Senior Legal Counsel - Core

This position is listed on behalf of a partner company, who manages all applications and next steps. Our partner is looking for a Senior Legal Counsel - Core based in Portugal.

The Senior Legal Counsel will join a global, fully remote Legal team supporting a fast-growing HR technology environment.
This role will provide pragmatic, commercially focused legal guidance while helping protect the organization from unacceptable legal and operational risk.
You will support a broad range of internal stakeholders and take ownership of complex legal projects across products, services, employment matters, and global operations.
The position combines day-to-day legal support with opportunities to improve processes, develop scalable resources, and strengthen the overall legal function.
You will contribute to contract templates, playbooks, policies, knowledge management, legal research, escalations, and relationships with external counsel.
The role also offers the opportunity to mentor junior legal professionals and contribute to innovative Legal Operations and AI initiatives.
This is an ideal opportunity for an experienced lawyer who is autonomous, commercially minded, curious about global legal systems, and energized by working in a distributed, asynchronous environment.

• Support internal stakeholders across Sales, Customer Experience, Onboarding, Lifecycle, and other operational functions by providing practical, customer-focused legal guidance.
• Manage internal and external stakeholder expectations while ensuring legal advice supports business objectives and appropriate risk management.
• Develop and continuously improve template contracts, legal playbooks, standard operating procedures, and knowledge resources, with particular focus on employment-related products and services.
• Conduct in-depth legal research on new products, legal developments, employment matters, and regulatory requirements, identifying potential risks and opportunities.
• Take ownership of complex legal projects and contribute to the ongoing development and enhancement of the legal function.
• Identify opportunities to improve legal processes, establish best practices, and implement innovative and scalable solutions.
• Proactively identify legal risks and develop creative, practical, and commercially appropriate solutions to complex legal problems.
• Manage internal and client-facing legal escalations when specialized legal input or senior judgment is required.
• Manage relationships with local counsel and coordinate the escalation of legal matters to external lawyers when necessary.
• Lead litigation and collections matters with external or local counsel when required.
• Mentor, train, and support junior legal team members, contributing to a collaborative and growth-oriented environment.
• Collaborate with Legal Operations on efficiency, automation, and AI initiatives related to areas of legal expertise.
• Help ensure routine legal processes, knowledge management, and policy maintenance are handled efficiently, consistently, and at the appropriate level of legal expertise.
• Contribute to scalable legal support that enables specialized legal teams to focus on higher-priority and more complex matters.

Requirements

• Qualified and experienced lawyer with substantial professional legal experience.
• Seven or more years of relevant legal practice experience is strongly aligned with the seniority of the role.
• Extensive experience in legal practice, preferably with a strong background in labor and employment law.
• Genuine interest in working within a technology scale-up and the HR technology sector.
• Strong willingness and ability to learn about different legal systems, employment laws, and regulatory frameworks in a global operating environment.
• Excellent written and spoken English, with the ability to communicate complex legal matters clearly, concisely, and practically.
• Additional language skills are beneficial.
• Strong legal research, analytical, and problem-solving capabilities, combined with a creative and innovative approach to legal challenges.
• Proven ability to work autonomously, prioritize effectively, and take ownership of complex legal projects from start to completion.
• Demonstrated experience mentoring, training, and guiding junior legal professionals.
• Strong stakeholder-management and communication skills, with the ability to build trusted relationships across business and operational teams.
• Comfortable learning and using collaboration, contract management, documentation, and task management technologies in a highly digital environment.
• Ability to adapt quickly to tools such as Slack, contract management systems, knowledge repositories, and task management platforms.
• Strong customer-centric mindset and ability to balance commercial objectives with appropriate legal and compliance considerations.
• Experience working remotely is not required but is considered an advantage.
• Comfortable working asynchronously, proactively taking action, and operating effectively across a globally distributed team.

Benefits

• Annual salary range of $53,050–$149,150 USD for the full-time position, with actual compensation determined by role level, location, skills, experience, training, business needs, and market conditions.
• Global compensation approach designed to support competitive, location-aware pay and pay equity.
• Fully remote work with the ability to work from anywhere.
• Flexible paid time off.
• Flexible working hours within an asynchronous work environment.
• 16 weeks of paid parental leave.
• Budget for co-working spaces, learning, and wellness activities, including gym memberships.
• Mental health support services.
• Stock options.
• Home office budget and IT equipment.
• Opportunity to work with a globally distributed team spanning multiple continents and legal jurisdictions.
• Significant ownership and autonomy in shaping legal processes and supporting business growth.
• Professional development through complex international legal work, mentoring responsibilities, and exposure to Legal Operations, automation, and AI initiatives.
• Inclusive and flexible working culture designed to support employees in balancing work with personal and family needs.

We use an AI-powered matching process to ensure your application is reviewed quickly, objectively, and fairly against the role's core requirements. Our system identifies the top-fitting candidates, and this shortlist is then shared directly with the hiring company. The final decision and next steps (interviews, assessments) are managed by their internal team.

We appreciate your interest and wish you the best!

Why Apply Through Jobgether?

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