Director of Legal, GitLab
Employment
One DevOps platform
Posted today
One DevOps platform
1001+ employees
Posted today
1001+ employees
Company mission
To make it so that everyone can contribute. When everyone can contribute, users become contributors and we greatly increase the rate of innovation.
Role
Who you are
- A Juris Doctor (JD), Bachelor of Laws (LLB), or local equivalent, admitted to practice in at least one EMEA jurisdiction
- Substantial, firsthand experience advising a multinational company with works councils across EMEA, including direct hands-on negotiation and consultation experience
- A demonstrated track record of advocating or managing outside counsel in labor courts, employment tribunals and analogous proceedings
- Deep knowledge of employment compliance requirements across EMEA, with the judgment to identify when advice from local counsel is needed
- Experience counseling People Business Partners, Team Member Relations partners, and business leaders on sensitive and complex employment matters, including works council strategy
- Experience drafting, reviewing, and negotiating employment agreements, separation agreements, policies, templates, and related documentation across multiple jurisdictions
- Fluency with GDPR and other local privacy requirements related to team-member data
- Experience building or significantly improving legal processes, systems, playbooks, templates, and documentation that produce consistent outcomes at scale
- Strong issue-spotting, risk-assessment, and judgment skills, with the ability to provide clear recommendations and practical solutions
- The ability to manage a high volume of complex legal matters independently and bring them to resolution
- Clear communication and relationship-building skills, including the ability to serve as a trusted advisor to senior stakeholders across Legal, People, and the business
- A practical and creative approach to problem-solving, sound business judgment, attention to detail, and the ability to work across functions, time zones, and cultures
- Comfort working in a remote, globally distributed, asynchronous environment; willingness to learn and use GitLab in your day-to-day work
What the job involves
- This position is remote and based in the United Kingdom or Ireland. This is an individual contributor role with no direct reports at this time. You'll own matters end to end rather than manage a team
- As Director, Legal – Employment, you will own GitLab’s matters spanning the full employment relationship in EMEA, from recruiting and onboarding through compensation, performance, leave management, separation, and, when necessary, litigation
- You will independently lead complex employment law matters end-to-end, including representing GitLab before works councils and labor courts, as well as setting the strategy for managing employment risk in the region
- You will also build scalable legal processes to meet the business needs across a globally-distributed, all-remote organization, while sharing subject-matter expertise and mentoring legal colleagues and cross-functional partners
- Provide senior, practical employment-law advice to team members and stakeholders across GitLab, balancing legal risk, business objectives, and GitLab’s values, serving as a subject-matter resource for legal colleagues and cross-functional partners
- Directly manage matters across the employment lifecycle, including recruiting and onboarding, compensation, performance management, leave management, employee relations, works council processes, organizational changes, separation, and post-employment issues
- Directly negotiate and engage with works councils and employee representative bodies across EMEA jurisdictions, and lead consultation processes for organizational change
- Represent GitLab in, or directly manage outside counsel appearances for, labor courts, employment tribunals, and agency investigations, including case strategy, fact development, witness preparation, and settlement decisions
- Counsel People Business Partners, Team Member Relations partners, and business leaders on complex and sensitive team-member relations concerns
- Draft, review, negotiate, and maintain employment agreements, separation agreements, policies, templates, and related documentation across multiple jurisdictions
- Own employment compliance across EMEA and incorporate outside-counsel input into strategies that match the business
- Monitor and analyze changes in employment, privacy, and related laws; identify legal risks; and translate developments into practical recommendations and implementable guidance
- Lead the development and continuous improvement of scalable employment-law processes, systems, playbooks, templates, and supporting documentation for the Legal and People teams
- Provide employment advice in regions outside EMEA as needed
- Use GitLab to collaborate transparently and work effectively in an asynchronous, globally distributed environment
- The Employment Legal team works closely with People Business Partners, Team Member Relations, Legal colleagues, and other teams to navigate employment requirements across multiple jurisdictions, manage disputes and investigations, build clear, scalable processes for an all-remote organization
- This role will lead complex EMEA employment matters while contributing to consistent, practical legal support and stronger employment-law processes across GitLab
Our take
GitLab is an open-source collaboration platform for developers. It enables teams to build code quickly from anywhere without compromising on security or quality. GitLab already has an estimated 30M+ users from all over the world.
According to a 2021 GitLab report, 60% of developers can release code 2x faster with DevOps platforms that bring teams together and accelerate processes. It stands out by catering to programmers of all experiences. Gitlab's version control system helps streamline the process of creating, maintaining, and deploying code, whoever you are.
GitLab was in the right place to capitalise on the recent trend toward rapid digital transformation and remote working. This trend is expected to grow, and with it, GitLab's popularity. With its successful 2021 IPO and the patronage of major brands such as Nasdaq and Jaguar Land Rover, GitLab is expected to solidify its position as the go-to platform for development teams.
Kirsty
Company Specialist at Welcome to the Jungle
Insights
15% employee growth in 12 months
Company
Funding (last 2 of 8 rounds)
Sep 2019
$268m
SERIES E
Dec 2018
$20m
SERIES D
Total funding: $434.4m
Company benefits
- We offer benefits to manage your health, wealth, and well-being regardless of location
- Flexibility in schedule to be there for life’s important moments
- Equity compensation & Employee Stock Purchase Plan offered
- Generous Paid Time Off
Company HQ
Financial District, San Francisco, CA
Leadership
Sid Sijbrandij
(Co-Founder & Executive Chair)Studied Physics at the University of Twente. Interned at P&G and IBM. Was Lead Architect at the Netherlands' Ministry of Justice from 2009 to 2012. Founded app store Comcoaster in 2008, and then co-founded GitLab in 2012.
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