Lead Employment Counsel

We are hiring a Senior Employment Counsel to be the first line of legal support for our People team. This person will advise directly on employment matters, manage our key legal and HR vendor relationships, and reduce our reliance on outside counsel. This is a hands-on, embedded role for an attorney who wants to operate as a trusted business partner, not a gatekeeper.

What you'll be doing:

• Serve as the first line of support for employment legal questions, resolving most matters directly rather than routing them to outside counsel.
• Partner with each People Business Partner to advise on employee relations, performance management, terminations, leaves, and accommodations. Manage severe employee relations cases directly.
• Own the Remote.com relationship, including contract terms, service levels, escalations, and ongoing performance.
• Own the external legal counsel relationship, including a clear evaluation of scope, spend, and who we engage with
• Partner with Legal and Finance on cross-functional projects involving employment law, compliance, or spend.
• Ensure compliance with employment law across every jurisdiction where Camunda operates, with particular depth in the DACH region. Find opportunities to reduce risk or balance risk with business value.
• Identify and adopt AI tools that make legal support to the People team faster and more effective.
• Track and reduce external counsel spend against a clear baseline.