Employment Counsel

Role overview

Maven Securities is a technology-driven proprietary trading firm, running options market making, high frequency and multi-strategy discretionary trading from London, Amsterdam, and offices across the US and Asia. We are creating a single, global owner for employment law, reporting directly to the Chief Legal Officer.

This is the first role of its kind at Maven, with a broad global remit. You will own every employee relations matter end to end. You will advise the CLO, the C-suite, and the Chief People Officer directly, and you will set the standard for how Maven handles its people issues in every jurisdiction where we employ.

The operating model is already established: the role structure, work allocation process, service standards, escalation framework and reporting pack are built and running in the UK. 

Maven Legal is nimble, focused, senior, and commercial: you will be trusted with the whole of your subject from day one.

Key responsibilities

Employee relations and casework

• Own every ER Legal matter across the group: disciplinary, grievance, performance, absence, restructuring, and contentious matters.
• Be the single point of contact for managers and HR. Answer the same day on anything genuinely time-critical.
• Run each case against one consistent playbook, so outcomes are consistent.
• Spot the patterns, improve processes and policies, make a difference and produce better outcomes.

Advisory and risk

• Advise the founders, C-suite, Chief People Officer and CLO on employment risks in plain, commercial language, with a clear recommendation rather than a menu of options.
• Give the practical answer alongside the legal one. We want to know what the risk actually is, why it matters here, and what you would do.
• Escalate to the CLO on anything strategic, precedent-setting, or reputationally material.

Litigation and disputes

• Run employment tribunal claims and their equivalents in other jurisdictions, work with HR on ACAS early conciliation, from first response to resolution.
• Lead on restrictive covenant and non-solicitation enforcement, bonus disputes, and contentious exits, instructing and directing external counsel where local law requires it.

Policies, contracts and documentation

• Own the employment contract suite, the policy library, and the handbook across every jurisdiction, keeping them current with legislative change.
• Create global templates to ensure consistency in approach and outcomes: bonus letters and policies, settlement agreements, restrictive covenants, and communications to staff.
• Run an annual policy review programme rather than fixing policies after they fail.

Global coverage

• Build the coordination protocol that keeps group-wide matters consistent.
• Manage local counsel where local qualification is required, and identify cross-border inconsistencies at an early stage.

Legal operations and AI

• Bring AI and legal technology into the employment workflow, in line with Maven Legal’s aim to be one of the best equipped and most technology-capable legal teams in our industry.
• Build the templates, playbooks and self-service materials that let managers handle the routine well and escalate the rest early.

Stakeholder engagement and training

• Build trusted relationships with managers and HR so that issues are escalated early.
• Deliver practical training to HR, managers and the wider legal team.
• Manage the employment panel and the external spend that goes with it.

What we are looking for

Essential

• Qualified solicitor in England and Wales, c.6 to 10 years PQE, with employment law as your primary practice.
• Strong contentious track record: you have run tribunal claims yourself, not just supervised them.
• Comfortable advising senior stakeholders directly, and confident holding a position with a founder in the room.
• Commercial and practical. You can explain why an indemnity or a covenant matters in this specific situation, and you do the work to know.
• Able to operate as the only specialist in your subject, with the judgment to know what to escalate.

Desirable

• In-house experience in financial services, ideally trading, hedge funds, or another high-performance environment.
• Exposure to multi-jurisdictional employment work, particularly US or Dutch.
• Experience bringing AI or legal technology into a legal workflow.
• Experience of bonus and incentive disputes, and of covenant enforcement.

What We Can Offer You:

• Competitive compensation package
• Annual discretionary bonus
• Group pension plan
• Enhanced annual leave allowance after 2+ years’ service
• 25 days’ annual leave (plus public holidays)
• Fully catered breakfast, lunch, and snacks prepared by an in-house chef
• Private healthcare and life assurance
• On-site private gym with instructor-led classes including boxing, yoga, and more
• Monthly company events and social activities
• Work in a forward-thinking environment where AI is integral to our strategy and daily operations