Employment Counsel

What you will do

• Advise on a broad range of employment law matters, including terminations, accommodations, recruiting, employee relations, compensation and benefits, wage and hour, and workplace investigations.
• Partner with our human resources and talent teams to develop scalable, forward-looking employment policies, programs, and training.
• Leverage AI to streamline and scale HR and legal operations, while ensuring our use of AI remains legally sound and compliant.
• Manage employment litigation matters across all stages with external counsel from pre-litigation (demand letters, agency charges) through formal proceedings (arbitrations, civil litigation).
• Design and drive internal HR audits (documentation, classification/wage and hour, I-9s, etc.).
• Partner with outside counsel on global employment matters to shape internal global employment and HR compliance at Rippling (employment agreements, policies, day-to-day operations, performance management, terminations).
• Monitor and self-study on regulatory developments relevant to the HR industry and drive compliance on new employment laws.
• Assist with Rippling's general corporate legal activities, including ethics, litigation and risk management, and more.

What you will need

• 4+ years of experience directly related to this role, including at a law firm, in-house, and/or other relevant roles.
• Solid grounding in employment law with experience advising on major federal and California employment laws. Bonus points for wage and hour experience (particularly California/PAGA) and/or global employment law expertise.
• Entrepreneurial mindset (flexible, self-starting and hard-working) in generating new and innovative solutions to build out the Legal & Compliance program.
• Tech-forward mindset with hands-on experience using AI, or a strong interest in doing so — you're excited about using technology to scale your impact and are thoughtful about the compliance and risk considerations that come with AI in employment law.
• Demonstrated solution-oriented business and legal judgment.
• Strong project management and organizational skills.
• Excellent communicator both internally and externally, with the ability to break down complex legal jargon into easy-to-understand and practical advice.
• Sense of humor.
• Law degree (e.g. JD or equivalent).