Associate Employment Counsel Europe

Associate Employment Counsel Europe

Amsterdam Area, Netherlands

Salary: Competitive salary with great benefits

As Associate Employment Counsel Europe, you will be a member of Nike’s global employment law team, reporting to the Europe Employment Counsel.  The position is based at Nike’s European headquarters in Hilversum, the Netherlands.

You will counsel and work closely with Nike's Human Resources Leadership Team in Europe and other members in the wider HR team in 26 EMEA countries. You will also closely partner with other members of the Legal team and related functions, including Global Security and Risk Management.  

You must be flexible, pragmatic, solution-driven and provide commercially relevant employment law advice. You must make informed decisions and assessments on legal risk in the best interests of the enterprise with a deep understanding of the bigger picture. You must have the confidence and have the mindset to work on legal matters in countries where you were not trained and do not have expertise.

Key responsibilities:

• Your work will concern operational and strategic employment law matters.
• You will be drafting template employment contracts,
• You will be drafting, reviewing and updating HR policies and supporting their implementation.
• You will be advising on performance cases and misconduct matters, including negotiating employee exits and related documentation.
• You will be advising on organizational structuring projects that affect employee status and advising on employee benefits and related matters.
• You will also manage employment litigation and help drive compliance with employment laws and regulations.
   

 Requirements for this role include:

• Degree in law from a reputable university or non-law degree with qualifying post-graduate law degree. 

• 2-5 years' post qualification experience (PQE) in a major law firm or in-house, with the following critical experiences and skills: 
  • Advanced drafting and negotiation experience in employment law matters
  • Advanced employment advice and litigation
  • Work experience with international clients and cross-border projects
  • Experience in employee representation, works council and/or trade union matters. 
• Ability to effectively own and manage multiple transactions and projects, including instructing outside counsels across Europe and coordinating internal business partners. 
• Strong ability to communicate complex and/or controversial topics and concepts to a wide and diverse audience in an easy to understand and short way. 
• Fluent in English. Additional European language skills with the ability to draft and negotiate in both languages would be advantageous.