Lead Employment Counsel

This role is a remote position. 

This is a full-time position with flexibility to work from a US-based Sonos office or remotely from the following metropolitan areas: Boston or remotely from the east coast time zone.

#LI-Remote

We are seeking an experienced and highly skilled Lead Employment Counsel to join our dynamic legal team. This is a senior role, reporting to the Chief Legal & Strategy Officer sitting at the intersection of the Legal and People organizations. This individual will play a critical role in providing legal counsel and strategic advice on all aspects of employment law for a fast-paced, global, and publicly traded company. The ideal candidate will be a trusted advisor on global employment matters, ensuring compliance with local, national, and international laws, managing employment-related risks, and supporting business initiatives while protecting the company’s interests. The ideal candidate is highly collaborative, embracing the partnership opportunity to work across all of the functions & countries that Sonos operates in, with particular focus on partnership with the People/Human Resources team. Ability & expectation to work across multiple time zones.

What You’ll Do:

Global Employment Law & Compliance

• Provide advice and frameworks that ensure decisions are made with the appropriate local and federal labor laws, in service of risk management and fairness
  Provide regular counsel to internal clients on HR issues including employee terminations, wage and hour issues, disability accommodations, leaves of absence, compensation and benefits, global immigration, and performance management

• Remain up to date on federal and state employment laws and regulations including current practices and compliance needs; proactively conduct & coordinate internal audits of People Team, payroll, and employment practices to ensure compliance with global wage, employment, and data privacy laws

Global Policy Development

• Maintain and own templates & workflows for global Severance practices
  Draft, revise and review global contracts, including contractor agreements, employee agreements, separation agreements, restrictive covenants, arbitration agreements, and HR vendor agreements

• Draft, review and revise all global employment-related policies & employee handbooks, as well as shared corporate policies in IT, Facilities, and Finance
  Partner with the corporate legal team on compliance-related processes, policies, audits, and trainings as part of a publicly traded company

Risk Management

• Manage and mitigate legal risks related to employment practices, including employee terminations, discipline, and investigations
  Oversee the company's response to employment-related claims and lawsuits, including employment disputes, wrongful termination, wage and hour issues, and harassment & discrimination claims

Employee Relations & Investigations

• Support the ER team in conducting internal investigations related to employee misconduct, ensuring proper documentation and compliance with applicable legal standards, and advice in service of fair treatment & risk mitigation
  Partner with ER team on outcomes and recommended actions

• Partner with ER team on EEOC needs
  Partners with Corporate Audit team, CHRO, and ER partner to ensure understanding of corporate hotline submissions, risk mitigation, & resolution paths

Internal & External Stakeholder Management

• Manage outside employment counsel (globally) in creating and driving best practices from an internal process standpoint, as well as ongoing advisement on legal risk
  Partner with People team across all disciplines to ensure ongoing work provides fair and equitable treatment of employees

• Advise senior leadership on global employment legal issues and business strategies to manage company risk and further short-term/long-term goals, including support of emerging markets, company restructuring, and any M&A or country expansion opportunities

Training and Education

• Develop and deliver training programs for the People Team as well as Sonos managers on global employment law matters, compliance, and best practices, particularly on issues such as anti-harassment, diversity and inclusion, and labor law compliance
  Stay current with developments in global labor laws and regulations and ensure that key stakeholders are informed about changes in the legal landscape

• Develop training & execution strategy for global People Team and People Managers on major employment laws and best practices for minimizing risk on a global scale, in partnership with global talent/training team
  Partner with corporate legal & People talent/training team(s) on compliance-related processes, policies, audits, and trainings as part of a publicly traded company

What You’ll Need:

Basic Qualifications

• The ideal candidate will have 10+ years of experience working on a variety of HR matters as in-house counsel or at a firm specializing in employment law with a demonstrated ability to balance legal risk and compliance with business objectives
  J.D. and membership in good standing to one state bar is required

• Top candidates will have a deep understanding of, and be able to give guidance on, all of the following subject matter areas (familiarity with MA, CA, and WA nuances a plus):

  • Equal employment and anti-discrimination laws and policies under federal law (e.g., the ADEA, ADA, Title VII, etc.)

  • Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion initiatives including an understanding of the evolving legal framework and collection and maintenance of employee data in the US and internationally

  • Federal wage and hour law under the FLSA FMLA

  • Employee benefits and compensation, including ERISA plans, bonus plans, and equity grants

  • Performance management

  • Talent acquisition and onboarding

  • Employment-related litigation

• Experience effectively working across multiple time zones & with multiple stakeholders

Preferred Qualifications

• The ability to navigate a fast-paced environment, and adeptness at making sound decisions and delivering practical advice in ambiguous situations

• Presence, discretion, and demeanor to be able to engage with senior executives and handle company trainings and employee investigations

• Ability to manage internal employees and outside counsel effectively

• Ability to oversee employment-related litigation, arbitration and/or charges at the agency level

• Capable of owning & prioritizing work effectively across a number of priorities and altitudes; from top-line strategic work to detail-oriented needs

• Strength to work independently while being able to contribute successfully to cross-functional teams

• A good, “can-do” attitude, a curious mindset, and a sense of humor
   

Research shows that candidates from underrepresented backgrounds often don't apply for roles if they don't meet all the criteria. If you don’t have 100% of the skills listed, we strongly encourage you to apply if interested.

Visa Sponsorship: Sonos is unable to sponsor or take over sponsorship of an employment visa for this role at this time. We ask that applicants be authorized to work for any US employer, both now and in the future.

At Sonos we consider a wide range of factors when determining compensation, which may lead  individual compensation to vary depending on job related qualifications, skills, and experience.  All full time employees are eligible for merit increases, discretionary bonuses, and equity.  Our job postings may span more than one career level and the base pay range may be modified in the future based on changing market conditions. The starting base pay for this role for all US candidates is between:

Please note that compensation details listed in US job postings reflect the base salary only, and do not include bonus, equity, or benefits.