickly when needed. This role reports to the Director, Associate General Counsel, Employment.

Responsibilities

• Providing expert advice on all aspects of employment law including workplace investigations, human rights and accommodations, employee compensation, employee mobility, employment standards and performance management/terminations. You may be primarily aligned to US or EMEA work, but you’ll be expected to support global employment matters as needed.
• Acting as a strategic partner for our Talent team
• Building scalable legal frameworks that enable Talent velocity rather than one-off answers
• Identifying opportunities for new or improved systems and playbooks and leading change
• Drafting internal policies/communications and key employment documents
• Leading pre-litigation employment matters and partnering with outside counsel on litigation
• Maintaining subject matter expertise in new and evolving areas of global employment law

Qualifications

• A qualifying law degree and license to practice in your jurisdiction
• Significant employment law experience, ideally having started out at a law firm, followed by in-house experience
• Experience working on high urgency, high priority matters with senior stakeholders that are sensitive in nature. Discretion is a must
• Exceptional business judgment, analytical thinking, problem-solving and relationship-building skills
• Ability to be a self-starter who thrives without regular oversight
• Eagerness to learn about employment law in new jurisdictions
• Comfort navigating and making decisions at speed in the midst of ambiguity and frequent change
• Experience managing external legal counsel
• Demonstrated, fluent use of AI tools as a core part of how you work. You reach for them reflexively to research, draft, analyze, and move faster, and you have a point of view on how AI sharpens the output of a lean, high-leverage team.

Bonus Experience

• Experience working in tech and/or start-up environments. Bonus points if they were remote!
• Experience with employment law in multiple jurisdictions

About Shopify

Opportunity is not evenly distributed. Shopify puts independence within reach for anyone with a dream to start a business. We propel entrepreneurs and enterprises to scale the heights of their potential. Since 2006, we’ve grown to over 8,300 employees and generated over $1 trillion in sales for millions of merchants in 175 countries.

This is life-defining work that directly impacts people’s lives as much as it transforms your own. This is putting the power of the few in the hands of the many, is a future with more voices rather than fewer, and is creating more choices instead of an elite option.

About You

Moving at our pace brings a lot of change, complexity, and ambiguity—and a little bit of chaos. Shopifolk thrive on that and are comfortable being uncomfortable. That means Shopify is not the right place for everyone.

Before You Apply, Consider If You Can

• Care deeply about what you do and about making commerce better for everyone
• Excel by seeking professional and personal hypergrowth
• Keep up with an unrelenting pace (the week, not the quarter)
• Be resilient and resourceful in face of ambiguity and thrive on (rather than endure) change
• Bring critical thought and opinion
• Put AI agents and tools to work on the tasks they're built for, and focus on the work only humans can do
• Embrace differences and disagreement to get shit done and move forward
• Work digital-first for your daily work