Employment Counsel - Europe

OVERVIEW

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Employment Counsel:

ALO is seeking a mid-to-senior level employment lawyer to help build and lead ALO’s employment infrastructure across Europe. This role requires a strategic lawyer with employment experience from a leading law firm and in-house who is comfortable working independently in a fast-moving environment with limited existing infrastructure. The role covers employment contract drafting, employee relations, employment compliance, workforce policies, and ongoing employment law support across ALO’s European operations.

Key Responsibilities

Employment Infrastructure and Compliance:

• Draft, review, negotiate, and manage employment-related agreements for ALO’s European operations. This includes employment contracts and statements of terms, fixed-term and part-time arrangements, post-termination restrictive covenants and confidentiality agreements, secondment and intra-group mobility arrangements, consultancy and contractor agreements, and settlement agreements.
• Adapt ALO’s global employment templates and policies for each European country where ALO operates or plans to expand. The aim is to keep them consistent with local employment law, collective bargaining agreements, and local practice.
• Work closely with local HR partners so that all employment documents are properly signed, tracked, and stored.
• Lead the legal workstream for building ALO’s employment framework in Europe. This covers employee handbooks, workplace rules, and the employment paperwork each country requires. It also covers employment structuring for market entry, such as local entities, employer of record arrangements, and branch registrations.
• Advise on right-to-work checks and sponsor license obligations. Coordinate on immigration and posted-worker matters for employees moving between European countries.
• Manage and coordinate external employment counsel across European countries, plus benefits, payroll, and pensions advisors, so that ALO meets local employment requirements and spends efficiently on outside counsel.

Employee Relations and Employment Compliance:

• Advise on compliance with UK employment law, including the Employment Rights Act 1996, the Equality Act 2010, the Working Time Regulations 1998, the National Minimum Wage regime, and TUPE. Lead ALO’s readiness for the phased reforms under the Employment Rights Act 2025.
• Advise on employment law across European countries. This includes working time and holiday rules, termination protections and procedures, and dealings with works councils and employee representatives. It also covers consultation duties and collective bargaining obligations.
• Lead ALO’s approach to the EU Pay Transparency Directive as each country implements it, together with existing UK gender pay gap reporting duties. Work with HR on pay structures, how pay ranges are advertised, and reporting.
• Advise on employee data privacy under the UK GDPR, the Data Protection Act 2018, and the EU GDPR as they apply to HR data. This includes employee monitoring, data subject access requests, and international transfers of employee data, including to ALO’s U.S. teams.
• Advise on restructurings, redundancies, and business transfers, including collective consultation and the related notifications.
• Track employment law developments that could affect ALO’s workforce practices, and tell the business and HR teams early about the changes they need to make.

Workplace Policies and Investigations:

• Develop and roll out workplace policies, including equal opportunity, anti-harassment, code of conduct, whistleblowing, disciplinary, and grievance policies. These should be consistent with local laws and with ALO’s global standards. 
• Support internal investigations into employee misconduct, workplace complaints, and other employment disputes. Advise on disciplinary action, performance management, and fair dismissal procedures under local law.

Qualifications

• Law degree from a leading university and strong academic credentials
• Qualified as a solicitor in England and Wales (or as a barrister, or qualified in Scotland). Qualification in an EU country is a plus.
• Substantial post-qualification experience in employment law, combining work at a leading UK or international law firm with in-house work at a multinational company operating in the UK and/or Europe
• Experience drafting employment contracts, HR policies, settlement agreements, and other employment documents
• Strong knowledge of UK employment law, including the Employment Rights Act 2025 reforms. Practical experience advising across other European countries
• Experience with works councils, collective consultation, cross-border restructurings, and employee benefits and pensions is a strong plus
• Experience with employment tribunal claims and employment disputes in Europe is a plus
• Fluency in English (written and spoken) is required. Working knowledge of one or more other European languages such as French, German or Italian is a plus
• Exceptional organisational skills, attention to detail, and a strong work ethic
• Outstanding analytical and communication skills, both written and verbal
• Self-starter who can handle many projects at once and finish tasks accurately, on time, and with minimal supervision
• Willingness to take initiative and to work flexibly where needed to collaborate with U.S.-based teams