SVP, Global Employment & Labor Counsel

Sompo International

21h•Remote

About The Position

Sompo has a unique opportunity for a Senior Vice President, Global Employment & Labor Counsel to join their Global Legal team. This role will operate at the intersection of law, culture, and strategy, guiding the organization through complex employment matters across multiple jurisdictions while enabling growth, transformation, and responsible risk-taking. The SVP brings a global, commercially minded perspective, ensuring employment practices not only comply with applicable laws and regulations, but also align with the company’s values, leadership principles, and expectations for how people are managed across both Federated and Centralized operating models. This position will be considered remote out of a New York location. Sompo strives for collaboration and offers a work environment where employees thrive and develop long lasting careers.

Requirements

Juris Doctor (JD) from an accredited law school.
Active license to practice law in at least one major U.S. jurisdiction or equivalent, depending on location.
15+ years of progressive employment and labor law experience, including senior leadership roles in-house.
Significant experience advising multinational organizations across multiple jurisdictions.
Demonstrated success advising C-suite leaders and Boards during periods of growth, transformation, and complex workforce change.
Deep expertise in global employment and labor law with strong appreciation for cultural and regulatory diversity.
Commercially minded, pragmatic advisor who enables progress while managing risk thoughtfully.
Executive presence with the ability to influence at the most senior levels of the organization.
Highly collaborative, solutions-oriented leader who translates legal complexity into clear, actionable guidance.
Exhibits a proactive and hands-on approach by engaging directly in complex or high-impact matters, including those beyond the immediate scope of responsibility, to ensure effective resolution and organizational alignment.
Comfortable operating both at the strategic and executional levels—setting enterprise direction while engaging directly in complex, high-impact matters when judgment, experience, and credibility are required.
Strong ethical compass, discretion, and sound judgment.

Nice To Haves

Prior experience in insurance, financial services, or other highly regulated industries strongly preferred.

Responsibilities

Serve as the principal legal advisor to the General Counsel, CEO, and executive leadership team on all employment and labor matters globally.
Establish and lead the company’s global employment and labor law strategy, balancing legal rigor, commercial pragmatism, and cultural alignment.
Act as the single point of accountability for employment-related legal matters across regions, ensuring consistency while respecting local regulatory and cultural nuance.
Provide forward-looking counsel that aligns employment practices with the company’s broader human capital strategy, risk appetite, and business objectives.
Act as a control point for the broader organization to ensure alignment and consistency in employment-related practices.
Partner closely with senior business leaders, functional leaders, and HR Business Partners across regions to provide trusted, values-aligned counsel in a highly matrixed environment.
Influence decision-making across both Federated and centralized structures without reliance on direct authority, using credibility, judgment, and collaboration.
Support leaders through complex workforce decisions by providing clear, pragmatic guidance that integrates legal requirements with organizational norms and cultural expectations.
Serve as a strategic advisor during periods of growth, restructuring, and organizational change.
Oversee employment law compliance across multiple jurisdictions, including wage and hour, discrimination, harassment, retaliation, leave entitlements, workplace safety, and employee relations.
Monitor and interpret evolving employment legislation and regulatory developments globally, advising leadership on risk, impact, and implementation.
Ensure employment practices align with insurance regulatory expectations, corporate governance standards, and internal risk management frameworks.
Guide the organization through emerging issues such as pay transparency, AI and automation in HR, evolving DEI regulations, remote and hybrid work models, and global workforce mobility.
Maintain a globally minded perspective in addressing diverse employment regulations and cultural sensitivities.
Serve as the enterprise owner for employment-related charges, claims, investigations, and disputes across all jurisdictions, including matters before civil courts, administrative agencies, and regulatory bodies.
Establish and oversee the company’s approach to responding to employment-related allegations, ensuring timely, consistent, and well-governed decision-making aligned with legal requirements, business realities, and organizational values.
Provide hands-on leadership in sensitive or high-risk matters, including internal investigations, executive-level issues, whistleblower-related concerns, and complex employee relations cases.
Determine escalation protocols, response strategies, and resolution pathways, partnering closely with HR, senior leadership, and external counsel as appropriate.
Lead the strategy and oversight of employment litigation, arbitrations, agency charges, and regulatory inquiries, with a strong focus on early resolution, proportional risk management, and brand protection.
Translate dispute trends, investigation outcomes, and agency activity into actionable insights to inform policy enhancements, leadership training, and preventive workforce practices.
Maintain disciplined oversight of outside counsel, ensuring quality, consistency, cost effectiveness, and alignment with the company’s preferred legal and cultural posture.
Provide employment and labor law leadership for mergers, acquisitions, integrations, and restructurings across jurisdictions.
Advise on workforce implications including employee transfers, harmonization of terms, change management, and retention risk.
Partner with HR and business leaders to enable speed and continuity while protecting the organization’s brand, culture, and talent.
Design and deliver employment law and workforce governance training programs for leaders, HR teams, and Legal colleagues globally.
Partner with HR to strengthen enterprise capability in employee relations, risk identification, and compliant decision-making.
Help establish a long-term capability development roadmap for employment law knowledge within HR and across leadership teams.
Championing a respectful, high-performance workplace culture grounded in accountability, trust, and values-based leadership.
Serve as a visible role model for sound judgment, collaboration, integrity, and business alignment.
Maintain a strong external network of employment law experts, industry peers, regulators, and professional bodies to stay ahead of global trends and emerging risks.
Bring external insights into the organization to inform strategy, policy development, and leadership decision-making.
Represent the company externally, as appropriate, on employment and labor-related matters.
Hold final authority on legal strategy and response posture for employment-related charges, investigations, litigation, and regulatory inquiries.
Hold decision-making authority on escalation, resolution pathways, and use of external counsel for sensitive or high-risk employment matters.
Hold authority to set global standards, frameworks, and guiding principles for employment-related practices, in partnership with HR and business leadership.
Hold advisory authority to executive leadership and the Board on employment-related risk, exposure, and strategic workforce implications.
Hold responsibility to engage directly in complex or high-impact matters where judgment, experience, and credibility are required.

Benefits

Two medical plans to choose from, including a Traditional PPO & a Consumer Driven Health Plan with a Health Savings account providing a competitive employer contribution
Pharmacy benefits with mail order options
Dental benefits including orthodontia benefits for adults and children
Vision benefits
Health Care & Dependent Care Flexible Spending Accounts
Company-paid Life & AD&D benefits, including the option to purchase Supplemental life coverage for employee, spouse & children
Company-paid Disability benefits with very competitive salary continuation payments
401(k) Retirement Savings Plan with competitive employer contributions
Competitive paid-time-off programs, including company-paid holidays
Competitive Parental Leave Benefits & Adoption Assistance program
Employee Assistance Program
Tax-Free Commuter Benefit
Tuition Reimbursement & Professional Qualification benefits