Director, Legal - Employment

GitLab is the intelligent orchestration platform for DevSecOps. GitLab enables organizations to increase developer productivity, improve operational efficiency, reduce security and compliance risk, and accelerate digital transformation. More than 50 million registered users trust GitLab to ship better, more secure software faster.

An overview of this role

This position is remote and based in the United Kingdom or Ireland. This is an individual contributor role with no direct reports at this time. You'll own matters end to end rather than manage a team.

As Director, Legal – Employment, you will own GitLab’s matters spanning the full employment relationship in EMEA, from recruiting and onboarding through compensation, performance, leave management, separation, and, when necessary, litigation. You will independently lead complex employment law matters end-to-end, including representing GitLab before works councils and labor courts, and setting the strategy for managing employment risk in the region.

What you’ll do

• Provide senior, practical employment-law advice to team members and stakeholders across GitLab, balancing legal risk, business objectives, and GitLab’s values.
• Directly manage matters across the employment lifecycle, including recruiting and onboarding, compensation, performance management, leave management, employee relations, works council processes, organizational changes, separation, and post-employment issues.
• Directly negotiate and engage with works councils and employee representative bodies across EMEA jurisdictions, and lead consultation processes for organizational change.
• Represent GitLab in, or directly manage outside counsel appearances for, labor courts, employment tribunals, and agency investigations, including case strategy, fact development, witness preparation, and settlement decisions.
• Counsel People Business Partners, Team Member Relations partners, and business leaders on complex and sensitive team-member relations concerns.
• Draft, review, negotiate, and maintain employment agreements, separation agreements, policies, templates, and related documentation across multiple jurisdictions.
• Own employment compliance across EMEA and incorporate outside-counsel input into strategies that match the business.
• Monitor and analyze changes in employment, privacy, and related laws; identify legal risks; and translate developments into practical recommendations.
• Lead the development and continuous improvement of scalable employment-law processes, systems, playbooks, templates, and supporting documentation.
• Use GitLab to collaborate transparently and work effectively in an asynchronous, globally distributed environment.

What you’ll bring

• A Juris Doctor (JD), Bachelor of Laws (LLB), or local equivalent, admitted to practice in at least one EMEA jurisdiction.
• Substantial, firsthand experience advising a multinational company with works councils across EMEA, including direct hands-on negotiation and consultation experience.
• A demonstrated track record of advocating or managing outside counsel in labor courts, employment tribunals and analogous proceedings.
• Deep knowledge of employment compliance requirements across EMEA, with the judgment to identify when advice from local counsel is needed.
• Experience counseling People Business Partners, Team Member Relations partners, and business leaders on sensitive and complex employment matters.
• Experience drafting, reviewing, and negotiating employment agreements, separation agreements, policies, and templates across multiple jurisdictions.
• Fluency with GDPR and other local privacy requirements related to team-member data.
• Strong issue-spotting, risk-assessment, and judgment skills, with the ability to provide clear recommendations and practical solutions.
• Comfort working in a remote, globally distributed, asynchronous environment.