People Legal Counsel, APAC

About the Role

Anthropic's People Legal team is looking for a Lead Employment Counsel to build the legal foundation for our growing workforce across Asia-Pacific. You'll partner closely with our People team and business leaders to design and run employment programs in the region that help our people do their best work.

This role pairs deep employment law expertise with pragmatism and creativity. You'll build structures that manage legal risk across several APAC countries today and that will hold up as our presence in the region scales. You'll also help colleagues around the world understand how local requirements shape the way we hire, manage, and support people in APAC.

Key responsibilities

• Serve as the primary employment lawyer for Anthropic's APAC region, partnering with People and business leaders across People programs, policies and day-to-day issues

• Build and maintain the legal infrastructure for new and existing APAC jurisdictions, including Japan, South Korea, Australia, Singapore and India

• Advise on market entry and workforce structuring, including acquisitions, employer of record arrangements, contractor classification, and headcount thresholds that trigger local obligations

• Partner with Compensation, Benefits, and Equity teams so that global programs are compliant and scalable

• Guide employee relations matters, including workplace investigations, in line with local law and practice

• Develop and manage strategy on employment disputes across the region, from pre-litigation claims through tribunal and court proceedings, in partnership with outside counsel

• Track legislative and regulatory developments across the region, including employee data privacy and emerging rules on AI in employment, and turn them into practical guidance

• Develop scalable templates, playbooks, and training that enable stakeholders to operate compliantly

Minimum qualifications

• Hold a law degree (JD, LLB, or equivalent) and meet the local licensing requirements to work as in-house counsel where you'll be based

• Have deep subject-matter expertise on employment law across multiple APAC countries

• Write clearly and concisely, and can provide actionable guidance to non-lawyers

• Balance legal risk with business practicality, and work collaboratively with legal and business cross-functional partners

• Work effectively with colleagues and stakeholders across multiple time zones

Preferred qualifications

• At least 12+ years of relevant employment legal experience across law firms and in-house, with demonstrated experience supporting companies through rapid growth

• Experience advising People and business teams on the practical application of employment laws in Japan, South Korea, India, Australia, and Singapore

• Creative and pragmatic in your approach to developing legal solutions to business problems

• Working knowledge of employee data privacy requirements across the region

Role-specific policy: For this role, we expect all staff to be able to work from our Sydney office at least 3 days a week, though we encourage you to apply even if you might need some flexibility for an interim period of time.