Senior Employment Counsel
Summary of Relevant Experience
Summary of Experience – Senior Employment Counsel @ Human Interest
- ERISA and employee benefits counsel with approximately four years of in-house experience at multiemployer pension and health funds and a Fortune 500 insurer, providing legal counsel across plan governance, regulatory compliance, and HIPAA, directly applicable to Human Interest's retirement-focused fintech business.
- Employment law advisor who has counseled C-suite executives and HR stakeholders on labor relations, workforce compliance, and employment matters across large, complex organizations, with experience drafting and negotiating employment-related agreements and policies.
- Litigation lead who has managed complex employment and benefits disputes end to end, directing outside counsel strategy and overseeing pre-litigation and administrative proceedings.
- JD/MBA-credentialed attorney experienced in M&A due diligence and compliance program development across regulated industries, positioned to stretch into adjacent legal areas including privacy, commercial contracting, and regulatory inquiries in a high-growth environment.
Tailored from your background for this role. Paste it at the top of your CV when you apply.
Why this is a fit
Your ERISA and employee benefits expertise aligns with the ERISA stretch component of this role, and your fintech/financial-services industry target matches Human Interest well, but this role is primarily a senior employment litigation and counseling position requiring 8-10+ years of dedicated employment law experience and deep California employment law expertise—areas that are secondary or absent in your background rather than your ERISA/benefits specialization.
About the role
Human Interest is on a mission to ensure that people in all lines of work have access to retirement benefits. More than half of all working Americans are not saving enough for their future. Too often, it’s because they are employed by a company that doesn’t offer a retirement plan. Human Interest is changing that by making it affordable and accessible for small and medium-sized businesses to offer employees a path to financial independence through retirement savings. We’re a high-growth fintech company changing the retirement industry. We are backed by a number of investors. This includes funding from Marshall Wace and Baillie Gifford, as well as top investors such as BlackRock , TPG (The Rise Fund) , SoftBank, Glynn Capital , NewView Capital, USVP, Wing, Uncork, and more. About the role We're seeking a Senior Employment Counsel to join Human Interest’s Legal team. This is a senior, employment-focused role. You'll serve as the strategic partner and trusted advisor to our People team on the full range of employment matters, and you'll own the company's employment disputes and employment risk end to end. Our workforce is U.S.-based and spans most of the 50 states, so multistate employment compliance is core to the role. It's also a role for a lawyer who digs in beyond employment. We want someone who's genuinely open to learning and taking on adjacent areas of law as the business needs them - from privacy to non-employment litigation to ERISA - rather than routing the unfamiliar elsewhere. Employment is the foundation and the primary focus; the appetite to stretch is what sets the right person apart. This role reports directly to the Assistant General Counsel, Product & Regulatory, and offers a genuine opportunity to grow within a legal team that's scaling alongside the company. What you get to do every day Employment Counseling, Disputes and Advisory (primary focus) Serve as the primary legal advisor to the People team across the full employment lifecycle: hiring, performance management, corrective actions, terminations, reductions in force, accommodations, leaves, compensation, contingent workers, and sensitive employee situations. Own the company's employment disputes. Manage pre-litigation claims, demand letters, administrative charges before the EEOC and state agencies, and settlement negotiations, and direct outside counsel on employment litigation. Oversee and advise on internal employment investigations, including harassment, discrimination, retaliation, whistleblower, and policy-violation matters. Provide proactive counsel on employment law compliance across a multistate workforce, with particular depth advising on non-exempt employee populations, staying ahead of developments in federal, state, and local law and taking the necessary steps to avoid issues before they arise. Advise on employee and HR data privacy and information security, including how personnel data is collected, used, and protected under applicable federal and state law. Draft, review, and negotiate employment-related documents including offer letters, employment agreements, separation and severance agreements, CIIAAs, and equity-related documents. Translate new legal and regulatory developments and requirements into clear, practical guidance for the People team and business stakeholders. Partner with the People team to develop and maintain employment policies, handbooks, and compliance procedures. Develop and deliver training for the People team, people leaders, and business stakeholders on employment law topics and best practices, policy, and risk mitigation. Beyond Employment (where you'll stretch) Dig into adjacent areas of law as the business needs them, learning quickly and taking ownership rather than routing questions elsewhere. Depending on your interests and the team's needs, this can span privacy and information security, non-employment litigation and disputes, regulatory investigations and examinations, ERISA and benefits, commerc