Senior Counsel, Employment Law - Mars Veterinary Health

As part of Mars—a family‑owned business with 90 years of experience in pet care—Mars Veterinary Health is a globally‑connected pet healthcare network that’s united by purpose, powered by data, and driven by people. With 3,000 veterinary clinics made possible by 70,000+ Associates who care for 10M+ pets across 30 countries each year, we’re creating seamless access to quality care at scale—from preventive and wellness to specialty and emergency—and at every stage of a pet’s life.

Together, we’re advancing our Purpose—A BETTER WORLD FOR PETS—and supporting a thriving future for the veterinary professionals who make pet healthcare possible.

This role requires Associate to work out of a MVH Hub location in Vancouver, WA.

The Senior Counsel, Employment Law supports Mars Veterinary Health’s (MVH) business units in North America, including Banfield, Blue Pearl, and VCA. This role is part of the MVH Legal function’s regional Employment Law Center of Excellence & Deployment (CoE&D), a collaborative pool of legal resources designed to flexibly support business needs, balance workload across the team, and provide responsive, high‑impact employment law guidance across multiple business lines and jurisdictions, including outside the United States with the assistance of local counsel.

The Senior Counsel, Employment Law advises on a wide range of employment and labor‑related issues and strategic workforce matters, including employment agreements, restrictive covenants, policy development, administrative claims, litigation (single party and class action), and other dispute management, associate relations, and professional licensing and liability matters.

• Provide proactive legal counsel to P&O and business leaders to support day‑to‑day decision‑making and workforce strategy development across Banfield, Blue Pearl, and VCA, covering a broad spectrum of employment and labor law issues including performance management, investigations, terminations, discrimination, wage & hour compliance, accommodations, leaves, I&D, and professional licensing and liability matters (e.g., overseeing license defense).
• Advise on employment litigation and pre‑litigation matters, including responding to agency charges, internal complaints, and managing outside counsel.
• Contribute to the development, implementation, and maintenance of employment policies, handbooks, and training materials tailored to the North American workforce as well as conduct trainings with the P&O teams.
• Draft and advise on Employment Agreements for veterinarians as well as other Associates throughout MVH.
• Stay current with and communicate changes in federal, state, provincial, and local employment laws across North America; assess potential impacts and coordinate responsive actions.
• Collaborate with global Legal colleagues across MVH and greater Mars to align North American practices with global employment law strategies and policies.
• Provide legal guidance in connection with workforce changes, including restructuring/severance, acquisitions, divestitures, and related integration activities.
• Partner with P&O on immigration matters. Supervise outside attorney preparation of employment‑based immigration petitions, prepare, review and file PERM applications and provide support to P&O in preparing PERM recruitment documentation.
• Participate in and/or lead cross‑functional projects, sharing knowledge and insights with peers across Legal (including risk and regulatory compliance), P&O, and operational teams.
• Mentor more junior attorneys or Legal staff as needed.
• Live and exemplify the Five Principles of Mars, Inc. within self and team.
• Other job duties as assigned.

• Juris Doctor (JD) from an ABA‑accredited law school and admission to practice law in the United States.
• 8+ years of experience practicing employment law preferred, with a significant portion spent as in‑house counsel in a large, matrixed, or multi‑unit organization.
• Deep understanding of U.S. federal and state employment laws; labor law and Canadian employment law experience strongly preferred.
• Proven ability to manage multiple complex legal issues simultaneously…