Associate General Counsel, Labor & Employment

Associate General Counsel, Labor & Employment

Unifi Aviation is the largest aviation services provider in North America, delivering critical ground handling, security, and passenger services to airline partners across North America and the United Kingdom. Unifi employs over 40,000 employees across more than 260 locations. With a rapidly growing footprint and a commitment to operational excellence, Unifi is seeking a seasoned labor relations and litigation leader to join its in-house legal team.

Position Summary

The Associate GC, L&E oversees our labor relations strategy, manages litigation proceedings, and serves as a trusted advisor to the business. This role will serve as a key member of Unifi’s Legal department, responsible for advising on a wide range of labor relations and employment law matters across Unifi and the Argenbright Group of companies. This role requires deep experience in both traditional labor relations and employment litigation, as well as the ability to provide practical, actionable, business-focused legal advice to executives, HR leaders, and operations management in a fast-paced environment. The position also carries direct supervisory responsibility for two Employment Counsels, the Director of Labor Relations, and a Sr. Legal Ops Manager. The role will report directly to the Chief Legal Officer. This role is based on-site at Unifi’s corporate headquarters in Buckhead, Atlanta, GA.

Key Responsibilities

• Lead and supervise a team both lawyers and non-lawyers, providing mentorship, direction, and oversight of their work.
• Advise leadership and HR on all aspects of labor and employment law, including compliance, investigations, employee relations, discipline, and terminations, including in areas of domestic and international expansion.
• Manage and oversee labor relations strategy, including collective bargaining negotiations, grievance handling, arbitrations, unfair labor practice charges, and union campaigns.
• Represent the company in proceedings before the NLRB, NMB, EEOC, state agencies, and other regulatory bodies, directly and in coordination with outside counsel.
• Manage employment litigation, agency actions, and labor disputes, including strategy, budgeting, and oversight of external counsel.
• Proactively develop and provide training and guidance to HR professionals, managers, and executives on employment law compliance, workplace policies, and labor relations best practices.
• Monitor and analyze legal and regulatory developments impacting the aviation services industry and recommend proactive strategies.
• Support corporate initiatives, including acquisitions, restructurings, and compliance programs, with labor and employment law expertise.
• Partner with other in-house counsel and outside counsel on multi-jurisdictional legal matters.

Qualifications

• Juris Doctor (JD) from an accredited law school; member in good standing of at least one state bar (Georgia bar membership strongly preferred).
• At least 10 years of progressive labor and employment law experience, including 5+ years with a national law firm specializing in labor and employment and relevant in-house experience at one or more companies with labor intensive workforces.
• Extensive knowledge of state and federal employment laws across the employee life cycle, including recruiting and hiring, accommodations, leaves of absence, investigations, wage and hour issues, discipline and terminations.
• Strong background in traditional labor relations, including collective bargaining, arbitration, and union organizing campaigns.
• Demonstrated experience managing employee-related claims including informal demands, administrative charges and investigations, arbitration and mediation and litigation at the trial and appellate levels.
• Prior supervisory or team leadership experience, with the ability to mentor and develop junior attorneys and labor relations professionals.
• Ability to work both independently with little oversight and collaboratively and cross-functionally.
• Experience drafting and negotiating labor and employment related documents, agreements, policies, handbooks and procedures.
• Proven ability to work effectively in a fast-paced, operationally complex, and highly regulated industry.
• Excellent communication, negotiation, and problem-solving skills, with the ability to influence senior leaders and build strong relationships across the organization.
• Prior experience in the aviation, transportation, or service-intensive industries strongly preferred.
• Prior experience supporting L&E matters in international geographies preferred.

What We Offer

• Competitive compensation and benefits package to include flight benefits with Delta Air Lines.
• Opportunity to play a central leadership role in shaping the labor and employment law function of a fast-growing, industry-leading aviation services company.
• Collaborative and mission-driven corporate culture with direct exposure to executive leadership.