Senior Lifecycle Counsel, Justworks
International
$189-244k
Senior and Expert level
Toronto
Occasional travel is required
Business operations platform
Open for applications
Business operations platform
1001+ employees
FintechB2BEnterpriseHRCompliancePaymentsSaaS
Open for applications
$189-244k
Senior and Expert level
Toronto
Occasional travel is required
1001+ employees
FintechB2BEnterpriseHRCompliancePaymentsSaaS
Company mission
To help entrepreneurs and businesses grow with confidence.
Role
Who you are
- You are an experienced employment lawyer who understands that strong EOR legal support requires both legal judgment and operational follow-through
- You know how to evaluate lifecycle risk, partner with local experts, align stakeholders, and help teams reach practical outcomes in complex and time-sensitive employment matters
- You bring clear communication, business-oriented judgment, and a steady approach to sensitive employee lifecycle issues
- Clear communication - the ability to articulate thoughts and express ideas effectively using oral, written, visual and non-verbal communication skills, as well as listening skills to gain understanding
- Ethical practice - the ability to integrate core values, integrity and accountability throughout all organizational and business practices
- Detail-oriented - exercises extreme attention to detail; is thorough, accurate, organized, and productive and seeks to understand both the cause and effect of a situation
- Risk assessment - applying a logical step-by-step process to protect, and consequently minimize risks to, the organization, interests and employees
- Manages complexity - making sense of complex, high quantity, and sometimes contradictory information to effectively solve problems
- In addition, all Justworkers focus on aligning their behaviors to our core values known as COGIS
- Camaraderie - Day to day you can be seen working together toward a higher purpose. You like to have fun. You’re an active listener, treat people respectfully, and have a strong desire to know and help others
- Openness - Your default is to be open. You're willing to share information, understand other perspectives, and consider new possibilities. You’re curious, ask open questions, and are receptive to thoughts and feedback from others
- Grit - You demonstrate grit by having the courage to commit and persevere. You’re committed, earnest, and dive in to get the job done well with a positive attitude
- Integrity - Simply put, do what you say and say what you'll do. You’re honest and forthright, have a strong moral compass, and strive to match your words with your actions while leading by example
- Simplicity - Be like Einstein: “Everything should be made as simple as possible, but no simpler.”
- Juris Doctor (JD) or equivalent law degree and admitted to practice in at least one relevant jurisdiction
- Minimum of 5+ years of substantive employment law experience, preferably including in-house experience, international employment counseling, EOR, PEO, global mobility, HR technology, or other cross-border employment operations
- Deep experience advising on employee lifecycle matters, including complex terminations, performance management, leave, employee relations, employment documentation, recurring compliance, and dispute risk across multiple jurisdictions
- Experience supporting an EOR business, global employment platform, international HR operations, or multi-country employment counseling is strongly preferred
- Proven ability to build legal standards, risk frameworks, escalation paths, playbooks, policies, knowledge bases, and SOPs that enable non-legal teams to operate with consistency
- Strong understanding of how employment-law requirements should be translated into operational workflows, product requirements, customer guidance, and internal controls
- Sound judgment in managing legal, operational, customer, employee, financial, and reputational risk in sensitive employment matters
- Excellent written and verbal communication skills, with the ability to explain complex legal concepts to non-legal stakeholders in a practical and concise way
- Demonstrated ability to work cross-functionally and influence stakeholders
- Demonstrated time management, organizational, and analytical skills, including the ability to manage multiple complex matters across time zones
- Experience managing outside counsel and obtaining practical, cost-effective legal advice across multiple jurisdictions
- Fluent in English; proficiency in another relevant language is a plus
What the job involves
- As part of the International Legal team, the Senior Lifecycle Counsel, International will provide legal support for complex employment lifecycle execution across Justworks’ EOR offering, with particular focus on sensitive, complex, or escalated matters such as terminations, performance management, leave, and employee relations.
- You will serve as the legal point of contact for selected lifecycle matters that require Legal involvement, partnering closely with regional employment counsel on local-law requirements and with Operations, Customer Service, Payroll, Benefits, Product, Sales, and outside counsel as needed to drive practical resolution
- A major focus of this role will be building the standards, playbooks, escalation paths, decision frameworks, documentation expectations, and training that help operational teams handle routine lifecycle matters effectively and identify when Legal should be involved
- This is a role for someone who can move fluidly between matter execution and scalable process-building, creating solutions out of insights learned from real patterns to make Justworks' EOR lifecycle support clearer, stronger, and easier to operate
- Lead the Legal workstream for sensitive, complex, or escalated EOR lifecycle matters that require Legal involvement, including complex terminations, redundancies, settlements, protected leave, accommodations, pay equity claims, employee relations issues, performance management, and employment disputes, in partnership with regional employment counsel and outside counsel as needed
- Serve as the legal point of contact for complex termination and offboarding matters that require Legal involvement, helping teams evaluate risk, define strategy, align stakeholders, prepare required documentation, and move matters from intake through resolution
- Partner with regional employment counsel to translate local legal requirements into practical guidance for Operations, Customer Service, Payroll, Benefits, Product, Sales, and other teams, while driving consistency across markets
- Build and maintain lifecycle standards, playbooks, escalation paths, controls, decision frameworks, and training based on recurring matter patterns, with a focus on enabling operational teams to handle routine matters consistently and ensuring higher-risk matters reach Legal at the right time
- Advise Product and Operations on lifecycle legal requirements, risk parameters, workflow logic, case-management controls, customer-facing guidance, knowledge bases, and standard operating procedures
- Support Customer Service and Sales on complex EOR lifecycle questions from prospective and existing customers, including termination risk, performance management, leave, documentation, timing, and market-specific constraints
- Develop and deliver practical training and guidance on EOR lifecycle matters for internal stakeholders and, as appropriate, external audiences, with a focus on helping teams understand applicable requirements, roles, responsibilities, and escalation paths
- Manage outside counsel on complex lifecycle matters, market-specific escalations, employment disputes, and operational guidance, with a focus on practical, cost-effective advice
- Monitor lifecycle-related legal and operational developments across key markets and help update internal guidance, training, and processes as needed
- As Senior Employment Counsel, International Lifecycle, how results are achieved is paramount for your success and ultimately results in our success as an organization
- Perform other related duties as assigned
Our take
Justworks operates in an increasingly crowded space of all-in-one business operation suites, that include tools like human resources, payroll, employee management, benefits, and others that businesses critically need to operate as they scale.
Globally, human resource management has become an extremely fertile field, creating great opportunity for Justworks to continue to grow. The company is regarded as a market leader, but does see competition in the shape of Paychex Flex, Rippling, Paylocity, and TriNet, among others.
Justworks' solutions have proven extremely popular with SMEs, and this has not gone unnoticed by investors - with the company picking up considerable amounts of funding. The company is known to have sights on going public, though these were delayed somewhat by market conditions. That said, it has continued to expand operations and acquired Via in 2024, signalling that its going strong.
Steph
Company Specialist at Welcome to the Jungle
Insights
Top investors
24% employee growth in 12 months
Company
Funding (last 2 of 7 rounds)
Nov 2023
$16.9m
LATE VC
Jan 2020
$50m
SERIES E
Total funding: $159.9m
Company benefits
- Paid volunteer work
- Paid parental leave
- Work from home opportunities
- Medical, dental, and vision insurance, plus access to One Medical, Kindbody, and Teladoc
- Premium access to Headspace, ClassPass stipends, and webinars to support your overall wellness on topics like nutrition, budgeting, mindfulness, and more
- All Justworks offers include equity, and Justworkers can continue to earn more over time with promotions and tenure
- Extensive learning & development opportunities through workshops, ExecOnline, Udemy, and BetterUp coaching
- Apprenticeship program that supports internal movement and growth
Company HQ
Fulton Ferry District, NY
Leadership
Isaac Oates
(Founder & Director)Experience as a Senior Product Manager at Amazon before founding Adtuitive and serving as COO for a year. Left this position to spend 3 years as a VP at Etsy, before founding Justworks.
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