Counsel - Corporate Generalist (Employment & Product Counsel) at NerdWallet

At NerdWallet, we’re on a mission to bring clarity to all of life’s financial decisions. We’ve built an inclusive, flexible, and candid culture where you’re empowered to grow, take smart risks, and be unapologetically yourself.

NerdWallet is seeking a corporate generalist with 6+ years of broad experience managing labor and employment matters and supporting product-commercial strategy to join its legal department as Counsel. This position will report directly to the Deputy General Counsel. It will support the development and implementation of human resources policies, assist with employee relations matters, and support M&A activity and integration. This role will also provide product-consumer guidance to vertical leaders supporting the areas of contract review, digital marketing, compliance, privacy, and data.

In this role, you will have an opportunity to flex your versatility, acting as a hybrid Employment Counsel and Product Counsel.

Where you can make an impact:

Employment Counsel

• Review and update employment policies as needed.
• Provide practical, actionable advice on employment matters including reasonable accommodations, compliance, performance management, terminations, recruiting, hiring, and compensation and benefits.
• Manage and update, as needed, the company’s legal documents, including offer letters, employment agreements, separation agreements, and handbooks.
• Conduct diligence related to employment matters in M&A transactions.
• Work with HR Business Partners to handle and support employee issues and internal investigations.
• Manage employment law claims and arbitration, including all aspects of litigation and discovery.
• Educate internal clients and stakeholders on important legal developments affecting our business and proactively ensure risk mitigation.
• Identify and assess legal risks and opportunities in the employment area and advise accordingly.

Product Counsel

• Support product and marketing teams across multiple initiatives.
• Review, draft, and negotiate a wide range of revenue and vendor agreements. Provide practical, timely, and concise advice to internal partners regarding the same.
• Respond promptly to legal requests from product, business development, data and privacy, finance, marketing, senior leadership team, and other clients. Summarize and communicate legal concepts in a pragmatic, clear, and concise manner.
• Implement streamlined and thoughtful processes to ensure product compliance.
• Support the continuous improvement of NerdWallet and the legal department by identifying and implementing improvements in processes, forms, and operations.
• Assist with M&A deals and onboarding integrated teams from time to time.
• Negotiate new vendor and referral agreements.
• Collaborate with team leads to evaluate new product ideas and review copy.

Your experience:

• Experience: 6+ years of relevant experience, including a combination of both in-house and law firm practice at a major law firm.

  • 3+ years as Employment Counsel; and

  • 3+ years as Product Counsel; or

  • 3+ years as Corporate Counsel

• Certification:

  • Deep knowledge of California and/or New York employment laws and applicable federal laws.
  • A member of at least one state bar, preferably California or New York.

• Judgment: You leverage sound and practical judgment, personal integrity, and discretion regarding confidential matters.

• Acting with urgency: You stay on top of your focus area and are able to quickly dive into matters, assessing risk and providing guidance when needed.

• Communication: You have excellent written and oral communication skills, and are able to communicate clearly, distilling complex topics in a way that all levels can understand.

• Ownership: Self-starting, proactive, driven, adaptable person who can, with poise and patience, prioritize and manage multiple projects and recalibrate advice in view of shifting priorities, legal developments, and risk tolerance.

• Adaptability: You are able to seamlessly adapt and flex as needed and thrive on balancing risk mitigation with a drive for execution in support of business needs.

• Product Support:

  • Experience advising on truth-in-advertising, UDAP, UDAAP, and other consumer protection laws.
  • Experience drafting and negotiating commercial agreements, master service agreements, licensing agreements, and non-disclosure agreements.
  • Knowledge of privacy laws, including but not limited to CCPA, GDPR, and GLBA.

Preferred Qualifications:

• Experience with Ironclad, Blee, or LawVu is a plus.
• Experience in a financial services regulatory area is a plus (e.g., insurance, mortgage, consumer lending, banking, or investing).