GAQ127R142
The mission of Databricks Legal is to apply legal resources and expertise to help Databricks achieve its growth and strategic objectives, while thoughtfully protecting Databricks with a reasonable balance of risk versus opportunity.
What we look for
The Senior Counsel, Employment will provide legal counseling to the Databricks People Team on U.S. employment matters, and collaborate to resolve U.S. disputes. You will also lead global employment-related projects.
You will have excellent written and verbal communication skills and practical business judgment, exhibit a high level of organization and flexibility, and have the skills and drive to support and accelerate this leading technology company, addressing cutting-edge legal issues and organizational challenges.
This is a full-time position reporting to Databricks’ Senior Director and Associate General Counsel of Global Employment Legal, joining a team of 4 international lawyers and a paralegal.
Responsibilities
- Provide pragmatic, risk-balanced advice to Databricks’ People Team (including employee relations and business partners) on employment law matters for Databricks’ U.S. workforce, including: hiring and recruiting, investigations, discipline and termination, leaves of absence, disability accommodation, wage and hour, anti-discrimination, compensation and benefits (including sales compensation plans and bonus programs), non-competition and non-solicitation, protection of confidential information, contingent staffing, credentialing and background checks (including related to public sector and regulated customers), file and data subject access requests, restructuring plans, and other topics
- Respond to demand letters, administrative charges, and other disputes, including investigating claims, communicating with opposing counsel, negotiating resolutions, and drafting separation and settlement agreements
- Monitor new U.S. laws, regulations, and decisions affecting the substantive legal areas above and provide strategic, proactive advice to the People Team and cross-functional partners
- Draft employee-facing policies, handbooks, and other resources
- Prepare and lead training events on employment law-related matters
- Manage outside counsel handling employment litigation and global projects, including management of budgets, driving litigation strategy, and collaborating on pleadings and other documents
- Support employment-related aspects of mergers, acquisitions, strategic investments, and divestitures, including due diligence and related workforce integration efforts
- Support employment-related aspects of commercial and procurement deals, including those relating to background checks and access requirements
- Partner closely with privacy legal to consider employment-related impacts from business technology
- Establish and maintain credibility and trust with internal clients, legal team members, and other partners
- Provide sophisticated, pragmatic advice and counsel on both day-to-day and individual employee issues and strategic and organizational plans
- Identify and implement process improvements that help the legal team, the People Team, and the business scale for growth, including through automated and AI solutions.
Qualifications & Experience Required
- JD from a top-tier accredited institution; licensed to practice law in Washington State, California, Colorado, Illinois, Virginia, New York, or Massachusetts
- 10+ years of employment law and litigation experience; in-house experience (including as a firm secondee) strongly preferred
- Fluency in translating legal advice into practical, risk-balanced, business-oriented advice
- Experience supporting business operations and partnering with the People Team/HR and other professionals across multiple locations
- Experience supporting multi-jurisdictional projects
- Experience providing advice directly to clients, including executive stakeholders
- Strong work ethic and the highest level of integrity and business ethics
- Ability to quickly and independently assess employment-related situations and develop practical options to respond to and resolve risks
- Ability to build strong relationships quickly and work with all levels of the business with ease
- Exceptional judgment and attention to detail, including judgment for when to escalate matters to legal leadership
- Excellent written and verbal communication skills
- Tech sector experience preferred, including cloud services, data, and AI
- A desire to work on complex legal issues and in new global regions as we continue to expand
- Experience working with a client-service focus and a bias for action
- Strong aptitude and appetite for identifying, developing, and implementing critical process improvements
Pay Range Transparency
Databricks is committed to fair and equitable compensation practices. The pay range(s) for this role is listed below and represents the expected salary range for non-commissionable roles or on-target earnings for commissionable roles. Actual compensation packages are based on several factors that are unique to each candidate, including but not limited to job-related skills, depth of experience, relevant certifications and training, and specific work location. Based on the factors above, Databricks anticipates utilizing the full width of the range. The total compensation package for this position may also include eligibility for annual performance bonus, equity, and the benefits listed above. For more information regarding which range your location is in visit our page here.
Pay Range Transparency
Databricks is committed to fair and equitable compensation practices. The pay range(s) for this role is listed below and represents the expected salary range for non-commissionable roles or on-target earnings for commissionable roles. Actual compensation packages are based on several factors that are unique to each candidate, including but not limited to job-related skills, depth of experience, relevant certifications and training, and specific work location. Based on the factors above, Databricks anticipates utilizing the full width of the range. The total compensation package for this position may also include eligibility for annual performance bonus, equity, and the benefits listed above. For more information regarding which range your location is in visit our page here.
About Databricks
Databricks is the data and AI company. More than 10,000 organizations worldwide — including Comcast, Condé Nast, Grammarly, and over 50% of the Fortune 500 — rely on the Databricks Data Intelligence Platform to unify and democratize data, analytics and AI. Databricks is headquartered in San Francisco, with offices around the globe and was founded by the original creators of Lakehouse, Apache Spark™, Delta Lake and MLflow. To learn more, follow Databricks on Twitter, LinkedIn and Facebook.
Benefits
At Databricks, we strive to provide comprehensive benefits and perks that meet the needs of all of our employees. For specific details on the benefits offered in your region click here.
Our Commitment to Diversity and Inclusion
At Databricks, we are committed to fostering a diverse and inclusive culture where everyone can excel. We take great care to ensure that our hiring practices are inclusive and meet equal employment opportunity standards. Individuals looking for employment at Databricks are considered without regard to age, color, disability, ethnicity, family or marital status, gender identity or expression, language, national origin, physical and mental ability, political affiliation, race, religion, sexual orientation, socio-economic status, veteran status, and other protected characteristics.
Compliance
If access to export-controlled technology or source code is required for performance of job duties, it is within Employer's discretion whether to apply for a U.S. government license for such positions, and Employer may decline to proceed with an applicant on this basis alone.
Databricks Compensation & Benefits Highlights
The following summarizes recurring compensation and benefits themes identified from responses generated by popular LLMs to common candidate questions about Databricks and has not been reviewed or approved by Databricks.
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Equity Value & Accessibility — Equity grants and RSUs are a major part of total compensation and are highlighted for meaningful upside potential. Stock-based awards and refreshers contribute to strong overall pay positioning across senior technical and go-to-market roles.
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Healthcare Strength — Medical, dental, and vision coverage are complemented by mental-health resources, an EAP, and wellness reimbursements. Health benefits are consistently framed as comprehensive and competitive.
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Parental & Family Support — Paid parental leave for all parents, fertility support, and backup care options provide tangible assistance for family needs. Hybrid work norms and team-day structure further ease coordination for caregivers.
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What We Do
As the leader in Unified Data Analytics, Databricks helps organizations make all their data ready for analytics, empower data science and data-driven decisions across the organization, and rapidly adopt machine learning to outpace the competition. By providing data teams with the ability to process massive amounts of data in the Cloud and power AI with that data, Databricks helps organizations innovate faster and tackle challenges like treating chronic disease through faster drug discovery, improving energy efficiency, and protecting financial markets.
