Sr. Counsel - Labor & Employment

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Kraken

Sr. Counsel - Labor & Employment

Kraken

Remote (United Kingdom)

Posted 4 days ago

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Building the Future of Open Finance

Payward - the parent company behind Kraken, NinjaTrader, Breakout, xStocks, Payward Services and CF Benchmarks - has spent the last 15 years building one of the most modern and globally accessible financial infrastructure platforms in the industry, built to advance an open, global financial system.

Before you apply, we encourage you to explore our culture page to understand what drives us and how we work.

The team

Founded in 2011, Kraken is one of the world's longest-standing crypto platforms, trusted by over 10 million individuals and institutions across the globe. It offers spot trading, margin, futures, staking, and OTC services, with products built for both individual investors and institutional clients.

This is a fully remote role, for an EU- or UK-qualified attorney working out of the EU or the UK, to join Payward's world class in-house legal department, reporting to the Global Head of Labor & Employment.

The Opportunity & Scope

Augment the Labor & Employment (L&E) legal team and act as the subject matter expert for the EU and UK, providing local-law advice in European time zones and, as needed, supporting L&E matters in MENA and APAC in coordination with local counsel

Take first-line ownership of recurring EU and UK employment matters, including worker classification issues, employee separations and employee relations, executive compensation agreements, and wage-and-hour matters

Work with executive leadership, existing employment counsel, and the Payward Experience (PX) team to develop the L&E practice for a rapidly growing global/worldwide workforce

Advise on and manage works council, collective consultation, pay transparency, and employee representative matters, and prepare the company for new consultation obligations as its European footprint grows, including in connection with restructurings and acquisitions

Support M&A due diligence and post-closing workforce integration for European acquisitions, including policy harmonization and the related consultation requirements

Work closely with the PX team and business leaders to craft on-point policies and procedures, including localizing global policies for EU and UK requirements and developing and delivering related training, for a successful global/worldwide workplace

Advise on employee and candidate data privacy issues, including GDPR and UK GDPR compliance and cross-border transfers of HR and recruiting data

Support the PX team and existing counsel with workplace investigations, particularly in the EU and UK, potentially involving whistleblower allegations, discrimination allegations, and personnel performance issues

Provide expert strategic input to the business and recruiting teams on expanding Payward's global footprint, including EOR, direct employment, and entity decisions in Europe, global mobility issues, and contingent workforce

Advise the company with risk mitigation for trade secret matters and restrictive covenants in the EU and UK

Manage and direct local outside counsel on formal local-law opinions and pre-litigation matters in the EU and UK and, as needed, MENA and APAC, while handling routine, repeatable advice in-house

Monitor and advise on global L&E trends including those within the crypto industry to help the Company's competitive adaptability, talent acquisition and retention, and workplace processes along with additional duties as required

Additional duties and responsibilities as assigned

Candidate Profile & Mindset

8+ years of legal experience advising in the EU, UK and other jurisdictions on employment, labor, and executive compensation issues, including in-house and law firm experience working with companies in both high-growth scaling and mature, large-enterprise environments

Broad international labor and employment background

Experience advising on works councils, collective consultation, and employee representative bodies in the EU and/or UK

Experience advising on employee and candidate data privacy issues under the GDPR and UK GDPR

Hands-on proficiency using generative AI tools (such as Claude or ChatGPT) in day-to-day legal work, with sound judgment on verifying outputs against local law and protecting confidentiality, privilege, and personal data

A proactive, entrepreneurial mindset, plus an opportunity-making attitude, using the law to increase the company's optionality, not decrease it

Preferred / Nice-to-Have Qualifications

Interest in the crypto industry / what our company is offering to the world and why

Experience in fintech, crypto, or other regulated financial services industries

Experience with MENA and/or APAC employment markets

Experience with due diligence and advising on labor and employment issues in connection with acquisitions, including transfer-of-undertakings rules and post-closing workforce integration

Unless a specific application deadline is stated in the job posting, applications are accepted on an ongoing basis.

Please note, applicants are permitted to redact or remove information on their resume that identifies age, date of birth, or dates of attendance at or graduation from an educational institution.

We consider qualified applicants with criminal histories for employment on our team, assessing candidates in a manner consistent with the requirements of the San Francisco Fair Chance Ordinance.

Our commitment

We hire based on merit, seeking out people with the right abilities, knowledge, and skills for the job. We encourage you to apply for roles where you don't fully meet the listed requirements, especially if you're passionate or knowledgeable about crypto.

We may ask candidates to complete job-related skills or work-style assessments as part of our hiring process. These assessments evaluate competencies relevant to the role and are applied consistently across candidates for similar positions. Results are considered al