Assistant General Counsel, Employment (Senior Director)
About The Position
Equinox is shaping the future of wellness, longevity, hospitality, and media. As Assistant General Counsel, Employment, you will be the legal backbone protecting and empowering the workforce across a global portfolio that includes Equinox Health Clubs, SoulCycle, Equinox Hotels, and Equinox Media. You will help build and modernize how Equinox manages employment risk across a fast-growing, multi-brand portfolio. This role reports to the VP Legal Operations & Compliance and primarily focuses on ensuring compliance with current and emerging state and federal employment laws. You will also serve as a trusted and strategic partner to the Chief Legal Officer on high-stakes mediation, arbitration, and litigation, and to People & Culture, Risk Management, Asset Protection, and senior leadership on various employment-related matters. This is a high-visibility, high-impact leadership role for someone who thrives in a fast-moving, people-first environment.
Requirements
- JD from an accredited law school; admitted to New York or at least one U.S. state bar.
- 10+ years of employment law experience, ideally including 3–5 years at an employment law firm and 2–3 years in-house at a large, multi-state employer.
- Deep knowledge of federal, state, and local employment law: wage & hour, discrimination, leave, accommodations, and workforce restructuring.
- Proven track record managing employment claims and EEOC/agency matters.
- Strong business instincts — you balance legal risk with operational reality and give actionable answers, not just issue-spotting.
- Exceptional written and verbal communication skills; you make complex legal concepts accessible to non-lawyers and can influence at every level.
- Strong interpersonal skills, with experience advising senior executives and P&C leadership.
- Highly organized and detail-oriented, comfortable managing a busy, varied docket with competing priorities.
- Comfort using AI-assisted legal research and drafting tools (e.g., Claude or similar) as part of a modern legal practice.
Responsibilities
- Track and ensure compliance with evolving federal, state, and local employment law; translate developments into compliant policies, manuals, agreements, and SOPs.
- Identify and advise on legal risk across the employee lifecycle — hiring, performance, discipline, and terminations, and produce and report on employment risk metrics.
- Spot systemic risk trends and recommend proactive legal or policy changes on wage & hour, benefits, and leave-of-absence issues; partner with People & Culture to implement them.
- Partner with Employee Relations on allegations of harassment, hostile work environment, discrimination, and retaliation, as well as disability accommodations and leaves of absence.
- Draft agency (e.g., EEOC) position statements and respond to pre-mediation, pre-arbitration, and pre-litigation demand letters.
- Manage employment-related claims asserted under the company's ADR Program — and help shape how that program evolves.
- Lead an annual audit to ensure job descriptions, offer letters, employment agreements, restrictive covenant agreements, executive arrangements, and separation agreements stay legally current across all brands.
- Partner with People & Culture on building and delivering training for people managers (terminations, performance management, harassment prevention).
- Help leverage AI-assisted analysis, legal research, and drafting tools as part of a broader push toward more efficient legal operations.
Benefits
- Competitive salary
- Benefits
- Industry leading commission opportunities for club employees
- Complimentary Club membership
- Perks and incentives with our products and services including Personal Training, Pilates, Spa and Shop
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What This Job Offers
Job Type
Full-time
Career Level
Senior
Education Level
Ph.D. or professional degree
