Sr. Director, Legal Corporate

Digital Realty Global; Dallas (TX); On-site; USD 180,000 - 280,000; Full time

Job summary

Digital Realty seeks a Sr. Director, Corporate Counsel, Labor & Employment for the Americas to serve as the primary legal partner to HR and business leaders.

You will provide strategic labor and employment guidance, manage risk, and lead investigations across the United States and Canada while collaborating with Legal, HR, Compliance, and Privacy teams. You will oversee employee relations, policy development, and complex transactions such as mergers and acquisitions, with a focus on practical

Qualifications

• Juris Doctor (JD) from an accredited U.S. law school and active bar admission in good standing.
• 10+ years of significant labor and employment law experience in a national firm and in-house in a multinational.
• Deep expertise in U.S. federal, multi-state, and Canadian employment laws, including investigations and enforcement.
• Demonstrated experience managing employment litigation, outside counsel, and legal budgets.
• Strong analytical, drafting, negotiation, and presentation skills with ability to influence senior stakeholders.
• Ability to provide concise, practical, business-focused legal advice balancing risk and objectives.
• Preferred experience in California employment law, executive matters, equity compensation, and pay equity.
• Preferred experience with privacy, AI, pay equity, non-compete restrictions, scalable processes, and reporting.

Responsibilities

• Provide strategic employment and labor counsel across the United States and Canada, coordinating with global teams.
• Draft, negotiate, and interpret a wide range of employment-related agreements.
• Oversee employee relations, investigations, performance, discipline, and policy development.
• Advise on wage-hour compliance, classifications, and pay equity considerations.
• Advise on compensation and benefits, including equity incentive plans and severance programs.
• Support mergers, acquisitions, divestitures, integrations and other strategic transactions.
• Lead sensitive workplace investigations and manage employment litigation and agency matters.
• Develop, implement and maintain employment policies, templates, tools, and playbooks.
• Monitor developments and update policies and communications accordingly.
• Deliver trainings for HR, managers, executives, and employees on labor topics.
• Collaborate with Legal, HR, Compliance, and Privacy teams across jurisdictions.
• Mentor junior lawyers and manage outside counsel, budgets, and spend.
• Develop metrics and reporting to inform risk-based decision making.
• Lead cross-functional initiatives and drive process improvements within Legal and HR.

Job description

Sr. Director, Corporate Counsel

Your Role

The Sr. Director, Corporate Counsel, Labor & Employment (Americas) serves as the primary legal partner to Human Resources and business leaders on labor and employment matters across the United States and Canada. Reporting to the SVP, Deputy General Counsel (Litigation, Employment & Compliance), this role provides strategic, practical, and business-focused legal counsel while managing employment risk, supporting organizational growth initiatives, leading complex employment matters, and collaborating across Legal, Human Resources, Compliance, Privacy, and business teams in a fast-paced global environment.

What You’ll Do

Labor & Employment Counseling

• Provide strategic and day-to-day advice on labor and employment matters arising primarily in the United States and Canada, coordinating with other members of the Legal, Human Resources, Compliance, and Privacy Teams, as well as other business stakeholders, as appropriate.
• Draft, negotiate, and interpret employment-related agreements.
• Oversee and counsel on employee relations matters, including performance management, workplace conduct, accommodations, investigations, terminations, and development of strategies, policies, and training programs.
• Advise on wage-and-hour compliance, worker classification, pay transparency and pay equity, restrictive covenants, employee mobility, workplace safety, and federal, state, provincial, and local employment requirements.
• Advise on compensation and benefits, including equity incentive compensation, severance programs, retirement, and health and welfare matters.
• Provide employment-law support for mergers, acquisitions, divestitures, integrations, restructurings, and other strategic transactions as well as in connection with disclosure, audit, and diligence obligations.
• Partner with other members of Legal, Human Resources, Compliance, and Privacy Teams in overseeing sensitive workplace investigations.
• Manage employment litigation, agency charges, demand letters, administrative proceedings, arbitrations, and pre-litigation disputes, including with respect to development of case strategy, assessment of risk exposure, settlement and trial positions, legal holds and discovery, and review of filings and correspondence.
• Draft , review, and implement employment policies, workplace standards, arbitration and dispute-resolution programs, and related forms and templates, including preparation of practical playbooks, decision tools, checklists, workflows, and guidance for Human Resources and business leaders.
• Monitor legal and regulatory developments, assess business impact, and lead timely updates to policies, practices, and communications.
• Design and deliver trainings for Human Resources, managers, executives, and employees on labor and employment topics.
• Serve as a trusted adviser to Human Resources and senior leadership, balancing legal risk, business objectives, operational realities, and employee experience.
• Coordinate Americas matters with the global Legal and Human Resources teams to support consistent, practical, and legally compliant approaches across jurisdictions.
• Lead complex, cross-functional projects and drive continuous improvement of Legal and Human Resources processes.
• Mentor and provide substantive guidance to other lawyers and legal professionals, and support broader Legal Team priorities as needed.
• Develop meaningful metrics and reporting to identify trends, improve controls, and support risk-based decision-making.
• Select, supervise, and evaluate outside counsel; establish strategy, budgets, and staffing expectations; and actively manage legal spend.
• Develop, implement, and maintain employment policies, workplace programs, training materials, playbooks, workflows, and guidance tools for Human Resources and business leaders.
• Serve as a trusted advisor to senior leadership while leading cross-functional initiatives, driving process improvements, developing risk metrics, and supporting informed business decision-making.
• Select, manage, and evaluate outside counsel, including legal strategy, budgeting, staffing expectations, and legal spend management.

What You’ll Need

• Juris Doctor (JD) from an accredited U.S. law school and active membership in good standing with at least one U.S. state bar.
• At least 10+ years of significant labor and employment law experience, preferably combining experience at a nationally recognized law firm and an in-house legal department within a multinational organization.
• Deep expertise in U.S. federal, multi-state, and Canadian employment laws, including employee relations, workplace investigations, litigation management, and regulatory compliance.
• Demonstrated experience managing employment litigation, government agency matters, outside counsel relationships, and legal budgets.
• Strong legal analysis, drafting, negotiation, communication, and presentation skills with the ability to influence senior stakeholders.
• Ability to deliver concise, practical, business-oriented legal advice and balance legal risk with operational objectives in a fast-paced environment.
• Strong project management, organizational, and prioritization skills with experience handling multiple complex matters across jurisdictions.
• High degree of integrity, sound judgment, discretion, collaboration, and commitment to client service.
• Preferred experience advising on California employment law, executive employment matters, equity compensation, employee benefits, labor relations, and workplace investigations.
• Preferred experience addressing emerging issues involving privacy, artificial intelligence, pay equity, non-compete restrictions, scalable legal processes, technology-enabled workflows, and management reporting.

A Bit About Us

• Digital Realty brings companies and data together by delivering the full spectrum of data center, colocation and interconnection solutions. PlatformDIGITAL®, the company's global data center platform, provides customers with a secure data meeting place and a proven Pervasive Datacenter Architecture (PDx®) solution methodology for powering innovation and efficiently managing Data Gravity challenges. Digital Realty gives its customers access to the connected data communities that matter to them with a global data center footprint of 300+ facilities in 50+ metros across 25+ countries on six continents.

• To learn more about Digital Realty, please visit digitalrealty.com or follow us on LinkedIn and Twitter.

A Bit About Our Team

Legal

• Our Legal team works in a highly complex global business sector with a diverse range of local, regional and international organizations. From ensuring compliance in different jurisdictions to supporting business teams with customer and supplier contracts, we're involved in a variety of projects. Working in a dynamic commercial environment, we collaborate with colleagues across different departments and always have a new challenge waiting for us.

What We Can Offer You

• Our rapidly evolving business sector offers the opportunity to be part of a courageous and passionate team who work together to understand and meet the changing needs of our global customers.

• Join us and you'll be part of a supportive and inclusive environment where you can bring your whole self to work. As part of our team, you'll get to work with people from different business areas, challenge the way we do things, and put your ideas into action. We'll

• also give you plenty of development opportunities so you can build a rewarding and successful career with us.

Health and Safety

• Safety isn't just a priority here at Digital Realty; it's critical to everything we do. Safeguarding lives, protecting assets, and securing data aren't just ideals, they're essential pillars of our commitment to excellence for our people, our partners, and our customers. We have a culture of care where every member of Team Digital embraces a relentless pursuit of working safely across Digital Realty. Together we are Safely Powering Progress.

Our Compensation Philosophy

• Digital Realty offers its employees a highly competitive compensation package, excellent benefits, and an environment that recognizes and rewards your contributions. Central to our compensation philosophy is a commitment to attracting, retaining, and motivating exceptional talent through market-competitive pay and performance-based rewards.