Senior Legal Analyst

Delta Dental; San Francisco (CA); On-site; USD 72,000 - 151,000; Full time

Job summary

Delta Dental is seeking a Senior Legal Analyst to support the Legal Department on employment, labor, and benefits matters. You will research statutes, manage casework, and coordinate with outside counsel, HR, and internal teams to mitigate risks and drive business outcomes.

You will handle policy updates, training material preparation, and maintain confidential information with professionalism and discretion. Strong analytical and communication skills are essential.

Qualifications

• Minimum of 4 years of experience with a bachelor's degree.
• 5 years of experience with a JD or paralegal certification preferred.
• 3–5 years of recent experience in a law firm or corporate legal department focused on labor and employment law.
• Strong legal research using Lexis/Nexis or Westlaw to evaluate changing employment regulations.
• Strong verbal and written communication across levels in a cross-functional environment.
• Excellent organizational, prioritization and follow-up skills.
• Ability to maintain absolute confidentiality regarding sensitive personnel issues.

Responsibilities

• Provide support, analysis, escalation and insight to employment attorneys on complex workplace issues.
• Manage time-sensitive employment law projects and monitor local, state and federal labor updates.
• Coordinate with outside employment counsel for litigation matters, depositions and discovery.
• Research statutes and case law; provide actionable conclusions for attorneys and business partners.
• Update employee policies and assist in preparing training modules.
• Develop internal tracking systems for insurance reporting, budget reporting, legal holds, investigations and document production.
• Assist in preparing standard employment documents (separation agreements, benefits plans, responses to RFPs, ADA/LOA policies).
• Improve case management and document production and review processes.
• Manage routine legal tasks and provide status updates to attorneys.
• Escalate significant issues to legal staff as needed.
• Oversee document collection for agency charges (EEOC/DOL).
• Collaborate with HR and People Operations for intake and day-to-day employee relations inquiries.

Skills

Strong verbal & written communication

Excellent organization

Confidentiality & ethics

Independent work capability

Cross-functional collaboration

Negotiation skills

Education

Bachelor's degree

Juris Doctor (JD) or paralegal certification

Tools

Lexis/Nexis

Westlaw

Job description

Description

In supporting the Legal Department, the Senior Legal Analyst will provide assistance to attorneys on various legal matters in moderate to highly complex areas of law related to employment and labor, benefits and human resources, including research in new areas impacting the enterprise's workforce, employment litigation support, and operations support. This work also involves assisting attorneys in mitigating risks and driving toward business outcomes via analysis, interpretation, organization of information and development of strategies and proposals to rectify problem areas. This position is responsible for research, document creation and case management with a focus on employment, labor, and benefits-related matters.

Responsibilities

• With limited guidance from attorneys in the Legal department, flexibly provides support, analysis, escalation and insight to employmentattorneys regarding complex workplace and human resources legal issues.
• Manages time-sensitive employment lawprojects for the Legal department, such as tracking local, state and federal labor law updates,legal research, documentreview, and legislative monitoring, diving deep into new projects and demonstrating independent ownership to meet human resourcesclient needs.
• Serves as a liaison to outside employmentcounsel, coordinating documents and knowledge sharing for active employment litigation, depositions and discovery requests, and benefits mattersas needed.
• Identifies legal requirements and issues by researching statutes and case law; provides insight, recommendations, and conclusions on requirements in a manner that can be quickly reviewed and actioned upon by employment attorneys and other business partners.
• Manages key employment-specific legalprocesses, such as: tracking, reviewing and providing insight for updating employee policies and assisting employment attorneys with the preparation of training modules.
• Develops and manages internal employment tracking systems for insurance reporting, budget reporting, legal holds, workplace investigations, requests for production of documents and personnel files, demand letters, administrative agency filings and separation agreement timelines.
• Assists employment counsel with the preparation of standard employment documents such as separation agreements, benefits plans, responses to RFP's, communications related to ADA/LOA matters, policies, guidelines, etc.
• Analyzes, recommends and implements improvements and best practices pertaining to case management, legal document production and review processes.
• Manages routine legal tasks, both independently and as requested by attorneys.
• Provides regular feedback to attorneys and appropriate departmental personnel regarding the status of legal projects.
• Serves as initial point of escalation for significant issues from legal staff.
• Oversees document collection and position statement drafting for administrative agency charges (e.g. EEOC, DOL, or state equivalent filings).
• Collaborates closely with the HR and People Operations teams to serve as the initial point of intake and escalation for day-to-day employee relations inquiries.

Qualifications

• A minimum of 4 years of experience with a bachelor's degree.
• 5 years of experience with a JD or paralegal certification preferred.
• 3 - 5 years of recent experience in a law firm and/or corporate legal department with a distinct focus on labor and employment law (combined firm and in-house experience) preferred.
• Strong legal research and analytical skills on complex issues utilizing Lexis/Nexis or Westlaw to evaluate changing employment regulations and agency guidelines.
• Strong verbal and written communication skills are essential for working cross-functionally with human resources, internal and external investigators, and employees at all levels.
• Very strong organizational, prioritization and follow-up skills.
• Friendly demeanor, team attitude, and helpful nature; able to work and take direction from colleagues across the Legal Affairs division.
• Attention to detail and commitment to delivering high-quality work product.
• Strong sense of professionalism, ethics and confidentiality, maintaining absolute confidentiality regarding sensitive personnel issues and employee records.
• Excellent interpersonal skills, with the ability to work effectively with personnel at all levels of the organization and across teams.
• Solid writing skills to prepare comprehensive memorandums outlining potential legal issues.
• Ability to manage and coordinate legal research projects.
• Ability to respond to requests for information, status updates and documentation from other business units relating to various legal issues.
• Strong proofreading and editing skills.
• Ability to collaborate with in-house counsel to provide legal support to business initiatives.
• Strong organizational, problem-solving, and analytical skills.
• Strong negotiation skills.
• Demonstrated ability to act independently and assume increased responsibility.

Base Pay Information

The national base pay range at the end is a good-faith estimate of what Delta Dental may pay for new hires. Actual pay may vary based on Delta Dental's assessment of the candidate's knowledge, skills, abilities (KSAs), related experience, education, certifications and ability to meet required minimum job qualifications. Other factors impacting pay include prevailing wages in the work location and internal equity.

Pay Grade 20. $72,084 - $150,995