Senior Employment Lawyer

Key responsibilities:

The scope covers the full employment lifecycle, with a strong focus on terminations.
1. Employment contract lifecycle
    - Drafting, review and update of employment contracts and offer letters (permanent, fixed-term, internships, internship agreements, apprenticeship contracts) for the 7 entities.
    - Drafting of amendments: mobility, role changes, salary adjustments, day-rate schemes (forfait jours), remote work, specific clauses.
    - Advice on sensitive clauses: non-compete, confidentiality, IP assignment, restrictive covenants, garden leave.

2. Terminations & exits
   - Legal guidance on termination procedures, with active hands-on involvement as soon as the case becomes contentious (e.g. opposing counsel involved): dismissals for personal reasons (disciplinary, underperformance), individual and collective economic dismissals, mutual termination agreements (ruptures conventionnelles).
   - Drafting of official documents: pre-dismissal meeting notices, dismissal letters, settlement agreements, mutual termination agreements.
   - Calculation of exit costs: severance payments, settlement indemnities, final pay, notice, paid leave, variable compensation.
   - Analysis and assessment of litigation risk: evaluation of employment tribunal exposure, strategy recommendations, preparation of defence files.
   - Legal guidance on disciplinary procedures with active hands-on involvement as soon as the case becomes contentious: pre-sanction meetings, precautionary suspensions, sanctions.

3. Employment litigation
   - Interface with external counsel on employment tribunal and employment matters: briefing, preparation of evidence, hearing follow-up.
   - Drafting and provision of the documents and materials required for the defence.
   - Regular reporting on ongoing litigation to the CPO.
4. Legal support for Works Council (CSE) — France
   - Preparation and review of CSE consultations and information processes (including restructurings, strategic projects, and recurrent consultations), ensuring compliance with legal timelines and requirements.
   - Ongoing legal support to HR and management on employee representative matters (meetings, minutes, relations with elected members, risk management and dispute prevention).

5. HR policies & advisory
   - Drafting and review of company policies: company car, leave, remote work, confidentiality, code of conduct, whistleblowing, travel policy.
   - Response to day-to-day legal questions raised by HRBPs and People Ops (technical answers, recommendations).
   - Legal review of HR communications addressed to employees.

6. Employee personal data
   - Implementation of GDPR obligations relating to HR data processing.
   - Interface with the DPO: registers, DPIAs, international transfers, safe harbour, local obligations.

7. Immigration & international mobility
   - Legal advice on immigration matters: visa and work permit applications, intra-group mobility.
   - Interface with external immigration counsel (within the HR budget).

Scope & interactions:

1. Scope covered
7 Agicap group entities (FR, IT, UK, US, DE, ESP, PT)
All employee populations: permanent, fixed-term, interns, apprentices, salaried executives.
2. Key stakeholders
   - VP Legal & Social Affairs (line manager and sponsor).
   - CPO
   - HRBPs and People Ops (day-to-day operational collaboration).
   - DPO (employee data protection matters).
   - Finance & Payroll (exit costs, payroll, day-rate schemes, variable compensation).
   - External counsel: employment law, immigration, litigation.
   - Regulatory authorities: Labour Inspectorate, URSSAF, CARSAT (via HRBP).

Requirements:

1. Education & experience
   - Master's degree (Master 2) in employment law or equivalent (DJCE employment law, professional Master's in employment relations law, etc.).
   - 5 to 8 years of experience in employment law, gained in a specialised law firm, in an in-house role (scale up, international group, mid-cap), or a combination of both.
   - Significant experience in managing terminations (individual and ideally collective) and employee representative bodies (CSE).
   - Prior experience in a multi-entity or multi-country environment is a strong advantage.
2. Technical skills
   - Expert mastery of French employment law: contracts, terminations, disciplinary, working time, compensation, collective agreements - Exposure to international employment law (e.g. UK or German law) is a plus — not required, but highly valuable.
   - Solid knowledge of employee representative body law (CSE, collective agreements, mandatory annual negotiations / NAO).
   - Regular practice of employment tribunal litigation and the ability to manage external counsel.
   - Working knowledge of data protection (GDPR applied to HR).
   - Familiarity with Anglo-Saxon incentive plans and international employment contracts appreciated.
   - Working knowledge of another European employment law jurisdiction (UK or German law in particular) is a strong plus, given the multi-country scope.
 
3. Soft skills
   - Autonomy: ability to handle the full scope with limited day-to-day supervision.
   - Speed: ability to deliver high-quality output under tight deadlines, in line with scale-up pace.
   - Pragmatism: ability to arbitrate between legal security and operational flow in a scale-up.
   - Pedagogy: ability to explain the law to non-lawyer managers and HRBPs in plain language.
   - Rigour and reliability: the scope is primarily operational, with limited margin for error on exits and Works Council matters.
   - Team spirit: the role sits at the interface of several functions (Legal, People, Finance, DPO).
   - Discretion and integrity: strong exposure to sensitive information (terminations, compensation, litigation).
 
4. Languages
   - French: primary working language.
   - English: fluent level required (international contracts, multi-country interactions, foreign counsel).

Conditions:

1. Working time and location 
   - Part-time (50%) — working schedule to be agreed: ideally spread over 5 days per week
   - Lyon (Agicap's main site): preferred location to foster proximity with the People team and the historical office.
   - Paris: possible
   - Full remote : possible