Executive Compensation & Employee Benefits Associate

Executive Compensation & Employee Benefits Associate

Overview

An Am Law 50 firm with 25+ offices across the U.S., Europe and Asia is hiring a mid-level associate (JD class of 2022 or 2023) for its Compensation & Benefits group. The work centers on executive and equity compensation for growth-stage technology and life sciences companies, their investors, and public company clients.

You can sit in almost any of the firm’s U.S. offices, which cover both coasts, Texas, the Midwest and the Southeast.

What you'll do

• Spot and resolve executive pay and benefits issues in strategic M&A, private equity deals and other corporate transactions
• Design and draft equity and cash incentive plans, executive employment agreements, and severance and change-in-control arrangements
• Draft compensation and benefits disclosure for SEC filings, including proxy statements and IPO registration statements
• Counsel clients day to day on deferred compensation, equity plan administration and incentive program design
• Branch into qualified retirement plans, ESOPs and health and welfare plans if you want a broader practice
• Own workstreams directly with partners, corporate deal teams and client HR and legal leads

Why this platform

• Deal flow from formation to exit. The firm's emerging companies and venture practice is among the most active in the country, so you will follow clients from early equity grants through financings, IPOs and acquisitions.
• A ranked benefits practice. The group is recognized by the major legal directories for transactional benefits and executive compensation work.
• Pay at or above market. Base salary follows the market scale, and the firm pays above-market merit bonuses to associates with exceptional performance. Exceptional benefits.
• A culture associates rate highly. The firm placed in the top 15 nationally for wellness, compensation and hours in a major 2026 associate survey.
• Real training and mentoring. Practice academies, retreats and partner shadowing are built into the first years after you join, with a formal plan to integrate lateral hires onto client teams.

Qualifications

• JD from a top law school, class of 2022 or 2023, with executive compensation and benefits experience at a peer law firm
• Hands-on transactional work, ideally on both strategic and private equity deals
• Interest in growth-stage technology and life sciences clients
• Retirement plan, ESOP or health and welfare experience is a plus, not a requirement
• Strong academic record, clear writing, and the judgment to run a workstream with limited oversight
• Bar admission in the state of the office you would join (or eligibility to waive in)
• U.S. work authorization.

Compensation and benefits

Base salary will be $310,000 (class of 2023) or $365,000 (class of 2022), on the market scale.