Head of Employment Policy & Trade Union Relations

Tower Hamlets London Borough Council; Greater London; On-site; GBP 95,000 - 125,000; Full time

Job summary

Tower Hamlets London Borough Council is seeking a senior leader to head Employment Policy and Practice, shaping policy, employee relations and trade union partnerships to foster a modern, inclusive and high-performing workforce.

Reporting to the Director of HR & OD, you will drive data-led decision-making, lead policy development and workforce governance across the organisation to deliver excellent resident-facing services.

Qualifications

• Extensive experience in senior HR leadership roles.
• Expert knowledge of employment law, employee relations and workforce governance.
• Experience operating within a complex, unionised organisation.
• Strong track record of leading organisational change and policy development.
• Outstanding stakeholder management, negotiation and influencing skills.
• Ability to use workforce insight and data to drive evidence-based decisions.
• Membership of the CIPD at Chartered level or equivalent professional standing.

Responsibilities

• Employment Policy Leadership: Designing and implementing progressive, legally compliant and inclusive employment policies.
• Employee Relations Excellence: Leading the Council's approach to complex and high-risk employee relations matters.
• Trade Union Engagement: Building effective partnership relationships that support positive employment outcomes.
• HR Transformation & Continuous Improvement: Driving simplification, modernisation and service improvement across HR processes and practice.
• Workforce Insight & Governance: Using workforce data, analytics and evidence to inform strategic decision-making and organisational improvement.

Skills

Senior HR leadership

Employment law & ER

Unionised environments

Organisational change

Stakeholder management

Workforce data

CIPD Chartered

Job description

Tower Hamlets London Borough Council is seeking a senior leader to head Employment Policy and Practice, shaping policy, employee relations and trade union partnerships to foster a modern, inclusive and high-performing workforce.

Reporting to the Director of HR & OD, you will drive data-led decision-making, lead policy development and workforce governance across the organisation to deliver excellent resident-facing services.