Lead Employment Counsel

Camunda; Johannesburg; Remote; ZAR 1,200,000 - 1,800,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Remote work

Health & wellbeing

Annual learning budget

Job summary

Camunda is seeking a Senior Employment Counsel to be the first line of legal support for the People team. You will advise on employment matters, manage key vendor relationships, and reduce reliance on outside counsel.

This embedded role partners with business teams to minimize risk while enabling growth. Required JD or equivalent, 8+ years of employment law experience, and global jurisdiction knowledge, including DACH.

Qualifications

• J.D. or equivalent law degree and active bar admission in at least one jurisdiction.
• 8+ years of employment law experience, including significant in-house experience.
• Deep knowledge of DACH employment law and broad experience across other jurisdictions.

Responsibilities

• Serve as first line of employment legal support for the People team.
• Advise on employee relations, performance, terminations, leaves, and accommodations.
• Manage Remote.com and external counsel relationships, including cost evaluations.

Skills

Employment law

In-house experience

DACH knowledge

Vendor management

Communicating risk

Autonomous decision-making

AI tools usage

Cross-functional collaboration

Education

J.D. or equivalent law degree

Tools

Remote.com

Job description

Camunda is the enterprise platform for agentic orchestration, enabling organizations to coordinate AI agents, people, and systems across complex, end-to-end business processes. With built-in governance, auditability, and human oversight, Camunda gives enterprises the control they need to move AI from pilots to production — safely and at scale. Trusted by over 700 organizations worldwide, including 9 of top 10 US banks, Camunda helps enterprises boost operational efficiency, accelerate time-to-value, and deliver better customer experiences.

Fully remote and global, we are in the middle of something bigger: transforming into an AI-first organisation, built on our own platform. We use Agentic AI to automate, orchestrate intelligent processes, and elevate human contribution across every team.

Named GP Bullhound’s Top 100 Next Unicorn list, 2025 Great Place to Work certified. Visionary in 2025 Gartner® Magic Quadrant™ for Business Orchestration and Automation Technologies. Ranked 3rd in Flexa's 2026 Most Flexible Companies, We’re growing fast and looking for top talent to join our team. If you want meaningful work, visible impact and put something genuinely rare on your CV, keep reading.

About The Role

We are hiring a Senior Employment Counsel to be the first line of legal support for our People team. This person will advise directly on employment matters, manage our key legal and HR vendor relationships, and reduce our reliance on outside counsel. This is a hands‑on, embedded role for an attorney who wants to operate as a trusted business partner, not a gatekeeper.

Key Responsibilities

What you’ll be doing:

• Serve as the first line of support for employment legal questions, resolving most matters directly rather than routing them to outside counsel.
• Partner with each People Business Partner to advise on employee relations, performance management, terminations, leaves, and accommodations. Manage severe employee relations cases directly.
• Own the Remote.com relationship, including contract terms, service levels, escalations, and ongoing performance.
• Own the external legal counsel relationship, including a clear evaluation of scope, spend, and who we engage with
• Partner with Legal and Finance on cross‑functional projects involving employment law, compliance, or spend.
• Ensure compliance with employment law across every jurisdiction where Camunda operates, with particular depth in the DACH region. Find opportunities to reduce risk or balance risk with business value.
• Identify and adopt AI tools that make legal support to the People team faster and more effective.
• Track and reduce external counsel spend against a clear baseline.

What You Bring

• J.D. or equivalent law degree, with active bar admission in at least one jurisdiction.
• 8+ years of employment law experience, including significant in‑house experience at a global, multi‑jurisdiction company.
• Deep, current knowledge of DACH employment law (works councils, termination protections, co‑determination), plus broad experience across other global jurisdictions.
• Experience managing outside counsel and HR vendor relationships, including EOR platforms such as Remote or similar.
• A track record of advising HR and People teams directly, and translating legal risk into practical, business‑pragmatic guidance.
• Strong judgment and comfort making autonomous calls without escalating every matter to outside counsel.
• Experience using AI tools to improve legal or compliance workflows.
• Excellent written and verbal communication, with the ability to build trust across People, Legal, and Finance.

This role is an existing vacancy #C1

What We Have to Offer:

We offer competitive, fair, and transparent compensation. Salary ranges are location‑based, with Standard and Major markets (global tech hubs) reflecting local competition. The Annual Total Target Cash (base salary + 100% variable target, where applicable) shown below spans from the minimum in a Standard market to the maximum in a Major market. Final offers depend on skills, experience, and location, and we typically hire in the first half of the range to allow room for growth.

• United States: $200,500.00 to $323,300.00
• United Kingdom: £125,900.00 to £207,100.00
• Singapore: S$249,000.00 to S$373,500.00

If you’re based elsewhere, you’ll be hired via Remote.com (our global employer partner), and your Talent Acquisition Partner will provide a personalized Total Rewards Calculator after your first interview.

Equity: We also offer equity (where applicable) through our Virtual Stock Option Plan (VSOP).

Benefits & Perks

• Remote & Flexible: Work from anywhere with the setup that suits you, home office budget, co‑working space support, and flexible time off to recharge when you need it.
• In Person Connection: We invest in meaningful face time through our Annual Kickoff (Vienna in 2025, Madrid in 2026!), team offsites, and Camundi Connection Budgets, including contributing to meetups while travelling,, and local gatherings with fellow Camundi.
• Health & Wellbeing: Access locally tailored healthcare, Modern Health for global mental wellbeing, and our Live Well Lifestyle Spending Account (LSA), a flexible, global benefit that puts you in control of your whole life, not just work, from: staying active, to caring for family, exploring personal passions, meaningful experiences, and investing in your financial wellbeing. The Live Well program launches in 2026 and scales to €1,000 annually from 2027.
• Financial Security: Retirement and pension plans (often with company contributions), plus life and disability insurance where relevant.
• Professional Growth: Up to $/€/£1,000 per year for self‑driven learning: courses, certificates, books, you decide!

AI in our hiring process

Camunda may use AI tools to aid the screening of applications and during the interview process. You can learn more here.

“Everyone is welcome at Camunda” — it’s a celebrated component of our culture. We strive to create an inclusive environment that empowers our people. At Camunda, we honour diverse cultures and backgrounds and are proud to be an equal opportunity employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration without regard to gender, race, ethnicity, religion, belief, sexual orientation, age, disability or any other protected characteristics under applicable law. We are looking forward to your application!

Come join us and be part of Camunda’s incredible journey: Make an impact at a pivotal moment in our story!