Employee Relations Lead

Legal 500; Greater London; Hybrid; GBP 65,000 - 90,000; Full time

Job summary

Legal 500 seeks a senior Employee Relations specialist to lead complex ER matters, advising managers and senior stakeholders across the organisation. You will manage investigations, disciplinaries and absence cases, while ensuring policy compliance and effective joint consultation where needed.

You will also own and improve people frameworks, oversee job profile governance, and support fair progression, promotion and pay review activity within a unionised or representative environment.

Qualifications

• Significant employee relations experience within a medium-sized or large organisation.
• Experience advising senior leaders and influencing decision-making.
• Strong working knowledge of UK employment law and unionised environments.
• Ability to balance legal compliance with business priorities during organisational change.

Responsibilities

• Lead on complex employee relations matters and provide expert guidance to managers and senior stakeholders.
• Support investigations, disciplinaries, grievances, performance and absence cases needing senior input.
• Maintain compliant policies and processes; oversee job description governance.
• Support fair progression, promotion and pay review processes; manage collective consultation when required.

Skills

Employee relations leadership

Complex case handling

UK employment law knowledge

Stakeholder management

Collective consultation experience

Policy governance & implementation

Risk assessment & compliance

Clear communication & influencing

Job description

About Legal 500

Legal 500 is a global legal market research, data and intelligence business. Our research helps corporate clients make informed decisions about legal representation and gives law firms insight into their market position, performance, and clients.

Beyond research, we’re building a growing data, benchmarking, market-intelligence and subscription service offering. We bring the legal market together through a global programme of events - awards ceremonies, conferences and roundtables that convene leading law firms, in-house teams and their advisers. And through Legal Business, our journalistic title, we deliver independent news, analysis and commentary on the business of law and the strategy, performance and leadership of the world’s leading law firms.

We are a growing, multi-site organisation, with colleagues working across research, data, technology, product, journalism, commercial and events in London, Leeds and Bristol.

About the Role

This is a senior specialist role within our People & Business Operations team. You will be the organisation’s expert on employee relations, providing guidance and directly managing complex people matters, maintaining effective working relationships with union representatives, including regular engagement and the resolution of collective issues, supporting business change and ensuring our people frameworks remain effective, practical and legally compliant.

Alongside complex casework, you will take ownership of key people frameworks, ensuring decisions relating to progression, promotion and employee relations are applied consistently and fairly.

This role offers the opportunity to shape how Legal 500 approaches employee relations, people governance and organisational frameworks over the coming years.

What you’ll do

Employee Relations & Advice

• Lead on complex employee relations matters, providing expert advice and guidance to managers and senior stakeholders

• Support the management of investigations, disciplinary, grievance, performance, capability and absence cases where senior specialist input is required

• Monitor emerging employment law developments and ensure organisational policies and processes remain compliant

People Frameworks & Governance

• Maintain and continuously improve frameworks that support consistent people decision-making across the organisation

• Oversee job description governance, ensuring role profiles remain accurate, consistent and aligned to agreed standards

• Support fair and transparent approaches to promotion, progression and pay review activity

What we’re looking for

We’re looking for an experienced Employee Relations professional who combines strong technical expertise with excellent judgement and stakeholder management skills.

You’ll likely bring:

• Significant employee relations experience gained within a medium-sized or large organisation
• Experience managing complex and sensitive employee relations matters
• Strong working knowledge of UK employment law
• Experience advising senior leaders and influencing decision-making
• Experience leading or supporting formal collective consultation processes and building constructive relationships with employee representatives in a unionised or representative environment
• Able to balance legal compliance, commercial priorities and employee engagement when handling complex organisational change
• Excellent communication, influencing and relationship-building skills
• A pragmatic, solutions-focused approach balanced with sound judgement and attention to risk
• Experience developing, implementing or maintaining people frameworks such as grading, levelling, progression or reward structures would be advantageous
• Experience working within professional services, publishing, media or similar environments would be beneficial

What Success Looks Like

• Managers are confident and well supported when handling employee relations matters
• Complex cases are managed effectively and consistently
• People frameworks are trusted, maintained and applied fairly
• Policies and processes remain compliant and fit for purpose
• Strong, constructive relationships are maintained across key stakeholder groups, including union representatives and union regional officers
• Employee relations risk is identified and addressed proactively

Role Information

• Hybrid workplace - 3 days a week in office, 2 days remote
• This role can be based in either London or Leeds
• Occasional travel to the other offices may be required (Bristol, London and Leeds)