Director, Employment Law at 10x Genomics

At 10x Genomics, accelerating our understanding of biology is more than a mission for us. It is a commitment. This is the century of biology, and the breakthroughs we make now have the potential to change the world.

We enable scientists to advance their research, allowing them to address scientific questions they did not even know they could ask. Our tools have enabled fundamental discoveries across multiple application areas, including cancer, immunology, and neuroscience.  

Our teams are empowered and encouraged to follow their passions, pursue new ideas, and perform at their best in an inclusive and dynamic environment. We know that behind every scientific breakthrough, there is a deep infrastructure of talented individuals driving the life sciences industry and making it possible for scientists, engineers, clinicians, computational biologists, and more to make new strides. We are dedicated to finding the best person for every aspect of our work because the innovations and discoveries that we enable together will lead to better technologies, better treatments, and a better future. Find out how you can make a 10x difference.

Director, Employment Law

About The Role

We are looking for an individual who is motivated by the challenge to serve as 10x Genomics’ first in-house counsel employment lawyer. As Director of Legal, Employment Law, you will report to the Company’s General Counsel and have primary responsibility for the company’s employment law legal matters for our workforce of almost 1,000 employees. You will advise and work with colleagues on both US and international employment matters. You’ll advise our team on implementing best practices and navigate challenging and nuanced employee issues. Additionally, as part of a small legal team at a growing and innovative company, you’ll work on many other interesting and consequential issues, counseling business teams, negotiating contracts, and playing a significant part in evolving the legal function.
This is a unique opportunity to be a leader on a highly influential legal team in an innovative, collaborative environment where your work will have a major impact on our employee experience, culture, and the trajectory of the company.

What you will be doing:  

• Be part of a small and influential in-house legal team that is directly involved in the company’s strategic decisions and operations
• Acts as a key internal point-of-contact and subject matter expert on all matters relating to employment and/or employee benefits law 
• Advise senior executives on mission-critical employment decisions, policies, and practices
• Coordinate and manage employment-related projects, policy drafting and implementation and training programs
• Provide pragmatic employment advice and counseling in order to unblock business needs and appropriately balance the achievement of business objectives against legal risk; Also includes responsibility to identify trends and learnings from cases and apply this knowledge to advice and counseling provided to Company personnel 
• Participate in the creation and delivery of training related to employment law matters, such as anti-harassment training and other manager training on a variety of topics
• Develop and implement scalable self-service tools and processes as the company grows
• Draft and revise a variety of employment-related agreements and other written content such as offer letters, contractor agreements, vendor agreements, and more
• Be a trusted legal advisor to management on a wide range of areas including hiring, performance management, employee relations and investigations, discrimination, harassment, reductions in force,  and other Equal Employment Opportunity matters 
• Manage and drive the strategy on pre-litigation matters
• Manages outside counsel providing advice and deliverables to Employment/Benefits Law and, where applicable, negotiates rates, project fees and timelines with outside counsel 
• Develop and implement scalable employment policies, practices, and programs. This could include developing and implementing training to educate internal clients, partners and stakeholders on legal developments and requirements that could affect policies, procedures, practices  
• Manage, work with, and learn from outside counsel
• Stay abreast of new and proposed employment law developments, best practices, and trends to ensure continued compliance

To be successful in this role, you will have:

• A J.D. with strong academic credentials and 8 - 12 years of relevant experience practicing law, including preferably at least three years at a leading law firm as an employment attorney and significant time spent in-house 
• An ability to bring a practical, business lens to difficult compliance questions
• Broad expertise in employment laws, including wage and hour, employee agreements, classification, and separations
• Approachable and patient with internal clients; with passion for providing excellent customer service
• Excellent business-oriented judgment and the ability to analyze problems, propose resolutions, and provide advice that is creative, practical and legally acceptable, taking into account the needs and objectives of the business
• A team-oriented, collaborative disposition and ability to help make your colleagues better
• A commitment to integrity, respect and ethical conduct 
• Active admission in good standing with the California state bar, or in-house registration in California

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