Senior Director - Litigation & Employment Counsel

About the role

Handshake's Legal team is a strategic and collaborative partner across the company, helping to build and deploy trusted products and services that advance our mission. We're a lean but growing team that thrives on tackling complex issues at the intersection of frontier technology and the workforce-supporting every part of the business from product development and AI governance to commercial partnerships, data privacy, and employment. As the first dedicated counsel for Litigation and Employment, you'll join a tight-knit group that values practical judgment, intellectual curiosity, bias for action, and a deep commitment to Handshake's goal of democratizing access to opportunity.

Responsibilities

• Litigation: Own the company's litigation strategy and docket end-to-end across commercial, IP, employment, and platform/product disputes-directing pleadings, discovery, depositions, motion practice, mediation, arbitration, trial preparation, and settlement.
• Employment claims: Manage agency investigations, single-plaintiff and class/representative claims (including PAGA), severance and separation negotiations, and pre-litigation employee disputes; partner with the People team on root-cause learnings.
• You Have
• JD and active membership in good standing in at least one U.S. state bar (California admission or eligibility to register as in-house counsel in California).
• 12+ years of combined law firm and in-house experience at a high-growth technology, gig platform, or marketplace company.
• Hands-on litigation experience managing complex commercial, employment, and/or platform-related disputes from intake through resolution, including first-chair trial, arbitration, and/or hearing experience.
• Deep in-house employment expertise across wage and hour, leaves and accommodations, investigations, and agency practice (EEOC, DFEH/CRD); strong expertise in worker classification laws and proven compliance strategies for gig and contractor popula

Benefits

Additional Information

About Handshake Handshake is the career network for the AI economy. 20 million knowledge workers, 1,600 educational institutions, 1 million employers (including 100% of the Fortune 50), and every foundational AI lab trust Handshake to power career discovery, hiring, and upskilling, from freelance AI training gigs to first internships to full-time careers and beyond. This unique value is leading to unparalleled growth; in 2025, we tripled our ARR at scale. Why join Handshake now: Shape how every career evolves in the AI economy, at global scale, with impact your friends, family and peers can see and feel Work hand-in-hand with world-class AI labs, Fortune 500 partners and the world's top educational institutions Join a team with leadership from Scale AI, Meta, xAI, Notion, Coinbase, and Palantir, among others Build a massive, fast-growing business with billions in revenue

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