Senior Employment Counsel

Company Description

Our Mission

At Palo Alto Networks® everything starts and ends with our mission:

Being the cybersecurity partner of choice, protecting our digital way of life.

Our vision is a world where each day is safer and more secure than the one before. We are a company built on the foundation of challenging and disrupting the way things are done, and we’re looking for innovators who are as committed to shaping the future of cybersecurity as we are.

FLEXWORK is an employee-centric reimagining of how we work. We built FLEXWORK based on employee feedback – it is about flexibility, trust, and choice whenever possible. It’s been a journey of disruption that has yielded the best of our values. We offer as much flexibility as possible, and choices that enable you to be most productive, including benefits that meet your needs and learning opportunities that you feel passionate about.

Job Description

Your Career

This is an exciting opportunity to join a dynamic Legal team in the thriving cybersecurity industry. Our employment law team aims to be an invaluable business partner by providing practical but sage advice, and ensuring that the Company complies with varied and rapidly changing employment laws around the world. This complex task is challenging, rewarding, and often a lot of fun! 

The Senior Employment Counsel will be a trusted partner of the People Team and the rest of the business, providing employment law support for operations in the United States and Canada, with additional assistance in Latin America as requested. This will include advising on internal complaints and investigations, performance management, compensation and benefit issues, and managing the Company’s response to legal claims. You would also be responsible for establishing cutting-edge employment policies and practices that ensure legal compliance within our modern, fast-paced workplace. 

This position is office-based at the Company’s headquarters in Santa Clara, and reports to the Senior Director, Assistant General Counsel.

We expect office-based employees to be in the office four days per week, with one day working from where they choose. We believe being together facilitates casual conversations and those magic moments where we can work on issues and ideas informally. These moments build capability and deepen trusted relationships and allow our people to feel safe in taking risks and being disruptive. Like so many companies, we are working through the details and things could change …. but in general if a role is deemed office-based we want our teams to be together four days per week.

Your Impact

• Provide responsive, practical, accurate advice on all labor and employment-related matters in the United States and Canada, with additional assistance in Latin America, as requested
• Develop and implement scalable, modern employment policies, programs, and systems that balance legal risk with business impact
• Advise on internal investigations and manage the Company’s response to employee complaints and legal claims, and government investigations and audits
• Provide subject matter expertise and training on recruiting, hiring, compensation, personnel practices, leaves of absences, performance management, discipline, investigations, restructures, and terminations
• Proactively identify, assess, and manage employment law risk, and offer practical, creative solutions
• Conduct employment-related risk assessments and address and support mitigation opportunities

Qualifications

Your Experience

• Bachelor’s degree and Juris Doctorate from an ABA accredited law school or equivalent military experience required
• Licensed to practice by a US state bar association - California preferred
• Minimum of 4 years practicing employment law - employment litigation and in-house experience are a plus
• Deep knowledge of US and California employment law - international employment law experience is a plus
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills, analytical skills, judgment, and integrity
• Experience providing responsive, practical, creative employment law advice to businesses
• Excellent communication and collaboration skills, allowing you to clearly and concisely communicate complex topics and establish trust with internal stakeholders
• Able to work in a fast paced environment, manage and prioritize multiple concurrent projects, quickly adapt, and drive projects to completion
• Able to draft complex policy and legal documents clearly, concisely, and accurately
• Excellent business judgment and adept at making complex cost/benefit assessments and taking intelligent risks
• The highest standards of ethics and integrity

Additional Information

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