Labor Counsel

Surge AI; United States; Remote; USD 180,000 - 280,000; Full time

Job summary

Surge AI is seeking a Labor Counsel to own labor and employment law for a fast-growing company with a large workforce of employees and independent contractors. You’ll work with our General Counsel and HR, advising on compliance, policies, and claims as the company scales.

This role suits a practical, collaborative lawyer who spots issues early, partners with HR and operations, and can argue a position when needed while communicating clearly with non-lawyers.

Qualifications

• 5–10 years of experience in labor and employment law, in-house or at a law firm.
• Broad background across regulatory, compliance work and litigation.
• Real experience with worker classification.
• Experience on the plaintiff side is welcome but not required.
• Experience with HRIS systems is preferred.
• Collaborative issue-spotter who can push back when needed.
• Clear, practical communication with HR, managers, and non-lawyers.
• Interest in AI companies with distributed workforces.

Responsibilities

• Advise on worker classification for employees and contractors, and help design engagement methods.
• Advise on wage and hour, leave, termination, and other employment compliance questions across jurisdictions.
• Work with HR and teams to build and update policies, procedures, and compliance practices.
• Manage claims, demand letters, agency charges, and disputes, and work with outside counsel on litigation.
• Review and update employee communications and onboarding/offboarding forms.
• Work with HR on HR systems and data so legal requirements are built into tools.
• Investigate and advise on employee relations issues alongside HR.
• Help HR and managers understand the legal reasons behind rules in plain language.

Skills

Labor and employment law

Worker classification

Regulatory & compliance

Litigation experience

HRIS systems

Collaborative problem-solver

Clear communication

Policy development

Job description

About Us

Our mission is to raise AGI with the richness of human intelligence - curious, witty, imaginative, and full of unexpected brilliance.

Surge was founded by engineers and researchers who dreamed of building the next generation of AI. Our platform powers the most capable models in the world, in partnership with the AI models you use every day.

At Surge, we believe the path to AGI isn’t just about scaling compute - it’s about embracing the unlimited ceiling of human intelligence and creativity in the data that shapes these systems. Our platform combines elite human expertise with cutting-edge tools for scalable oversight, from building rich RL environments to conducting rigorous evaluations that go beyond benchmarks. We’ve run a profitable business from day one without raising venture funding.

The Role

As Labor Counsel at Surge, you’ll own labor and employment law for a fast-growing company with a large workforce of employees and independent contractors. You’ll work with our General Counsel and sit close to HR, advising on compliance, policies, and claims as the company and its people function scale. This is a new role for Surge.

This role is ideal for a practical, collaborative lawyer who spots issues early, works well with HR and operations teams, and is also comfortable arguing a position when they disagree.

What You’ll Do

• Advise on worker classification for employees and contractors, and help us design and review how we engage with our people.

• Advise on wage and hour, leave, termination, and other employment compliance questions across the jurisdictions in which we operate.

• Work with HR and the teams that manage our expert workforce to build and update policies, procedures, and compliance practices.

• Manage claims, demand letters, agency charges, and disputes, and work with outside counsel on litigation.

• Review and update employee communications and the forms we use for onboarding and offboarding.

• Work with HR on HR systems and data, so legal requirements are built into the tools our teams use.

• Investigate and advise on employee relations issues alongside HR.

• Help HR and managers understand the legal reasons behind the rules in plain language.
  

What We’re Looking for

• 5-10 years of experience in labor and employment law, at a law firm or in-house.

• A broad background across both regulatory and compliance work and litigation.

• Real experience with worker classification.

• Experience on the plaintiff side is welcome, but not required.

• Experience with HRIS systems is preferred.

• A collaborative issue spotter. You flag problems early, look for a workable path with the business, and are comfortable pushing back when you disagree.

• Clear, practical communication with HR, managers, and non-lawyers.

• Comfortable building policies and processes where none exist yet.

• Interest in how AI companies work with large, distributed workforces.