We are looking for a Senior Legal Counsel (Employment) to provide senior legal support and help ensure that the ASOS Legal Department meets the needs and requirements of our People Experience (PX) team which supports ASOS’ business and employees (known as ASOSers) across the globe. It requires the ability to give commercial as well as legal advice, to operate comfortably and effectively in many different jurisdictions, and to promptly identify risks and issues for escalation to appropriate senior stakeholders.

You’ll need to be technically excellent, hands on and commercially minded, with a strong professional ethic, and the energy, interest and training to pursue a huge array of employment matters. To win your stakeholders over, you’ll need to speak their language and move as quickly as them. You will need the ability to make quick, confident, commercial calls, at all times in the ASOS tone of voice.

This is a new senior employment role supporting our PX team as well as colleagues within the legal team on a full range of contentious and non-contentious employment law matters. As an expert in your field you will need to be versatile, with solid and varied employment law experience. You will be responsible for partnering with, guiding and supporting the legal needs of the ASOS PX community. Here are some of the core areas that you’ll be responsible for in the role:

• Providing legal advice and counsel to PX managers, including key business leaders and other internal lawyers regarding the full range of contentious and non-contentious employment law issues in the UK, EMEA and the US, seeking external advice where appropriate.
• Work in partnership with and supporting PX colleagues in employee relations matters including, as appropriate, instructing external counsel on employment litigation, investigations and on specific queries.
• Building a close relationship with PX and the ASOS Legal and wider Governance team, and working in partnership with the People Relations Team to provide solutions for all employment related legal queries.
• Analyse and advise in respect of the impact of employment related legislative changes in the context of the ASOS business.
• Review, develop and implement, in conjunction with the PX team, employment related policies applicable to ASOSers.

General:

• Working very closely with our PX team, providing legal input on all aspects of employment law and policies.
• Continually improving and updating standard form agreements, templates and processes with a legal impact.
• Providing legal support to the PX team on day to day matters including TUPE transfers, employee benefits and additional support services requirements.
• Assisting the Legal Team with its Legal Operations strategy, providing employment support on any mergers and acquisitions activity, and working with the Legal Team to promote efficient and effective ways of working.

Team & Management:

• Reporting to the Head of Legal (Supply Chain, Property & Facilities) with a dotted line into a PX Director; you will also have the opportunity to supervise and work closely with a paralegal supporting you in due course.
• Acting as a role model for our Legal Department, encouraging partnerships across the business, and growing the credibility of the Legal Department and ultimately ASOS as a whole both within and outside of the PX department.
• Identifying and providing training to the PX team, the Legal team and to the business where appropriate on relevant employment issues.
• Building and maintaining strong relationships with internal stakeholders and external counsel.
• Identifying the need for external legal advice and exercising appropriate cost management and control with all external partners used by PX and the Legal Team.
• Providing project management experience to drive projects forward with multiple stakeholders.

We’d love to meet, someone with…

• Solid general experience in employment law, gained ideally, from both private practice and in-house positions, ideally with an ecommerce focus and supporting an international workforce.  
• Knowledge of and experience of applying the TUPE Regulations.
• Experience of supporting mergers and acquisitions from the perspective of employment and people relations.
• Previous experience working in a fast-growing, agile environment is preferable.
• 6+ PQE Qualified Solicitor (level is only a guide)
• Excellent IT skills, particularly in relation to the use of Sharepoint, Word, Excel and PowerPoint, and an early adopter of new technology generally.
• Great communication, as our team members continually build relationships at all levels across the business, at the same time as working collectively to deliver what’s needed, when needed, by whatever means necessary.
• All Legal team members should be approachable & capable of adapting their communications to ensure excellent interaction with the wide variety of people and personalities across the unique environment of ASOS. We’re also fast paced, so all team members also need to be adaptable and cope with change quickly and be enthused and excited about what’s around the corner for us.

What's in it for you?

We will give you a competitive salary, bonus scheme, staff discount, sample sales and pension matching but also a fantastic bunch of flexible benefits that focus on your health, wealth & inner self for you and your friends and family. This role will have a requirement to be in the office more than out with a minimum of one day in each of GLH and our Leavesden offices.  

We are all equal!
We’re committed to creating an inclusive workforce.  We believe in a world where you have the freedom to explore and express yourself without judgement, no matter who you are or where you’re from. Where you value yourself and feel proud of who you are. Where individuality is a source of confidence, because difference makes the world a better place.