Employee Relations & HR Compliance Director

Dentsu Aegis Network; London; On-site; GBP 70,000 - 100,000; Full time

Job summary

Dentsu is seeking an Employee Relations and HR Compliance Director to lead HR strategy and compliance across its UK operations. This role involves collaborating with senior leaders, managing complex employee relations issues, and ensuring adherence to employment laws. The successful candidate will have extensive experience in Employment Law and a proven ability to influence and engage stakeholders.

Benefits

Flexible working arrangements

Competitive salary and benefits package

Qualifications

• 10+ years in Employment Law and Employee Relations.
• Experience managing complex workplace issues.
• Ability to handle confidential information professionally.

Responsibilities

• Provide guidance on HR policies and processes.
• Investigate employee relations issues and grievances.
• Design and deliver training for HR Business Partners.

Skills

Employment Law

Employee Relations

Communication

Interpersonal Skills

Project Management

Analytical Skills

Problem-Solving

Leadership

Stakeholder Management

Education

Legal Practice Course (LPC) qualification

Tools

MS Office

Job description

Job Description:

Dentsu is at the cutting edge of the industry, producing new ways of working and generating growth through the power of technology and creativity. For over 120 years, innovation has been a core tenet of dentsu’s offering – exploring new ways to reach, engage, and nurture relationships with audiences. Innovation is a key priority for brands, but few have the tools and systems in place to make it happen. They need a partner like dentsu.

Through innovation, we ensure the impact our clients need to drive growth in their business, while also generating a positive effect on the industry, society, and the world. Innovation at dentsu is always in pursuit of an outcome, meaning we are always focused on the end impact that we’ll have for a client and their communities. For some businesses, this might be a hard return on marketing investment or increasing revenues, but for others, it may be driving behavioral change, building positive culture, or connecting disparate communities.

Purpose of the Role

The Employee Relations and HR Compliance Director will collaborate with senior business leaders, senior HR Business Partners, and the dentsu Legal & Compliance team to set the ER strategy and provide expertise, advice, and guidance to senior HR Business Partners and senior business leaders (where required). The role involves reviewing and revising HR policies, ensuring consistent application, facilitating compliance with employment laws, and overseeing the investigation and resolution of complex or sensitive employee relations issues across dentsu’s UK operations (~4,000 employees), including global and regional management structures and UK market business.

The role is approximately 70% supporting the UK Located Population and 30% supporting EMEA regional and market best practices through leading a “Centre of Excellence”. Additionally, the role involves utilizing data and analytics to identify trends, diagnose challenges, and collaborate cross-functionally to implement proactive solutions.

Key Responsibilities

• Provide guidance to senior HRBPs and managers within the UK Located Population to ensure fair and consistent application of policies and processes.
• Partner with senior HR Business Partners and the dentsu Legal & Compliance team to investigate and resolve employee relations issues, grievances, and complaints, including:
• Analyze employee relations issues and trends to identify root causes and recommend interventions to improve culture and reduce incidents.
• Ensure compliance with employment laws and regulations in collaboration with legal teams and external counsel.
• Design and deliver employee relations training for HR Business Partners and managers, in partnership with HR Centers of Excellence and legal teams.
• Advise on complex employee relations matters such as performance management, terminations, restructurings, leave, workplace safety, anti-discrimination, and conflict resolution.
• Leverage metrics and data to identify organizational trends, develop action plans, and implement solutions to enhance engagement and reduce risks.
• Lead updates to UK & HR Group policies to ensure legal compliance, involving stakeholders across global, EMEA, and UK teams.
• Manage the Policy Sub Committee for reviewing and approving UK&I policies, ensuring stakeholder consultation.
• Lead and develop a small ER team, ensuring continuous upskilling.
• Oversee triaging of HR-related issues across EMEA markets, ensuring proper guidance, outcome review, and timely closure.
• Establish best practices for managing contingent workers across regions, ensuring legal compliance and proper tracking in Workday.

Qualifications + Skills

• Extensive experience in Employment Law (10+ years preferred) and Employee Relations in the UK, managing complex workplace issues and policy development.
• Excellent verbal and written communication skills.
• Strong interpersonal, influencing, and stakeholder management skills.
• Proven success in establishing collaborative relationships across all organizational levels.
• Deep knowledge of UK employment laws, including dismissal, TUPE, redundancy, and anti-discrimination laws, with the ability to advise on complex issues.
• Experience supporting multiple locations.
• Excellent project management and organizational skills.
• Exceptional judgment and decision-making skills in sensitive, complex, or ambiguous situations.
• Strong social and emotional skills to build relationships, make responsible decisions, and resolve challenging situations.
• Analytical and problem-solving skills, with the ability to interpret data and trends.
• Ability to handle confidential information professionally.
• Strong time management and prioritization skills, capable of managing multiple projects.
• Proficient in MS Office, especially Excel.
• Ability to work independently.
• Leadership experience in managing a small ER team.

Preferred

• Legal Practice Course (LPC) qualification and legal training experience (2+ years) preferred but not essential if ER experience is extensive.
• Experience with M&A integration, TUPE, divestments, and outsourcing.
• Strong business orientation and a desire to promote a fair, positive work environment.
• Knowledge of Irish employment law is a plus.

What we offer

• Permanent role.
• Flexible working arrangements from our London office.
• Competitive salary and benefits package tailored to your needs.

Inclusion and Diversity

Our culture values diversity and inclusion, enabling employees to bring their whole selves to work. We encourage applications from people of all backgrounds, ages, and abilities. We are open to discussing flexible and agile working arrangements and reasonable adjustments for disabilities or medical conditions.

About dentsu

We connect brand, content, commerce, and experience through insights, driven by modern creativity. As part of Dentsu Group Inc., headquartered in Tokyo, Japan, with 65,000 employees worldwide, we aim to foster societal progress through innovation and inclusivity.

Diversity, equity, and inclusion are central to our social impact and sustainability strategies, promoting a fair and equal society.

Location: London

Brand: Dentsu

Time Type: Full time

Contract Type: Permanent