Director, Legal - Employment

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.

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.

• Experience drafting, reviewing, and negotiating employment agreements, separation agreements, policies, templates, and related documentation across multiple jurisdictions.

• Fluency with GDPR and other local privacy requirements related to team-member data.

• Experience building or significantly improving legal processes, systems, playbooks, templates, and documentation that produce consistent outcomes at scale.

• Strong issue-spotting, risk-assessment, and judgment skills, with the ability to provide clear recommendations and practical solutions.