General Counsel - Head of Legal - Employment

Whitbread; Dunstable; Hybrid; GBP 120,000 - 130,000; Full time

Job summary

Whitbread is seeking a Head of Legal - Employment to oversee employment law matters across UK, Ireland, and Germany. This hybrid role will engage with executive leadership to ensure compliance and implement strategic legal initiatives, while driving cost-effective legal solutions and enhancing stakeholder relations.

Qualifications

• Minimum 5 years post-qualification experience in UK Employment Law.
• Experience in senior legal roles within multi-site organisations.

Responsibilities

• Act as the senior legal contact for all employment law matters across UK, Ireland, and Germany.
• Provide commercial legal advice on employment matters.
• Oversee procurement of external legal advice and manage relationships.

Skills

Verbal and written communication

Stakeholder management

Commercial focus

Project management

Education

Solicitor's practicing certificate

Job description

Head of Legal, Employment – Whitbread – Dunstable

Salary: £120,000 - £130,000

Location:Hybrid role minimum 3 days per week in office based at Whitbread Court, Dunstable (LU5 5XE) with some working in Holborn, London (EC1N 2TD)

We’re Whitbread the UK’s largest hospitality business with over 1,200 hotels and restaurants across the UK but we’re more than that. We’re the 38,000 people who make everyday experiences special that delight over 5 million guests every month.

We are proud to have been recognised as a Top Employer for 14 consecutive years, voted a top apprenticeship employer by Department of Education and Rate my Apprenticeship, this year we placed #10 in the Stonewall Workplace Equality Index for our commitment to LGBTQIA+ inclusion at Whitbread and have been awarded as a Top 25 Exemplary Employer in the Investing in Ethnicity Parliamentary Matrix as the only hospitality company leading the way in terms of Inclusion.

We are now recruiting a Head of Legal - Employment reporting into the Legal Director. You will sit on the People Committee, working closely with the Chief People Officer and team to develop and deliver the People strategy and support our business growth.You’ll work in partnership with external legal providers to put into place a new panel to best support the business and deliver cost savings.

In this role you will be advising the CEO and his executive team regarding people initiatives and the implications of decisions made. Whilst the role will have primarily a UK and Ireland focus, you will also be working on international strategy in partnership with our Germany team.

This is a first in-house Head of Legal - Employment role at Whitbread that will support our strategy to innovate and grow both our UK and International business for Whitbread.

What you’ll do:

• You will act as the senior legal contact for all employment law matters across our UK, Ireland and Germany sites providing expert advice to the business, including the Executive Committee on all employment legal matters and consequences.
• Provide practical commercial and strategic legal advice on contentious and potentially contentious employment matters, risk assessment of complaints and develop a legally sound strategies which are in the best possible interests of the business.
• Participate in the development of legally sound policies and programmes in all areas of UK Labour and employment law.
• Oversee regular reviews of employee handbook, contracts of employment and other legal documents and policies.
• Oversee the procurement of all external legal advice on people-related matters together with Group General Counsel and Chief People Officer where required and manage these external relationships to deliver business cost needs and oversee performance against SLA.
• Advice on employment immigration issues, sponsorship, and license matters, ensuring legal compliance with immigration requirements.

What you’ll need:

• Hold a practising certificate from the Solicitor’s Regulation Authority with at least 5 Years post-qualification experience specialising in UK Employment Law gained as a director or Senior Associate in a law firm or holding a current Head of Legal, Senior Legal Counsel roles within a multi-site organisation with a similar employee base.
• Good working knowledge or UK Employment laws and regulations.
• Excellent verbal and written communication skill, with the ability to present complex legal information clearly in a manner that is understandable by a wide range of stakeholders.
• Proven ability to manage multiple projects and priorities in a fast-paced environment.
• Extensive stakeholder management and engagement capability across all levels of the business up to Executive/ Board level and external legal advisors with the ability to build strong and sustained relationships to achieve better results.
• Solutions focused, pragmatic and commercial with the ability to identify opportunities for improvement and to facilitate the implementation of creative solution that enhance service provision.