About the Role

We are seeking a highly skilled and entrepreneurially-minded employment lawyer to join Beacon's legal team as our first dedicated employment specialist. This is a foundational role - you will build Beacon's employment legal function from the ground up, partnering closely with HR to establish the policies, templates, and processes that will underpin how Beacon and its portfolio companies operate as employers. Reporting to Beacon's VP, Legal, you will serve as the go-to employment law resource across the organization, advising on the full spectrum of employment matters: from day-to-day questions arising across our growing portfolio to managing complex terminations, navigating employment claims and litigation, and building out the scalable infrastructure that a permanent-hold, multi-entity acquirer needs. This is a high-impact, high-autonomy role for a lawyer who thrives on building, is energized by variety, and wants to own an entire function rather than execute within one.

What You'll Do
• Employment Function Builder: Own the build-out of Beacon's employment legal function. This means establishing the infrastructure from scratch: designing the governance model, setting employment law coverage across Beacon and its portfolio, and creating the workflows and escalation protocols that allow the business to operate at scale. You will be the single point of accountability for employment law across the organization and will define what that function looks like.
• HR Partnership and Policy Development: Work hand-in-hand with Beacon's HR team to build the foundational building blocks of the employment relationship - employment agreements, offer letter templates, onboarding and offboarding documentation, HR policies, employee handbooks, and codes of conduct. Ensure all policies and practices are legally compliant, commercially sensible, and scalable across a multi-entity, multi-jurisdiction organization. Partner with HR on sensitive people matters, providing real-time legal guidance that balances risk management with practical business outcomes.
• Portfolio Employment Support: Serve as the employment law resource for Beacon's portfolio of vertical market software companies. Field and resolve the full range of employment questions that arise across the portfolio-compensation and benefits, workplace accommodation, leaves of absence, performance management, misconduct investigations, and more. Develop repeatable frameworks and toolkits that allow portfolio company operators to handle routine matters confidently while knowing when to escalate.
• Terminations and Separations: Manage and advise on all aspects of employee terminations and separations across Beacon and its portfolio, including without-cause terminations, performance-based dismissals, restructurings, and mutual separations. Draft and negotiate separation agreements and releases. Advise on appropriate severance entitlements under applicable employment standards and common law, minimizing legal exposure while achieving business objectives. Provide practical, real-time guidance to HR and management on how to conduct terminations appropriately.
• Employment Claims and Litigation Management: Own the management of employment-related claims and disputes, including human rights complaints, wrongful dismissal claims, constructive dismissal claims, and regulatory complaints before the Ministry of Labour or equivalent bodies. Where external counsel is engaged, act as the primary internal contact, managing the relationship, providing instructions, and ensuring alignment with Beacon's objectives and budget. Maintain a working knowledge of active matters and provide regular updates to leadership.
• Templates, Precedents, and Playbooks: Build and maintain a library of employment law templates, precedents, and playbooks that can be leveraged across Beacon and its portfolio. This includes offer letters and employment agreements (standard and executive), termination letters, severance templates, separation agreements, performance improvement plan frameworks, investigation protocols, and employment standards compliance checklists. Your templates should reduce legal cost, increase speed, and ensure consistency across the organization.
• Regulatory Compliance and Employment Standards: Monitor and manage ongoing compliance with employment standards legislation, pay equity, accessibility, workplace health and safety, and other applicable regulatory requirements across federal and provincial jurisdictions. Advise on the employment law implications of M&A transactions - including employment due diligence during the acquisition process - and manage employment-related post-closing integration matters.
• AI-Powered Legal Operations: Leverage AI tools and technology to accelerate document drafting, policy review, legal research, and claims management. Continuously identify opportunities to build AI-assisted workflows that increase efficiency and reduce cost across the employment function.

Who You Are

• J.D. or LL.B. from an accredited Canadian law school; member in good standing of the Law Society of Ontario.
• 6+ years of employment law experience at a top-tier law firm, or 5-7 years in an in-house employment counsel role at a technology company or high-growth organization - ideally with experience on both sides.
• Deep, hands-on expertise in Canadian employment law, including the Employment Standards Act (Ontario), Human Rights Code, Occupational Health and Safety Act, and common law obligations. Familiarity with federal employment legislation (Canada Labour Code) is a strong asset.
• Proven experience managing terminations and drafting separation agreements, including experience advising on appropriate severance entitlements and negotiating resolutions.
• Experience managing employment claims and disputes, including responding to Ministry of Labour complaints, human rights applications, and wrongful/constructive dismissal actions.
• Demonstrated ability to draft and maintain employment agreements, HR policies, employee handbooks, and employment templates from scratch or from precedent.
• Strong track record of partnering directly with HR and People teams as a business-oriented, solutions-focused legal partner - not just a gatekeeper.
• Highly proficient with AI tools for legal work (e.g., AI-assisted document drafting, legal research, policy review). A genuine enthusiasm for integrating AI into day-to-day legal practice is essential.
• Comfortable operating as a generalist employment lawyer, capable of handling a wide range of matters simultaneously across multiple entities and jurisdictions.
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills, with the ability to translate complex legal concepts into clear, actionable guidance for non-legal business partners.
• Experience in M&A employment diligence and integration is a strong asset.