Vice President, Counsel VI - Employment

Vice President, Counsel VI

At BNY, our culture empowers you to grow and succeed. As a leading global financial services company at the center of the world s financial system we touch nearly 20% of the world s investible assets. Every day around the globe, our 50,000+ employees bring the power of their perspective to the table to create solutions with our clients that benefit businesses, communities and people everywhere.

We continue to be a leader in the industry, awarded as a top home for innovators and for creating an inclusive workplace. Through our unique ideas and talents, together we help make money work for the world. This is what #LifeAtBNY is all about.

We re seeking a future team member for the role of Vice President, Counsel VI to join our Legal team in India. This role will be based in Pune, India - HYBRID.

In this role, you ll make an impact in the following ways

• Your role will be to act as a lawyer responsible for delivering effective Legal support to the Head of Legal, India to assist business lines and business partners of BNY India entities on employment and labour issues, and on contentious legal, regulatory, civil and/or criminal matters. You will also provide effective legal support to the Head of APAC Litigation, Enforcement & Investigations, alongside the Head of Legal, India, assisting on internal investigations.
• You will work with other lawyers in the Legal department, including Indian and overseas based lawyers, business line and jurisdictional specific lawyers, and with members of the Employee Relations team, members of the People Team and with business managers to deliver a high standard of legal advice that is tailored to BNY s business models.
• Viewed as a trusted internal resource capable of using knowledge of BNYs businesses, products, services and/or strategies to articulate and advance legal positions.
• Working with Line Manager and dotted line Managers to achieve department objectives;
• Providing timely advice and assistance to relevant business lines and business partners, in partnership with BNY s People Team and other members of the Legal department;
• Providing legal advice and assistance in connection with strategic business decisions with implications for employees;
• Supporting the department in providing legal support/advice/review:
  • For business lines and business partners on employment and labour law and compensation and benefits issues;
  • On strategic aspects of employee relations issues, investigations involving employees and managing employment litigation;
  • On employment and labour law issues arising in connection with business acquisitions, disposals and displacements, including outsourcing transactions;
  • On employment agreements, employee policies and employee communications; restructuring and redundancy arrangements; agreed employee separation arrangements, including negotiation of settlement agreements; trade unions;
  • On implications connected with legal and regulatory developments;
  • On responses to regulatory and law enforcement inquiries, subpoenas/ summons, and/or investigations;
• Driving and working collaboratively with business partners (e.g. Corporate Security, Security Investigations, Employee Relations, Risk, Internal Audit) to provide top quality legal advice and manage internal investigations and employee issues;
• Building relationships with relevant People Team, business and business partner managers to ensure understanding of relevant operations and identification of issues and solutions;
• Instruction and management of external counsel relationships in India (including assistance with analysis and collation of advice from such counsel and maintaining effective cost controls);
• Assistance with the development of formal training sessions for business colleagues on relevant topics, e.g. documentary standards/policies/market industry issues/legal issues; and also informal knowledge-sharing within the legal team;
• Reviewing presented business issues, conducting legal research and investigation and crafting legal solutions, balancing internal and external stakeholder interests, with the risks of adverse legal actions, revenue loss or reputational damage to the entity. May seek guidance from senior colleagues to ensure solutions align to global legal strategies;
• Communicating and collaborating with leaders who also serve in an advisory or oversight capacity, such as Compliance, Risk, Internal Audit, etc. and developing the Legal response/position for issues identified as risks or areas of non-compliance.

To be successful in this role, we re seeking the following:

• The successful candidate should be a qualified LL.B and have 5 - 10 years post qualification experience with a reputed law firm in India or equivalent experience in a multinational corporate in the financial industry, with a legal background in employment and labour law.
• Strong working knowledge of India employment and labour laws of and the relevant financial services regulatory framework;
• Investigations and employment experience from either a well-regarded private practice or an in-house role with a global financial institution or equivalent;
• Reasonable experience in advising on and coordinating employment litigation and complex employee matters;
• Experience in handling legal investigations, conducting interviews, fact finding and evidence gathering;
• Strong working knowledge of the management of restructuring and redundancies;
• Experience managing outside counsel on major deliverables;
• Ability to understand privacy & confidentiality obligations;
• Strong experience in researching statutory enactments and judicial case laws and applying the same as per requirement at work;
• Ability to provide clear and pragmatic advice to, and deal confidently with, individuals at all levels, including senior People team and business leaders.
• Demonstrable integrity and ability to uphold organization values and ethics;
• Excellent oral and written English communication, drafting and negotiation skills - additional local language skills would be beneficial;
• A collaborative and inclusive working style;
• Excellent stakeholder management skills;
• Ability to work with matrix management;
• Ability to exercise sound judgment in handling sensitive matters;
• Strong analytical thinking and critical reasoning skills to devise and deliver appropriate solutions;
• Credible and strong stakeholder management experience, at all levels, with the ability to prioritise, manage expectations, obtain stakeholder buy-in and escalate appropriately;
• Flexible and adaptable working style to react to changing priorities;
• Self-motivation to drive delivery against objectives in an efficient and timely manner;
• Willingness to learn;
• Ability to cultivate and maintain strong working relationships with internal clients;
• Capability to travel intra city, inter cities to addresses matters for the organization.

At BNY, our culture speaks for itself. Here s a few of our awards:

• America s Most Innovative Companies, Fortune, 2024
• World s Most Admired Companies, Fortune 2024
• Human Rights Campaign Foundation, Corporate Equality Index, 100% score, 2023-2024
• Best Places to Work for Disability Inclusion , Disability: IN - 100% score, 2023-2024
• Most Just Companies , Just Capital and CNBC, 2024
• Dow Jones Sustainability Indices, Top performing company for Sustainability, 2024
• Bloomberg s Gender Equality Index (GEI), 2023

Our Benefits and Rewards:

BNY offers highly competitive compensation, benefits, and wellbeing programs rooted in a strong culture of excellence and our pay-for-performance philosophy. We provide access to flexible global resources and tools for your life s journey. Focus on your health, foster your personal resilience, and reach your financial goals as a valued member of our team, along with generous paid leaves, including paid volunteer time, that can support you and your family through moments that matter.

BNY is an Equal Employment Opportunity/Affirmative Action Employer - Underrepresented racial and ethnic groups/Females/Individuals with Disabilities/Protected Veterans.