Director, Legal - Employment

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An overview of this role

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.

What you’ll do

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.

What you’ll bring

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.