Current opening
Principal Legal Advisor
Senior in-house counsel for complex, high-risk employment and labour law matters across India and APAC — advising HR and business leadership, leading sensitive workplace investigations and managing external counsel.
Role at a glance
- Location
- Gurugram
- Industry
- Legal
- Experience
- 10+ years
- Engagement
- Full time
About the role
What this job involves.
The candidate will act as a senior legal adviser for complex and high-risk employment and labour law matters across India and, where applicable, the Asia-Pacific region.
The role requires a strong legal practice background combined with hands-on experience working closely with HR and business leadership.
Key responsibilities
What you will be doing.
- Provide legal advice on complex employment and labour matters, including employee relations, disciplinary actions, terminations, retrenchment, workforce restructuring, workforce transitions and executive separations.
- Advise HR and business leadership on employment-law risks and legally compliant approaches to people-related decisions.
- Lead and advise on sensitive workplace investigations involving POSH, employee misconduct, harassment, discrimination, retaliation, whistleblower complaints and other employee-relations matters.
- Guide Internal Committees, HR teams and business stakeholders on investigation strategy, procedural compliance, evidence and documentation, findings, remediation and legal risk.
- Provide legal advisory on India’s labour codes and other employment legislation, including interpretation of legislative developments and translating them into practical business requirements.
- Monitor relevant employment and labour-law developments across India and APAC, and assess their impact on the organisation.
- Develop and review employment agreements, HR policies, disciplinary frameworks, investigation protocols, legal playbooks, templates and SOPs.
- Advise on industrial relations, labour disputes, conciliation proceedings, labour-authority matters and employment litigation, working with external counsel where required.
- Partner with HR leadership on performance management, employee relations, disciplinary matters, employee engagement, workforce planning and organisational restructuring from a legal-risk perspective.
- Support employment-law compliance audits and the implementation of corrective actions relating to labour legislation, statutory compliance, POSH and workplace conduct.
- Work cross-functionally with Legal, HR, Compliance, Privacy and business teams on employment compliance, workplace conduct and employee-data and privacy initiatives.
- Manage and coordinate with external legal counsel, including matter strategy, work allocation, legal budgets and quality of advice.
- Provide legal training and knowledge support to HR, Legal and business teams on employment law, labour codes, workplace conduct and investigation processes.
- Develop and maintain employment-law knowledge resources, FAQs, guidance notes and practical legal frameworks for HR and business stakeholders.
What we are looking for
The profile that fits this mandate.
- A strong legal practice background in employment and labour law, with hands-on in-house or advisory experience.
- Deep working knowledge of India’s labour codes and employment legislation, and the ability to translate legislative change into practical business requirements.
- Experience advising on high-risk matters such as terminations, retrenchment, workforce restructuring and executive separations.
- Track record of leading sensitive workplace investigations, including POSH, misconduct, harassment, discrimination and whistleblower complaints.
- Experience guiding Internal Committees and HR teams on investigation strategy, procedural compliance and remediation.
- Exposure to industrial relations, labour disputes, conciliation proceedings and employment litigation.
- Experience drafting employment agreements, HR policies, disciplinary frameworks, playbooks and SOPs.
- Experience managing external counsel, including matter strategy, work allocation and legal budgets.
- Comfortable partnering directly with HR and business leadership, and delivering training to non-legal stakeholders.
- Exposure to employment matters across the Asia-Pacific region is an advantage.
Apply
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Principal Legal AdvisorGurugram10+ years
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