Lead Counsel, Employment, Benefits & Executive Compensation

McKesson Corporation; Georgia; Hybrid; USD 157,000 - 261,000; Full time

Job summary

McKesson is seeking a Lead Counsel, Employment to join the MMS Legal Department. You will provide day-to-day advice on employment, workforce, benefits, and people-related matters, partnering with cross-functional stakeholders to address risks and support strategic workforce initiatives.

The role requires a JD with active U.S. bar, 10–15 years of experience, and the ability to lead complex matters and influence executive decisions in a hybrid environment across multiple locations.

Qualifications

• JD and active U.S. bar membership are required.
• 10–15 years of relevant legal experience preferred.
• Experience leading complex legal matters and advising executives.

Responsibilities

• Serve as lead legal advisor on labor, employment, employee benefits, and executive compensation.
• Design and implement scalable legal, compliance, and governance frameworks.
• Manage outside counsel, including budgeting and scope management.
• Collaborate with HR and business leaders to identify and mitigate risks.

Skills

Employment law counseling

HR policy development

Executive compensation counseling

Education

Juris Doctor (JD)

Job description

McKesson is an impact-driven, Fortune 10 company that touches virtually every aspect of healthcare. We are known for delivering insights, products, and services that make quality care more accessible and affordable. Here, we focus on the health, happiness, and well-being of you and those we serve - we care.

What you do at McKesson matters. We foster a culture where you can grow, make an impact, and are empowered to bring new ideas. Together, we thrive as we shape the future of health for patients, our communities, and our people. If you want to be part of tomorrow's health today, we want to hear from you.

The MMS Legal Department is seeking a Lead Counsel, Employment to join its Technology, Risk & People (TRP) pillar. This role is critical to MMS's transition to a standalone company. The TRP team provides practical, business-oriented legal support across human resources, employee benefits, executive compensation, technology, compliance, and risk-related matters, helping the business achieve its objectives while appropriately managing legal and regulatory risk. The role reports to the Managing Principal Counsel, Technology, Risk & People.

This position serves as a trusted legal partner providing day-to-day advice on employment, workforce, benefits, and people-related matters. The successful candidate will work closely with cross-functional stakeholders to identify and address legal risks, support key business and workforce initiatives, and help develop practical, scalable solutions that balance legal requirements with business needs. The role requires sound judgment, strong collaboration skills, a proactive mindset, and the ability to operate effectively in a dynamic environment with evolving priorities and occasional ambiguity.

The Lead Counsel is expected to serve as a strategic thought partner to senior Human Resources, Finance, Compensation, and business leaders. This individual will assess complex legal and business risks, guide high-impact workforce decisions, develop governance and compliance frameworks, and help shape long‑term people‑related strategies while balancing legal, regulatory, operational, and business considerations.

This position offers the opportunity to help build foundational processes and legal frameworks that support organizational growth, workforce innovation, and compliance in a newly independent healthcare company.

Key Responsibilities

• Legal Counseling: Serve as the company's lead legal advisor on labor, employment, employee benefits, and executive compensation matters, providing strategic, risk-based counsel on complex and high‑profile workforce issues, organizational changes, executive matters, and enterprise initiatives.
• Ownership & Build: Lead legal support for enterprise‑wide workforce, benefits, and executive compensation initiatives. Design and implement scalable legal, compliance, and governance frameworks that support organizational growth, workforce transformation, and public‑company readiness. Partner across legal functions to develop coordinated enterprise risk management strategies.
• Drafting: Draft or comment on various HR, employment and benefits related agreements, policies and guidelines.
• Collaboration: Partner with HR, business leaders and cross functional leaders to proactively identify and manage labor, employment, benefits, and executive compensation risks, and implement practical, preventative solutions.
• Outside Counsel Oversight: Effectively manage outside counsel, including budgeting, scope management, and review of work product. Partnering with Senior Litigation Counsel as appropriate.
• Execution & Adaptability: Manage competing priorities, adjust to changing business needs, and operate effectively with limited structure in certain areas.
• Regulatory Awareness: Anticipate emerging legal and regulatory developments affecting employment, benefits, executive compensation, and workforce strategy. Assess enterprise impact and lead implementation of proactive compliance and risk mitigation initiatives.

Qualifications

Minimum Requirements

• JD and active U.S. bar membership

• 10-15 years of relevant legal experience at a law firm and/or in‑house legal department (preferred)

Critical Skills & Experience

• Experience with:
  • Employment law counseling
  • HR policy development
  • Benefit plan design and administration legal counseling (a plus)
  • Executive compensation legal counseling (a plus)
• Demonstrated ability to independently lead complex legal matters and influence executive‑level decision‑making.
• Strong executive presence with the ability to advise and challenge senior leaders while maintaining trusted relationships.
• Proven ability to lead cross‑functional initiatives across HR, Finance, Compliance, Internal Audit, Regulatory Affairs, and business operations.
• Working knowledge of 50 state labor and employment laws
• Working knowledge of benefits and executive compensation laws (a plus)
• Strong drafting, negotiation, and issue‑spotting skills
• Strong research skills
• Ability to provide clear, practical legal guidance
• Proven ability to adapt to evolving business needs and operate effectively in ambiguous situations
• Strong collaboration and communication skills

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience in the healthcare, life sciences, pharmaceutical, medical device, healthcare technology, or healthcare distribution industries.

Additional Information

• Hybrid work model (Richmond, VA (Preferred); Jacksonville, FL; Alpharetta, GA)
• Up to 25% travel

Authorization

• Must be authorized to work in the United States; sponsorship is not available

About McKesson Medical‑Surgical

McKesson Medical‑Surgical (MMS), which is expected to become Wellverse in early 2027, is a subsidiary and publicly reported segment of the McKesson Corporation. MMS distributes medical‑surgical supplies, pharmaceuticals, diagnostic equipment and supplies, along with other solutions and services to virtually every type of healthcare setting and provider outside of the traditional hospital. These markets - often referred to as Alternate Care or Non‑Acute Care - include physician offices, surgery centers, long‑term care providers, laboratories, home health and hospice agencies, health systems, government facilities and online marketplaces and retailers.

Alternate Care markets are growing rapidly and MMS is proud to be a leader in this space. With a team of approximately 8,000 employees, a network of 15 distribution centers and approximately 900 delivery vehicles, we collaborate with more than 2,200 leading manufacturers and serve over 200,000 customer accounts across the U.S. Our catalog includes more than 270,000 SKUs of branded and private‑label medical‑surgical products - from bandages to specialty pharmaceuticals and COVID‑19 tests.

We are proud to offer a competitive compensation package at McKesson as part of our Total Rewards. This is determined by several factors, including performance, experience and skills, equity, regular job market evaluations, and geographical markets. The pay range shown below is aligned with McKesson's pay philosophy, and pay will always be compliant with any applicable regulations.

In addition to base pay, other compensation, such as an annual bonus or long‑term incentive opportunities may be offered. For more information regarding benefits at McKesson, pleaseclick here.

Our Base Pay Range for this position

$156,800 - $261,300

McKesson is an Equal Opportunity Employer

McKesson provides equal employment opportunities to applicants and employees, without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, protected veteran status, disability, age, genetic information, or any other legally protected category. For additional information on McKesson's full Equal Employment Opportunity policies, visit our Equal Employment Opportunity page.

McKesson is committed to being an Equal Employment Opportunity Employer and offers opportunities to all job seekers including job seekers with disabilities. If you need a reasonable accommodation to assist with your job search or application for employment, please contact us by sending an email to (United States) [e-mail] or (Canada) [e-mail]. Resumes or CVs submitted to this email box will not be accepted.

Join us at McKesson!