General Counsel, Opportunity@Work
About Opportunity at Work
Opportunity@Work is a nonprofit social enterprise with a mission to increase career opportunities for the 71 million adults in the U.S. who do not have a four-year college degree but are Skilled Through Alternative Routes (STARs).
For STARs, the American Dream has been fading due in part to an “opportunity gap,” in which access to the good jobs required for upward mobility often depends less on people’s skills and more on whether and where they went to college, who they know professionally and socially, or even how they look.
We envision a future in which employers hire people based on skills rather than their pedigree. We are uniting companies, workforce development, and skills-based training organizations as well as philanthropists in a movement to realize the American Dream inclusively, so that every STAR can work, learn and earn to their full potential.
The Role
Opportunity@Work is looking to hire a General Counsel with a passion for equity, inclusive opportunity, workforce development, and social entrepreneurship, with a background in advising a dynamic organization on its practices and procedures. The General Counsel is responsible for overseeing all aspects of our organization’s compliance, and contracting, and governance., and will play a key strategic role through their expertise in employment policies to inform internal team and external partners, including Fortune 500 and fast-growing companies, in the pursuit of our mission to rewire the labor market for STARs’ opportunity and inclusion.
The ideal candidate will have experience drafting and reviewing complex legal documents, including contracts and partnership agreements, as well as have experience leveraging outside counsel on specialty situations. This person will be well versed in employment law and equal opportunity practices, and will have served as a key legal advisor on employment matters for a complex organization or specialized in representing individuals, companies, or organizations in matters pertaining to employment policies and practices. Experience with data privacy, intellectual property, and matters pertaining to technology would be an added benefit.
This person will report to the CEO and should be based in Washington, D.C.
Opportunity@Work is an equal opportunity employer committed to hiring a diverse workforce at all levels of the organization. We believe an inclusive workplace is defined by a culture where all dimensions of diversity (both readily visible and not) are not only encouraged and accepted but fully embraced.
With over 63% of our organization BIPOC, 70% female, 24% STARs, and ages ranging from 23 to 60, our team is diverse in many aspects. However, we believe there is much more we can do to make our organization more diverse. An inclusive and intentional recruiting process is where our DEIB efforts begin.
Responsibilities
Thought leadership: Opportunity@Work is often enlisted for guidance around topics related to inclusive hiring, especially in the diversity, equity, and inclusion. As such, we envision the General Counsel being or becoming a thought leader in employment law, regulations, and policies, and advising with peer organizations and the Fortune 500 as needed. A general outline of the responsibilities include:
- Serve as a strategic partner to internal stakeholders on the legal, compliance, and employment impact enabled for our customers on our Stellarworx* STARs talent marketplace platform.
- Provide strategic thought partnership on inclusive practices and strategic leadership to our partners, serving as subject matter expert, and collaborating with organizations on how to move inclusive hiring efforts forward. This may include sharing your knowledge and expertise on issues such as EEOC compliance, H1B visa regulations, and government contracting rules that may affect workers without bachelor’s degrees.
- Partner with our enterprise customers’ human resources and legal teams to provide support and guidance on hiring practices. This may include leadership of an ongoing, collaborative “Inclusive Hiring Council” to share and drive adoption of best practices.
- Advocate and work with federal and local government partners, and civil rights and equity advocates, to advise on policy changes, in partnership with our policy director.
Contracts and partnerships: Opportunity@Work maintains complex partnership agreements with many of our customers. The General Counsel will:
- Review all contracts, including but not limited to consultant and vendor agreements, leases, and partnership agreements of varying complexity.
- Work closely with our partners – e.g., Fortune 500 companies, technology platforms, social enterprises, unions – to structure complex partnerships agreements.
- Provides legal counsel and negotiation of contracts related to technology, including privacy and data protection, information management, technology outsourcing, and procurement, software licensing, cloud service providers and data/services hosted by third parties, software development, and data and analytics.
- Recommends and provides legal advice and support to the CTO in developing routine policy and procedural improvements, consulting on issues related to technology, and providing practical advice in response to rapidly changing conditions.
- Facilitating filings of licensing forms and other statutory requirements.
- Protect Opportunity@Work against legal risks and violations.
Human Resources: With our commitment to inclusive hiring and onboarding, pay transparency, and internal equity, we aim to create a feeling of belonging, connection, happiness, and trust where our team members can contribute more fully and bring their whole selves to work. The General Counsel will:
- Manage all internal HR compliance, and serve as internal legal advisor and partner with employees on personnel-related issues such as terminations and investigations.
- Collaborating with the Senior Director of People, and Director of Finance to conduct regular reviews of the employee handbook, comp & benefits, retirement plan, DEIB policies, fair and equitable hiring practices, finance documentation, annual audit, risk assessments, and more as assigned by the CEO and Board.
- Advise the executive team on national growth and expansion laws, i.e. taxes, employment, healthcare, etc.
- Advise on internal Opportunity@Work’s STARs recruiting & hiring strategy.
Qualifications
- Any bar admittance required
- 10 years of relevant experience, preferably including contract management and/or employment law
- Previous experience working with Fortune 500 companies or at the intersection of employment and workforce development would be considered an asset.
- Expertise advising companies in the employment law arena with a high-priority areas of expertise in this arena include EEOC, H1B Visa requirements, government contracting compliance.
- Experience addressing technology product compliance issues (e.g. GDPR and data privacy legal compliance), directly or with the assistance of outside counsel is a plus.
- Strategic thinker with the ability to influence the rest of the organization based on legal considerations, and a solution-orientation to accomplish our mission.
- Excellent interpersonal, verbal and written communication skills.
- Proven success working cross-functionally in a complex organization and/or ecosystem, as part of an executive team in a fast-paced, growing environment.
- Demonstrated passion and desire to create a more inclusive labor market for STARs.
- High degree of gravitas, integrity, and professional ethics.
- Proficient understanding of business sensitivities and confidentiality.
- Understanding of multi-state business operations, employment and tax laws.
Benefits
Healthcare: We pay 100% of your medical, dental, and vision coverage and 50% of the premium for your spouse and dependents.
Retirement: We match 4% of your salary (up to a maximum of $5,000) annually and will contribute an additional 1% of your paycheck, even if you don’t contribute.
Paid Time Off: We value work-life balance and encourage our team members to take time off as they see fit. In service of this, we offer unlimited paid time off.
Parental Leave: To help support new parents in the workplace, we offer 12 weeks of paid parental leave.
Flexible Work Schedules: We are 100% remote through December 2021 and will continue to offer flexible schedules, including partial work-from-home options. Our policies and norms around work schedules are a recognition that we care about work outcomes over time spent at the office.
Professional Development: We believe that developing our team members’ skills is a pathway to accomplishing our mission. To this end, we offer you $2,000 annually for the professional development opportunities of your choice.
Compensation: Base compensation $200,000-$220,000 annually.
Apply
Interested in this role? Apply online or book a call to find out more.
| Job Category: | General Counsel |
| Location: | Washington, DC |
| Closing Date: | August 25th ,2021 |
| Important: | Applications will be reviewed on an ongoing basis; early application is strongly suggested. |
