Opportunity@Work is looking to hire a General Counsel with a passion for social entrepreneurship and workforce development, with a background in advising a dynamic organization on its practices and procedures. The General Counsel is responsible for managing all aspects of our organization’s compliance and contracting, as well as playing a key strategic role by assessing and advising on employment law and policies that may pose risk, provide opportunity, or be raised as questions by our internal team or by the external prospects and partners, including Fortune 500 companies, in the pursuit of our mission to rewire the labor market.

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 speciality situations. This person will also be well versed in employment law and has served as a key legal advisor on employment matters for a highly complex organization or has 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.

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.

Responsibilities:

Thought leadership: Opportunity@Work is often enlisted for guidance around topics related to inclusive hiring, especially in the diversity, inclusion, and equity space. As such, we envision the General Counsel being an expert 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 legality and compliance of the employment practice enabled for our customers on our B2B2C marketplace platform.
• Provide thought partnership and strategic leadership to Fortune 500 company 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 customer’s Human Resources and legal teams to provide support and guidance on hiring practices.
• Advocate and work with federal and local government partners 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 Fortune 500 partners to structure complex partnerships agreements.
• Serve as internal legal advisor and partner with employees on personnel-related issues such as terminations and investigations.
• Ultimately own all internal compliance and executor of annual reviews of things like the employee handbook, finance documentation, risk assessments, collaborating deeply with our Senior Director of People and Director of Finance.
• Serve as Opportunity@Work’s Board Secretary.
• Advise on internal Opportunity@Work’s STARs recruiting & hiring strategy.