Senior Counsel, EPIC Games
Employment & Labor
Interactive entertainment company
Be an early applicant
Interactive entertainment company
1001+ employees
Be an early applicant
1001+ employees
Company mission
To create fun games we want to play and building the art and tools we need to bring those games to life.
Role
Who you are
- Be actively licensed/qualified and in good standing to practice law in the jurisdiction in which you will be assigned (mandatory), with a preference for lawyers actively licensed in good standing in the UK (preferred)
- Have at least 5 years’ experience as an in-house employment counsel within the games, tech, digital entertainment, and/or interactive media industries in the UK (post-trainee), US, or Canada, primarily providing a combination of: (a) UK, US, or Canada-specific employment and labor law counsel; and (b) multijurisdictional employment and labor law counsel across one or more regions
- Be able to report to one or more Epic studios as needed and to travel occasionally for work
- Experience working in a sophisticated, fast-paced, fast-changing working environment
- Experience advising businesses in a wide array of employment and labor matters and disputes within our industry
- Confidence in being a first point of contact for multiple People Team Partners, corporate functions partners, and key business stakeholders
- A proactive self-starter and strategic thinker with a thirst for knowledge and continued growth, combined with a genuine collaborative and customer-service focused philosophy
- A quick and flexible learner; intellectually curious, open-minded, adaptable, highly practical, comfortable with ambiguity and motivated by dynamic change
- An ambitious mindset that enables you to successfully work independently with little guidance but also to be pragmatic, use good judgment, and call out issues when you see them
- Maintain high ethical and professional responsibility standards
What the job involves
- Epic's multi-specialized team of attorneys and legal professionals, partner across our organization to provide legal solutions, as well as, consult and inform on the products we build and games we develop
- As Senior Counsel, Employment & Labor, you will advise Epic Games and its subsidiaries on a vast array of employment, labor, and contingent workforce matters across the global workforce and business matrix
- The role is part of the Employment Legal Team and reports to the Global Director & Managing Counsel, Employment & Labor
- You will primarily be responsible for providing legal advice and driving projects and initiatives for the Employment Legal Team across one or more regions
- Provide highly practical, commercially savvy, and effective legal counsel and support to manage employment and labor law risks across multiple entities across Epic Games’ global workforce footprint, with primary responsibility for: (1) regular support of a highly matrixed People Team that serves businesses across Epic’s footprint globally, from the Americas to APAC; (2) multi-jurisdictional special projects and initiatives
- Partner with and manage external counsel relationships in efficient and cost-effective ways to meet daily and long-term legal needs
- Actively learn and monitor the employment and labor and contingent workforce legal landscapes across one or more assigned regions
- Provide sophisticated counsel and training on employment legal matters within the assigned remit and strategy to People Team partners within the region and, occasionally, to Epic senior leadership and management
- Leverage your prior experience and expertise to strategically advise and deliver high quality work product across a wide range of People Team activities and initiatives such as employee relations matters and employment investigations, labor-management relations including works councils and collective bargaining agreements, disciplinary actions and separations, organizational changes, employment contract drafting, review, and interpretation, compensation and benefits offerings, leaves and leave administration, wage and hour / working time compliance, HR and regulatory compliance, and best practices and process improvement
- Direct and supervise employment investigations in partnership with Employee Relations or Human Resources partners; Partner with key People Team, corporate functions, and business stakeholders to propose, develop, publish, implement, and regularly review employment policies and procedures
- Actively and continuously look for, identify, and execute on ways to proactively manage employment risk across the organization
- Work closely with litigation counsel within Epic Legal and outside counsel to manage litigation risk, respond to pre-litigation demands, and defend the company against employment claims in judicial, administrative, and alternative dispute resolution forums
- Partner with Corporate Legal, Corporate Development, and People Team M&A integration teams to provide employment law expertise and support for M&A transactions and integrations
Our take
Epic Games is the creator of Fortnite, Unreal, Gears of War, Shadow Complex, and the Infinity Blade series of games. Epic's Unreal Engine technology brings high-fidelity, interactive experiences to PC, console, mobile, AR, VR and the Web. Its recent announcement - Unreal Engine 5 - is set to lay the technical foundations for countless future releases.
Epic Games' model focuses on two key areas: creating games and offering its game engine technology to other developers. Doing this means that Epic Games' brand stretches beyond their own direct creations. The company has been able to put its name to some of the most iconic games of the last 20 years. Its most recent success is undoubtedly the creation of Fortnite, which has gained hundreds of millions of users since its launch in 2017.
Long-established as one of the leaders in their field, these are undoubtedly exciting times for Epic Games. The release of next-generation consoles like the PS5 has enabled Epic Games to push the limits of their software, meaning it'll lead the charge in the creation of next-gen games. 2024 saw an unprecedented investment in Epic Games by Disney, amounting to $1.5 billion. This will enable Disney to promote iconic characters through the Fortnite game. With the number of people enjoying video games continuing to grow, there is no sign of Epic Games slowing down any time soon.
Freddie
Company Specialist
Insights
Some candidates hear
back within 2 weeks
18% employee growth in 12 months
Company
Funding (last 2 of 8 rounds)
Feb 2024
$1.5bn
LATE VC
Apr 2022
$2bn
LATE VC
Total funding: $8.6bn
Company benefits
- Insurance: Health, dental, and vision
- Retirement plan, 401(k) plan
- Performance bonuses (quarterly)
- Maternity/Paternity leave
- Paid holidays and sick days
- Employee discounts at the Epic Store
- Free lunches and snacks on site
- Pet-friendly offices so you can bring your well-behaved pet to work
- Company-sponsored social events such as happy hours and special events
Company values
- BE EPIC - Contribute to the unrelenting focus on innovation, quality and community that defines us
Company HQ
Cary, NC
Articles
Leadership
Tim Sweeney
(CEO)Founded 'Potomac Computer Systems', which would later become Epic Games, in 1991, from his parents' house in Maryland.
Mark Rein
(Vice President)Joined Sweeney in 1992, when the two renamed Sweeney's company into 'Epic Games'.
People progressing
Joined as a UI/UX Developer in 2018, promoted to Lead Software Engineer after 18 months
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