Head of Employment Law

JR United Kingdom; Cleckheaton; On-site; GBP 60,000; Full time

Job summary

A leading people consultancy in the UK seeks a strategic Head of Employment Law to join their Senior Leadership Team. This role involves developing a high-performing team, providing tailored legal advice to SME clients, and enhancing client relationships. The ideal candidate will exhibit strong leadership, a strategic mindset, and a commitment to the company's core values which emphasize collaboration, commercial success, and community support.

Benefits

25 days holidays + bank holidays

Pension scheme with employer contribution

Death in service benefit

Employee Assistance Programme

Qualifications

• Substantial experience delivering high-quality employment law advice to SME clients.
• Demonstrated leadership capabilities managing high-performing legal teams.
• Outstanding communication and interpersonal skills.

Responsibilities

• Lead and manage the employment law team, fostering excellence and collaboration.
• Provide sound employment law advice to SME clients.
• Oversee department operations ensuring efficiency and adherence to KPIs.

Skills

Leadership

Client-Centric Focus

Strategic Mindset

Relationship Management

Commercial Acumen

Job description

Social network you want to login/join with:

Annual Salary: £60,000 (based on 40 hours Mon-Fri 9.00am – 5.00pm)

Hours: Full and part time applications welcome – min of 30 hours required

Office Based – Cleckheaton BD19 – you must live within a commutable distance to BD19

• Holidays: 25 days + bank hols (Additional Holidays for length of service).
• Pension Scheme: Salary sacrifice scheme, 5% employee and 5% employer contribution
• Death in Service: 3x annual salary
• EAP: Help@Hand

Howarths is an award-winning 2nd generation family run business with an exciting opportunity for a people focused and strategic Head of Employment Law to join the Senior Leadership Team. The team comprises 5 direct reports.

Howarths is a leading people consultancy specialising in Employment Law, Health & Safety and HR Growth. We work with over 600 client companies throughout the region on a fixed fee annual contract basis. We love what we do and we genuinely want to add value to our SME client base.

The ideal candidate combines strong leadership with solid employment law knowledge. We are looking for an experienced people manager and an experienced legal advisor, capable of guiding and supporting a high-performing team.

This role requires a balance of operational focus and strategic thinking, ensuring the department runs efficiently and effectively while driving a ‘best in class’ service. A key objective is to enhance the client experience and support long-term client retention through the delivery of proactive and commercial advice delivered in line with Howarths values. This role forms a key part of our Senior Leadership Team (SLT) and plays a critical role in shaping the future of our business growth strategy.

THE ROLE

• Lead, manage, and develop the employment law team, fostering a culture of excellence, collaboration, and continuous improvement.
• Conduct regular performance reviews, set clear objectives, and support ongoing training and development.
• Take ownership of resource planning and workload allocation to ensure ‘best in class’ service.
• Oversee the day-to-day operations of the employment law department, ensuring consistent service delivery, adherence to KPIs, and operational efficiency.
• Contribute to and deliver on Howarths strategic objectives, using data and insights to drive decision-making, continuous improvement, and client satisfaction.
• Support the development and execution of internal processes, tools, and frameworks to enhance departmental effectiveness.
• Strengthen client relationships through exceptional service delivery and a proactive, solutions-led approach.
• Provide sound, commercially focused employment law advice to our SME client base on a wide range of matters, including TUPE, redundancy, business restructuring, disciplinary and grievance processes, capability, discrimination, and both employment contracts and directors’ service agreements.
• Ensure all legal advice is tailored, accurate, practical, and delivered within agreed service levels..
• Lead and manage Employment Tribunal claims from start to finish, including early ACAS conciliation, drafting and submitting ET3 responses, representing clients at preliminary hearings (PHR), negotiating settlements, and occasionally attending final hearings.
• Design and deliver engaging employment law seminars and training coures, tailored to client needs and current legal developments.
• Produce legal articles, commentary, and thought leadership pieces to support Howarths marketing, PR, and client engagement strategies.
• Oversee and support the drafting of client documentation, including employment contracts, handbooks, and workplace policies, ensuring alignment with current legislation and best practice.
• Support upselling initiatives by introducing relevant services and contribute to achieving departmental revenue and retention targets.
• Maintain personal CPD to ensure ongoing legal expertise and compliance with professional requirements.
• Contribute to the creation of a positive, collaborative, and supportive working culture in line with Howarths’ values and vision.

THE CANDIDATE

The successful candidate for the position of Head of Employment Law will possess the following qualifications, experience and qualities:

Qualification and Experience:

• Experience: Substantial experience delivering high-quality, commercially focused advice to SME clients across a broad range of employment law matters.
• Leadership & Team Development: Demonstrated leadership capabilities, with experience managing, mentoring, and developing high-performing legal or advisory teams. Able to inspire and lead by example in a collaborative environment.
• Client-Centric Focus: A deep understanding of SME client needs, with the ability to tailor services, build trusted advisor relationships, and drive long-term client satisfaction and retention.
• Strategic Mindset: Ability to shape and implement departmental strategies that support wider business goals, enhance operational efficiency, and contribute to growth and client retention.
• Relationship Management: Outstanding communication and interpersonal skills, with the ability to build rapport, influence stakeholders, and represent the business confidently in both client-facing and leadership settings.
• Commercial Acumen: A commercially minded and results-driven individual with a strong focus on identifying opportunities to increase expand client engagement to support revenue growth.
• Values Alignment: Embodies our values of graft, together, heart, and grit.
• Graft: Ownership, flexibility, dedicated and pragmatic.
• Together: Communication, respect, collaboration and compassion.
• Heart: Understanding, empathy, joy, and integrity.
• Grit: Resilience, courage, enthusiasm and proactive.

Howarths are an ambitious company with a brilliant track record of year-on-year growth, profitability and development. We place significance on values such as graft, together, heart and grit. These core principles run right through our business and as a result, in all our dealings with clients. Our vision is to grow year on year, however we want to do this in the right way, maintaining our values and adding stability to the business. Building a great reputation is paramount and something that has been key to our business strategy from day one. We have been in business 22 years and our success is built on hard work, collaboration, and a passion for excellence.

As an employer we value the benefits of a good work life balance and promote a positive working environment. We genuinely care about each member of our team and their contribution to the business and our clients.

Equally, we have made a commitment to our community and set-up our own charity; Howarths Foundation, supporting people who have been homeless or are at the risk of becoming homeless in Leeds and Kirklees, to take the next step back into employment. Up to 10% of our profits are donated to the charity each year.

HOW TO APPLY

If you’re ready to lead an Employment Law team that turns exceptional service into long-term partnerships, we’d love to hear from you! Please send your CV by return.