Employment Counsel

IonQ

4h•$169,869 - $242,612•Remote

About The Position

IonQ is seeking an Employment Counsel to serve as the day-to-day legal engine for the Labor & Employment function. This is a builder's role focused on creating order and structure in a rapidly scaling, frontier-technology company. The counsel will be the first call for the People and Recruiting teams, owning the documentation, advice, and processes necessary for compliance across a growing number of states and countries. The role involves standing up templates, playbooks, and self-serve resources, and managing the entire employee lifecycle from hire to exit. It is ideal for someone energized by complexity and seeking hands-on experience in a company scaling in real time.

Requirements

JD and an active bar membership in good standing in any U.S. jurisdiction.
Roughly 3–5 years of labor and employment experience, with a meaningful foundation built at a law firm — you have the basics down cold and can jump in without a runway.
Strong command of federal and multi-state employment law (Title VII, ADA, ADEA, FMLA, FLSA, and state leave and wage-and-hour regimes); California experience is a plus.
A genuinely strong drafter who produces clean, practical, signature-ready documents at speed.
Comfortable with ambiguity and self-directed — a grinder who builds structure where none exists rather than waiting for settled process.
High business-partner EQ: you give plain-English, actionable advice that non-lawyers can act on, and you build trust with People and Recruiting quickly.
You never lose sight of moving the business forward.

Nice To Haves

California experience is a plus.

Responsibilities

Own offer letter, severance and separation agreement, and related lifecycle document templates to allow for producing signature-ready work product at volume. Draft state by-state adaptations and bespoke terms.
Be the first line of response for HRBP and Recruiter questions on ADA interactive processes, FMLA and state leave overlaps, wage-and-hour classification, and everyday employee relations matters. Track and log recurring questions, and build FAQs, guidance and trainings to build team skills and confidence for handling repeated matters efficiently and directly.
Partner with HR to advise on and mitigate risk, and manage the execution of standard, non-complex separations.
Draft objection letters and responses to employment subpoenas; direct the compilation of personnel files for production; run initial privilege and confidentiality reviews; and draft and manage legal holds consistent with company policy.
Standardize the risk-management onboarding and offboarding workflow for consultants, and lead classification, IP, regulatory, security, and tax compliance.
Keep us current across our active jurisdictions (currently including California, Washington, Colorado, Maryland/Virginia, Minnesota, Florida and Texas among others) and serve as the point of contact who scopes questions for, and coordinates the work of, non-US outside counsel.