Senior Employment Counsel

ZoomInfo · Bethesda, Waltham · $154,000–$242,000 (stated in the posting)

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ZoomInfo is looking for an experienced, pragmatic, and business-minded Senior Counsel, Labor & Employment to join our growing in-house legal team in a dynamic, fast-paced environment.

In this role, you will own the full spectrum of employment matters across the company—from high-impact strategic advisory and executive consultation to the day-to-day, tactical support of our HR team. You will be responsible for providing practical advice across our U.S. workforce, as well as coordinating international employment matters across key regions (most notably the UK and India) in close partnership with the Human Resources team, business leaders, and executive stakeholders.

While you will partner with senior leadership, you must also be ready and willing to roll up your sleeves on routine matters. Whether you are advising an experienced HR leader on a complex organizational issue or answering a granular, day-to-day question from an HRBP, you approach every issue with equal dedication and practical judgment. We need a trusted advisor who can communicate effectively with executive stakeholders, offer clear recommendations with appropriate guardrails, build repeatable structure, and help our business achieve its goals in a performance-first environment.

What You'll Do:

Comprehensive Employment Support (From Tactical to Strategic)

• End-to-End Ownership: Own all employment matters across the company—no matter how small or routine. Provide reliable, day-to-day counseling and tactical execution on performance management, employee discipline, accommodations, leave, and terminations.
• Support Across All Levels: Partner with and support HR professionals at every level of the organization, from senior HR VPs to entry-level HRBPs. Meet HR partners where they are, providing patient, practical coaching and timely answers to operational questions.
• Deliver Recommendation-Oriented Advice: Provide actionable, pragmatic guidance that balances legal risk with commercial objectives, operational speed, and employee experience. Regularly present a clear point of view and recommended path forward rather than merely enumerating risks.
• Executive Communication: Translate complex employment-law issues into clear, concise, and business-oriented terms for senior leaders, distinguishing effectively between material exposure and manageable operational decisions.
• Support Decision-Making: Partner with the CHRO, Chief Business Officer, HR VPs, and finance/compensation executives to support key employment-related decisions and strategy. Recognize that business leaders own final personnel and business decisions, and provide robust operational and legal support for those decisions even when they differ from initial legal recommendations.
• Proactive Partnership: Maintain open-door collaboration and recurring alignment meetings with designated HR leaders to ensure seamless daily support.

Global Compliance & Operations

• Global Employment Oversight: Oversee employment matters across all company jurisdictions (including the U.S., UK, Ireland, India, Canada, and Israel). Coordinate effectively with local outside counsel on international issues, building internal knowledge bases and repeatable playbooks rather than outsourcing oversight entirely.
• Policy & Agreement Maintenance: Review, update, and scale employment policies, procedures, handbooks, and agreements as the business evolves.
• Build Structure: Create and implement scalable processes, templates, and decision frameworks where current practices are informal, growing, or evolving.
• Outside Counsel Management: Effectively supervise and partner with outside counsel on litigation, administrative proceedings, and specialized matters, ensuring practical outcomes and cost efficiency.

What Success Looks Like in Our Environment

• Pragmatic Risk Management: Comfortable supporting a fast-paced business that operates with a healthy and measured risk tolerance.
• Independent Judgment & Escalation: Capable of resolving most day-to-day matters independently while exercising strong judgment to immediately escalate issues with executive visibility, material financial impact, or significant reputational risk. 
• Influence Through Credibility: Able to build instant credibility and influence outcomes through strong relationships, clear communication, and business acumen.

What You Bring:

Experience & Education

• 8+ years of relevant employment law experience.
• In-House Experience: Strongly preferred. Candidates with significant law firm experience will be considered if they have served in an outside general counsel/embedded capacity or completed a corporate secondment.
• Company Environment: Experience in high-growth technology companies and/or public companies is highly valued.
• Licenses: Juris Doctor degree and active license to practice law in at least one U.S. jurisdiction.

Skills & Competencies

• Communication & Judgment: Exceptional written, verbal, and executive-level communication skills, with the ability to explain complex legal ideas simply and make well-reasoned judgments under ambiguity.
• Project Management: Strong organizational skills with a proven track record of managing competing priorities, driving cross-functional projects, and building repeatable structure.
• Commercial Acumen: A performance-first mindset with a strong commitment to enabling business growth while protecting the organization from material exposure.
• Team Orientation: Ability to function independently as a self-starter while collaborating seamlessly across a diverse group of internal stakeholders.

Location & Travel

• Location: This hybrid role is based out of our Bethesda, MD or Waltham, MA offices.
• Travel: Rare travel may be required (e.g., occasional on-site depositions, mediations, trials, or annual team off-sites in a U.S. office).

#LI-JH1 #LI-Hybrid

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