Employment Counsel

Instacart; United (PA); Remote; USD 207,000 - 230,000; Full time

Job summary

A leading grocery delivery service is seeking an Employment Counsel to manage employment matters and provide expert legal advice. Ideal candidates have a J.D. and 5-7 years of experience. This remote role requires skills in dealing with complex employment law issues in multiple jurisdictions. The position offers competitive compensation and a dynamic work environment.

Benefits

Market-competitive compensation

Flexible work environment

Equity grant eligibility

Qualifications

• Minimum 5-7 years of employment litigation and counseling experience.
• Active membership in at least one state bar.
• Ability to make quick informed decisions.

Responsibilities

• Handle litigation and pre-litigation employment matters.
• Manage outside counsel and align legal strategies.
• Partner with HR on legal risks and best practices.

Skills

Excellent writing and communication skill

Ability to efficiently handle multiple projects

Deep experience with employment laws

Education

J.D. from a top-tier law school

Job description

At Instacart, we invite the world to share love through food because we believe everyone should have access to the food they love and more time to enjoy it together. Where others see a simple need for grocery delivery, we see exciting complexity and endless opportunity to serve the varied needs of our community. We work to deliver an essential service that customers rely on to get their groceries and household goods, while also offering safe and flexible earnings opportunities to Instacart Personal Shoppers.

Instacart has become a lifeline for millions of people, and we’re building the team to help push our shopping cart forward. If you’re ready to do the best work of your life, come join our table.

Instacart is a Flex First team

There’s no one-size fits all approach to how we do our best work. Our employees have the flexibility to choose where they do their best work—whether it’s from home, an office, or your favorite coffee shop—while staying connected and building community through regular in-person events. Learn more about our flexible approach to where we work.

Overview

About the Role

Instacart is seeking an experienced and self-motivated Employment Counsel to handle a wide variety of employment matters that are core to the company’s business and growth. You’ll work closely with teams like human resources, communications, product, and operations to provide expert legal advice and help tackle novel and thorny cross-disciplinary issues related to worker classification and traditional employment laws. Because Instacart maintains a global workforce including in Canada, China, and Australia, this role will also involve advising on employment issues across multiple foreign jurisdictions. You must have the ability to operate independently in a fast-paced environment, prioritize a dynamic and varied workload, and possess excellent judgment. You’ll also need to be proactive and engaged, able to work well cross-functionally both internally and externally, excited about technology and e-commerce, and ready to roll up your sleeves and dig into tough problems!

About the Team

Instacart’s Legal Team provides top notch service and counseling to various parts of Instacart’s business. You will be joining a proactive and deeply engaged legal team that values collaboration and innovative problem-solving. We take a practical, efficient, solution-oriented approach to everything we do and aim to build strong and trusting relationships with our team, leadership, and cross-functional partners. We are looking for highly motivated teammates who are ready to dig in and hit the ground running.

About The Job

• Handling and resolving a wide variety of litigation and pre-litigation employment matters in state and federal courts and administrative forums, especially matters involving worker classification.
• Managing outside counsel, including providing tactical guidance to ensure alignment with Instacart’s broader legal strategies.
• Ability to manage high volume portfolio that could encompass a variety of employment matters, including: litigation; unemployment claims; administrative audits; agency charges; and workers’ compensation claims.
• Partnering closely with Human Resources and business partners to evaluate legal risks and provide subject matter knowledge on a broad range of employment issues, including wage and hour, recruiting and hiring, training, employee performance management, leaves of absence, disability accommodations, and HR best practices.
• Drafting and revising a variety of employment-related agreements and other written content such as offer letters, contractor agreements, vendor agreements, and more.
• Helping to develop and implement scalable self-service tools and processes for the HR and Operations teams as the company grows.
• Collaborating with cross-functional teams to structure contractor and employment law compliance across U.S. and international jurisdictions.
• Thinking ahead, seeing around corners, and helping to prepare for and address contractor and employment issues that may arise in the future.

About You

Minimum Qualifications

• J.D. from a top-tier law school.
• Active membership with at least one state bar (preferably California but not required).
• A minimum of 5-7 years of related experience in employment litigation and counseling at a leading law firm, including advising on international workforces.
• Deep experience with employment laws in multiple states (including California) and foreign jurisdictions (including Australia, Canada, China, EU, and UK) across a wide range of issues.
• Proven track record of providing pragmatic and reasoned advice to HR and business partners.
• Excellent writing and communication skill.
• Ability to efficiently handle and organize multiple projects at a time in a fast-paced environment.
• Ability to make quick but informed decisions and to advocate for a position that mitigates risk while advancing the business’ goals.
• Willingness to roll up your sleeves, get into the legal nitty gritty, and the ability to exercise sound judgment when approaching novel problems without clear answers.

Preferred Qualifications

• Related experience working at an in-house legal department (especially at a tech company or retailer, a plus).
• Demonstrated experience with worker classification and employment laws in U.S. and international jurisdictions.
• Demonstrated success in strategizing, handling and managing complex disputes to successful resolution.
• Experience developing legal strategies and solutions in novel contexts.

Instacart provides highly market-competitive compensation and benefits in each location where our employees work. This role is remote and the base pay range for a successful candidate is dependent on their permanent work location. Please review our Flex First remote work policy here.

Offers may vary based on many factors, such as candidate experience and skills required for the role. Additionally, this role is eligible for a new hire equity grant as well as annual refresh grants. Please read more about our benefits offerings here.

For US based candidates, the base pay ranges for a successful candidate are listed below.

CA, NY, CT, NJ

$225,000 - $250,000 USD

WA

$216,000 - $240,000 USD

OR, DE, ME, MA, MD, NH, RI, VT, DC, PA, VA, CO, TX, IL, HI

$207,000 - $230,000 USD

All other states

$187,000 - $208,000 USD

EEO and Diversity

At Instacart, we like to think of ourselves as a potluck—where everyone brings something new, different, and flavorful to the table. We believe our team’s wide range of perspectives, experiences and backgrounds enable us to build a better product for our customers. Instacart is for everyone, and we’re committed to fostering diverse and inclusive teams that reflect the communities we serve.

Individuals seeking employment at Instacart are considered without regards to race, color, religion, national origin, age, sex, marital status, ancestry, physical or mental disability, veteran status, gender identity, sexual orientation, or any other protected characteristic.

Please note: If you apply for more than one job, you will be asked to fill out the questionnaire for each application.

Why are we asking?

In order to track our effectiveness in recruiting a wide range of talent, we invite all applicants to self-identify demographic information. Completion of the form is required as part of our standard application process - but disclosing your demographic information is optional. Any information that you do provide will be recorded and maintained in a confidential file.