Business Overview:
BNPP’s legal department provides legal coverage for BNP Paribas CIB in the Americas. The team advises on a broad range of legal matters for the entities within its scope, including but not limited to, providing advice and counsel to management, business, and the functions with respect to commercial and its own account activities, and contributing to the Bank’s influence on applicable legislative or market wide regulatory initiatives. The team provides legal and regulatory watch and maintains a legal risk management framework, including associated procedures and controls.
Candidate Success Factors:
Candidates are measured on the following four performance drivers, which will dictate how individual impact is considered on the Americas platform:
- Results and Impact
- Able to influence peers and team.
- Demonstrates good judgement when making decisions of high complexity and impact.
- Exercise appropriate autonomy in the execution and delivery of work.
- Responsible for driving outcomes, which have meaningful effect on team or department.
- Leadership and Collaboration:
- Creates trust with colleagues.
- Acts in leadership capacity for projects, processes, or programs.
- Client, Customer and Stakeholder Focus:
- Able to build relationships with a mix of colleagues and clients.
- Interacts regularly with management and department leaders.
- Demonstrates the ability to influence stakeholders at the team level.
- Compliance Culture and Conduct:
- Takes full responsibility for personal actions and demonstrates courage in facing problems and conflicts.
- Perceived as a person of high moral character; upholds corporate values and displays high ethical standards.
Job Summary
The Assistant Vice President - Employment Counsel position reports to the Head of Employment Legal, and covers all employment legal matters (encompassing all human resources issues including labor and employment law topics, compensation and benefits legal matters, and immigration legal topics). Employment Counsel also provides direction, advice and counsel with respect to the Company’s HR-related internal legal investigations arising from whistleblower complaints and engages with the Bank’s Conduct and Compliance functions to lead these matters to resolution.
The Employment Counsel role requires a high degree of thoughtfulness, diplomacy, proactivity, independent judgment, and deep strategic thinking to enable positive, results-based solutions to what can be the most challenging and sensitive people-dominated work issues. In this role, the Employment Counsel provides advice and counsel to Human Resource professionals and other business stakeholders, coordinates with outside counsel and all relevant internal experts, and handles all aspects of employment litigation. This position also provides legal advice related to the company's strategic, human capital and diversity initiatives, which include both leadership competency and legal analytical ability.
The Employment Legal team supports BNPP’s main business lines (Global Markets, Global Banking, Financial Institutions Coverage, Securities Services, ALMT, CIB Functions and Group Functions). Employment Counsel works closely with the Employee Relations in HR, providing advice and counsel to this team in escalated employment legal risk issues. They also work collaboratively with a service-oriented mindset and in partnership with the HR Business Partners and other Human Resources COE’s to lead the legal review of applicable policies and agreements. They also monitor changes to, and advise with respect to, all applicable laws.
Responsibilities
- Provide legal advice and strategic counsel as part of the Employment Law team and support BNPP’s main business lines;
- Cover all employment legal matters (which encompasses all human resources issues including labor and employment law topics, compensation and benefits legal matters, and other ad hoc topics);
- Provide legal guidance and counsel to HR related to internal legal investigations arising from whistleblower complaints and engage with both Conduct and Compliance (where applicable) to lead these matters to resolution;
- Provide legal advice and counsel to HR professionals and other business stakeholders, coordinate with outside counsel and all relevant internal experts, and handle all aspects of employment litigation, arbitration and administrative charges concerning employment-related topics; and
- Provide legal advice related to the company's strategic and human capital special initiatives, which includes both leadership competency and legal analytical ability.
Minimum Required Qualifications:
- 4-6 years of experience practicing labor and employment law and/or HR-adjacent legal experience;
- Strong practical knowledge of federal, state and local employment laws, including, but not limited to FMLA, ADA, FLSA, ADEA, and EEO laws;
- Excellent oral/written corporate communications skills;
- A high degree of discretion, confidentiality and sensitivity to employment legal and HR-related matters;
- Very strong interpersonal skills and the ability to successfully work with internal stakeholders and colleagues to contribute ideas, identify opportunities, and contribute to correct outcomes;
- Analytical and problem-solving skills, attention to detail, and the ability to review and anticipate broader organizational impact(s);
- Demonstrated ability to act independently yet possess judgment to recognize when to escalate issues for review, guidance, and/or resolution;
- Admission to New York State and/or New Jersey Bar.
Preferred Qualifications:
- Prior Human Resources experience or experience providing advice and counsel to Human Resources professionals;
- Prior experience in-house legal experience;
- Employee training experience;
- Experience conducting or advising on sensitive and complex legal investigations;
- Working knowledge of benefits/ERISA a plus;
- Experience with Canadian and/or cross-border labor/employment issues also a bonus;
- Knowledge of investigative methods and practices, advocacy, mediation, negotiation, and conflict resolution methods and practices, in particular FINRA arbitrations;
- The above Preferred Qualifications are not mandatory and candidates with none or other related qualifications should also apply if interested.
FINRA Registrations Required:
CFTC Swap Dealer Associated Person (if yes, NFA Swaps Proficiency Program is required):
SEC Security-Based Swap Dealer Associated Person:
The expected starting salary range for this position is between $175,000 to $210,000 annually. The actual salary may vary based upon several factors including, but not limited to, relevant skills/experience, time in role, base salary of internal peers, prior performance, business line, and geographic/office location.
In addition, our comprehensive benefits package aims to support our employees in various aspects of their lives. From healthcare and wellness programs to retirement plans and childcare services, we prioritize the well-being and growth of our employees. Our benefits include medical, dental and vision coverage, a 401(k) Savings Plan, backup childcare, life, accident and disability insurance, mental health support and paid time off. Additional details about our benefits offerings, inclusive of eligibility for a discretionary bonus, will be provided during the hiring process.
About BNP Paribas:
BNP Paribas is a leading bank in Europe with an international reach across the US, EMEA and APAC. It has a presence in 65 countries, with nearly 190,000 employees. The bank employs over 3,500 people in offices in the US across 10 states including New York, Jersey City, Chesterbrook, PA, San Francisco, Boston, Chicago, Denver, Miami, and Washington, DC. BNP Paribas has built a strong and diversified presence to support its client base. We continue to grow and strengthen our commitment to the US market through our Corporate & Institutional Banking activities. We are one of a few non-US banks to offer a full value chain for our clients, from trading to financing, and clearing and custody in the US with the international footprint and capacity to deliver both globally and locally. Leveraging the strength of our European roots, our network can support clients in virtually every region of the world, enabling more connectivity and efficiency wherever our clients conduct business. We take pride in our expertise and our ability to adapt while constantly looking ahead to create a more sustainable world.
As an international company with a global footprint, the unique cultures and viewpoints of our team members are an integral part of the fabric of BNP Paribas. We are a company with a purpose - to be a responsible and sustainable global leader. We aim to create an environment where our employees feel empowered to drive change, make an impact and be true to themselves. We employ talented individuals from a wide variety of backgrounds, locally and globally, and are inspired by our employees who help us in cultivating a diverse, equitable and inclusive workplace through initiatives such as our Diversity, Equity & Inclusion (DEI) Leadership Forum and Employee Resource Group (ERG) communities. We strive to be a workplace where all team members can grow and thrive and offer robust training, development, and mentoring opportunities to make that vision a reality. Our leaders are deeply committed to DEI and highly accessible to our employees, consistently soliciting feedback on how we can continue to support our employees to reach their highest potential.
BNP Paribas. The Bank for a Changing World - https://usa.bnpparibas/en/homepage/join-us/our-opportunities/
BNP Paribas is committed to providing a work environment that fosters diversity, inclusion, and equal employment opportunity without regard to race, color, gender, age, creed, sex, religion, national origin, disability (physical or mental), marital status, citizenship, ancestry, sexual orientation, gender identity and gender expression, or any other legally protected status.
