Associate General Counsel, Employment

Weee! is the largest and fastest-growing ethnic e-grocer in the United States, operating in one of the largest underserved categories in retail with affordable access to exciting ethnic food. By partnering with local suppliers, redesigning the value chain and leveraging social buying, Weee! is reshaping the grocery business entirely. You can read more about us on Business Insider, Reuters and TechCrunch.

Weee! is headquartered in Fremont, CA, and is currently available coast to coast with exceptional growth (5x YoY) across geographies, categories and ethnicities. We have raised $800M+ in funding to date from leading investors including Softbank Vision Funds, DST, Blackstone, Tiger Global, Lightspeed Ventures, Goodwater Capital, XVC and iFly. The opportunity now is to join a rocketship as we prepare for the next stage of growth, and an eventual public listing.

This role is onsite 5 days a week in Fremont, CA

About the role

The Associate General Counsel, Employment will be responsible for both strategic and tactical legal initiatives in employment law, setting employment legal strategy, and serving as a partner to the rest of the company, especially the People team and logistics teams. As a key member of the Legal team, this highly visible individual will provide effective advice and strategic support to the People team leaders and business leaders on employment strategies, policies, and compliance matters. The Associate General Counsel will be directly involved in employment litigation, policy development, training programs, and ensuring regulatory compliance across all employment-related activities.  This role will also have significant responsibility for internal investigations, proactive workplace risk management strategies, and employee relations. While primarily focused on employment law, this role may also be called upon to handle other legal matters and provide support across various legal disciplines as needed by the organization.

Reports to: General Counsel

Location: Fremont, California (with opportunity to work in other Company offices two days/week)

Responsibilities

• Set the overall philosophy and strategy regarding employment-related legal matters and decisions, ensuring all practices, policies, and business activities align with Weee!'s values and culture.
• Provide expert legal services and counsel on employment classification issues, wage and hour compliance, workplace harassment prevention, and other employment law matters.
• Manage and supervise outside counsel on all types of employment litigation, including class actions, single plaintiff actions, agency inquiries and charges, audits, and pre-litigation disputes.
• Advise the People team on a broad range of employment law issues, including People policies/practices; employee relations issues and investigations involving alleged misconduct, retaliation, discrimination, and harassment; performance management, hiring, employee and executive exits; severance; leaves and reasonable accommodations.
• Manage employment-related litigation, select internal investigations, and other employment-related inquiries in partnership with the People team
• Assist the People team with audits, employment classification reviews, and other compliance efforts.
• Manage employment-related administrative proceedings, including EEOC complaints, state and local EEO agency matters.
• Prepare, draft, review, negotiate, and modify employment agreements, separation agreements, and other employment-related documents with legal significance.
• Assist with the development and coordination of policies to ensure compliance with federal, state, and local employment laws while supporting Weee!'s multilingual, multicultural, multi-location workforce.
• Identify employment law risks and develop mitigation strategies for logistics, warehouse operations, technology, and other teams.
• Keep abreast of legal decisions and changes in employment laws and regulations to provide current advice and ensure policies comply with relevant laws.
• Manage the selection and direction of outside employment counsel and monitor related legal expenditures.
• Advise on employment aspects of corporate transactions, including due diligence and integration.
• Provide strategic advice on high-level, critical and time-sensitive employment issues to senior executives and other members of the leadership team, including working reactively on crisis-oriented situations with travel as necessary.
• Support and manage non-employment litigation matters as needed, including commercial disputes, consumer claims, and other general litigation.
• Collaborate with other members of the legal team on cross-functional projects and provide legal guidance on matters outside of employment law when required.
• Assist with general legal matters during periods of high workload.

Qualifications

• JD degree; member of CA state bar in good standing.
• 10+ years of employment law experience with at least 5+ years in an in-house position, preferably in the technology and/or retail industry.
• Deep expertise in California employment law and federal employment regulations, including rules and regulations related to drivers.
• Demonstrated experience handling classification issues, wage and hour compliance, workplace investigations, and employment litigation.
• Experience managing class actions in the employment context.
• Specific experience with employment issues in warehouse/distribution environments, with drivers and technology workplaces.
• Strong business sense and judgment balancing legal compliance with business priorities.
• Excellent leadership skills with the ability to provide clear guidance on complex employment matters throughout the Company.
• Strong interpersonal skills and ability to handle sensitive matters with discretion and professionalism.
• Versatility and willingness to take on legal matters outside of employment law when needed.
• Ability to collaborate effectively with the People team.
• Strong analytical skills with experience in data analysis, trend identification, and developing metric-driven employee relations strategies. 
• Proven ability to independently manage complex casework and investigations while building scalable processes and tools.

Benefits

• Comprehensive health insurance package, including medical, dental, and vision.  PPO/HMO packages
• 401k, 4% company match
• Equity and Bonus 
• Vacation, sick and holiday time off
• Monthly mobile stipend
• Monthly Weee! Points credits

Compensation Range

• The US base salary range for this full-time position is $212,000-250,000
• This role may be eligible to discretionary bonus, incentives and benefits 
• Our salary ranges are determined by role, level, and location

The range displayed on each job posting reflects the minimum and maximum base salary for new hires for the position across all US locations. Within the range, individual pay is determined by multiple factors like job-related skills, experience and work locations. Your recruiter can share more about the specific salary range during the hiring process.

Please note that the compensation details listed in US role postings reflect the base salary only, and do not include any variable compensation elements.

Weee! is an equal opportunity employer welcoming all qualified applicants regardless of race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, disability status, protected veteran status or any other basis prohibited by law.  Discrimination or harassment of any kind is not tolerated at Weee!. If you need to inquire about an accommodation or need assistance with completing the application, please email us at applicantaccommodation@sayweee.com.

For more jobs and to find out more about Weee!, visit our career page: https://about.sayweee.com/careers

Softbank Vision Funds