Employment Lawyer

MI5; Greater London; On-site; GBP 87,000 - 96,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

25 days annual leave

Performance recognition scheme

Dedicated development budget

Interest-free season ticket loan

Excellent pension scheme

Cycle to work scheme

On-site gym and cafés

Paid parental and adoption leave

Job summary

MI5 is seeking Employment Lawyers to join a specialist team handling diverse, high‑stakes cases across staff policies, HR strategy and litigation, while supporting national security objectives.

You'll advise on recruitment, vetting, and day-to-day HR matters, including disciplinary, capability and grievance issues, with a focus on delivering sound legal guidance in a sensitive environment.

Qualifications

• Qualified solicitor or barrister with a minimum of around 2 years' PQE experience, qualified to practice in England and Wales.
• Previous employment law experience in the public or private sector is essential; in-house experience is preferred.

Responsibilities

• Advise on recruitment, vetting and day-to-day HR matters.
• Advise on disciplinary, capability and grievance issues.
• Provide advice on Employment Tribunal claims and wider litigation.
• Offer guidance on ethics, communications and security matters.
• Provide reliable legal support on a range of internal casework.

Skills

Employment law

Advisory work

HR policies

Litigation

Stakeholder management

Education

Qualified solicitor/barrister (England & Wales)

Job description

Job description

Flexible working:

due to the sensitive nature of the work, remote working or home working will not be possible. However, other flexible working options such as part-time (minimum four days per week), compressed hours and job shares would all be considered.

About us

MI5 keeps the country safe from serious threats like terrorism and attempts by states to harm the UK, its people and way of life. We carry out investigations by obtaining, analysing, and assessing intelligence, and then work with a range of partners including MI6 and GCHQ to disrupt these threats. Through our protective security arm, we provide advice and guidance to government, businesses and other organisations about how to keep themselves safe. A role in MI5 means you'll do unique and challenging work in a supportive and encouraging environment, making a real difference to UK national security.

The role

As one of our Employment Lawyers, you'll join a team of specialists working across a diverse portfolio of unique, challenging cases. You'll provide expert advice on employment and people-related matters, ranging from staff policies and contracts, HR strategy and litigation, through to more sensitive matters such as mitigating risks to national security. In doing so, you'll provide vital support at the heart of our organisation.

This is an opportunity to use your skills and experience in ways you'd expect, in a context you wouldn't. You might be advising on recruitment, vetting and day-to-day HR matters. Or, you could be taking on advisory work across disciplinary, capability and grievance issues. From Employment Tribunal claims and wider litigation to advising on ethics, communications and security matters, you'll provide reliable and trusted legal support on a range of internal casework. Plus, with no client time recording or billable hour requirements in this role, you'll be able to focus on delivering sound legal advice and meaningful solutions that support our national security mission.

Some aspects of the role might require travel around the country or internationally, but this is infrequent and not an expected day-to-day aspect of the job.

If you're curious about how national security shapes an organisation's response to employment law, this is the role for you.

About you

You'll be a qualified solicitor or barrister, with a minimum of around 2 years' PQE experience, qualified to practice in England and Wales. Previous employment law experience in either the public or private sector is essential and in-house legal experience is preferred.

You'll have the ability to explain complex employment law matters clearly and simply to those without a legal background. With a pragmatic approach to problems, you'll think creatively to find solutions, both independently and as part of our small, collaborative team. Proactive and conscientious, you'll be adept at handling complex and sensitive queries with credibility and build relationships with a broad range of stakeholders.

Training and development

Upon joining, you'll receive an initial induction as well as on-the-job training. Your manager will provide feedback, guidance and support via regular catchups, and you'll be surrounded by a small, welcoming team who can provide additional help and advice as you settle in.

Plus, you'll have access to courses in our internal training academy, giving you the chance to further your professional development and gain wider support in a collegiate environment. You'll be encouraged to take responsibility for your own training and development, as you seek to identify and take advantage of opportunities appropriate to your own goals and needs. We'll provide you with a dedicated development budget to support you in doing this.

Rewards and benefits

You’ll receive a starting salary of £86,779 to £96,097 (depending on experience) plus other benefits including:

• 25 days of annual leave automatically rising to 30 days after 5 years' service, and an additional 10.5 days of public and privilege holidays
• opportunities to be recognised through our employee performance scheme
• a dedicated development budget
• an interest-free season ticket loan
• an excellent pension scheme
• a cycle to work scheme
• facilities such as a gym, restaurant and on-site coffee bars
• paid parental and adoption leave

Equal opportunities

At MI5 diversity and inclusion are critical to our mission. To protect the UK, we need a truly diverse workforce that reflects the society we serve. This includes diversity in every sense of the word: those with different backgrounds, ages, ethnicities, gender identities, sexual orientations, ways of thinking and those with disabilities or neurodivergent conditions. We therefore welcome and encourage applications from everyone, including those from groups that are under‑represented in our workforce such as women, those from an ethnic minority background, people with disabilities and those from low socio‑economic backgrounds.

Find out more about our culture, working environment and diversity on our website.

We're Disability Confident

MI5 is proud to have achieved Leader status within the Department for Work and Pensions' Disability Confident scheme. This is aimed at encouraging employers to think differently about disability and take action to improve how they recruit, retain and develop disabled people.As a Disability Confident Leader, we aim to ensure that a fair and proportionate number of disabled applicants whobest meet the essential minimumcriteria for this position,will be offered an interview,if it is practical for us to do so.(This is known as the Offer of an Interview.) To secure an interview for this role, the minimum criteria (in order of application process) are:

• you'll be required to reach the minimum pass mark for the online Situational Judgement Test (SJT), which assesses criteria important for all roles in our organisation
• be able to demonstrate the skills referenced for the role and an ability to find creative solutions to difficult legal problems - assessed at application sift
• able to demonstrate an ability to think creatively to deliver practical outcomes - assessed at application sift

There is a wide range of extra support available throughout the recruitment process to enable you to do your best, see our website for information on reasonable adjustments we can offer.

What to expect

• Initial online application.
• Online Situational Judgement Test (SJT