Lead Employee Relations Advisor

Autotrader; Manchester; Hybrid; GBP 45,000 - 50,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Shares scheme

Pension plan

Private medical cover

28 days annual leave

Job summary

Autotrader is looking for a Lead Employee Relations Advisor to join its People Partnering team. This senior role involves end-to-end ownership of complex ER matters, mentoring peers, and elevating policy and practice across the function.

You will balance hands-on casework with strategic influence, guiding the team to deliver high-quality, compliant employee relations outcomes within a hybrid UK setup.

Qualifications

• Significant experience in a specialist Employee Relations role within a commercial environment.
• Extensive experience leading complex, sensitive, higher-risk cases independently.
• Deep employment law knowledge with commercial pragmatism.
• Experience coaching, mentoring, or supporting less experienced ER/People professionals.
• Strong stakeholder management, with credibility with senior stakeholders.
• Experience reviewing or developing people policies, guidance, or processes.
• Ability to review others' work and provide constructive feedback.
• Excellent written communication and formal documentation skills.
• Ability to delegate effectively and decide where to add value.
• Experience using people data to drive improvements.
• Experience coordinating workload across a team.
• Confident in facilitating workshops or manager development sessions.
• Experience onboarding or developing less experienced team members.
• Understanding payroll-related processes and impacts on pay.

Responsibilities

• Take end-to-end ownership of a diverse but limited caseload, handling complex employee relations matters.
• Act as a credible mentor to People Relations Advisors and guide them through nuanced issues.
• Provide day-to-day supervision across the team and deputise when required.
• Ensure case work maintains high technical standards and legal alignment.
• Apply legal expertise commercially to identify workable solutions in ambiguous situations.
• Balance individual deliverables with enabling the team and maintaining overall quality.

Skills

Employee Relations

Stakeholder Management

Employment Law

Coaching/Mentoring

Policy Development

Written Communication

Delegation

Data-Driven Improvements

Team Coordination

Workshops Facilitation

Onboarding Support

Payroll Understanding

Job description

You've probably heard of Autotrader, but do you know what we're all about?

We're the most trusted, most visited automotive marketplace in the UK. A heritage brand and a tech innovator.We bring together vehicle buyers and sellers to give them real choices. Cars may be what we're best known for but we're also the place for pretty much everything else on wheels, from e-bikes to caravans.

In the automotive world, change is a constant, that’s why we take our job of untangling the complex car-buying journey very seriously. At our core, we’re all about people. We go our own way while embracing diversity and celebrating our differences. We dedicate ourselves to the idea that we work better together.

Autotrader is a beautiful, surprising and vibrant place to work. We might not be for everyone, but we could be perfect for you.

About the job

Our people-centred culture is at the heart of everything we do, and we are looking for a Lead Employee Relations (ER) Advisor to join our collaborative People Partnering team. This specialist role is an exceptional opportunity for an experienced professional ready to make an impact far beyond their own caseload.

Rather than a predictable routine with a rigid to-do list, this position requires you to fluidly transition between doing, leading, and influencing. You will have the platform to help raise standards of quality and consistency. Working alongside a team that values practical judgement, you will find this to be the ideal environment to act as a credible mentor while help shaping how employee relations are delivered within a modern, forward-thinking business.

In this role, you will take end-to-end ownership of your own diverse but limited volume caseload, managing complex, sensitive, and higher-risk employee relations matters with minimal support from initial assessment through to implementation. You will bring deep, expert knowledge of employment law, staying proactively up to date with legislative developments and industry case law, and translating those changes into actionable insight to influence our internal policies, and overall ways of working.

Beyond your hands‑on case management, you will spend much of your time being a natural escalation point and trusted guide for our People Relations Advisors, helping them work through nuanced issues, assess risk, and reach sound conclusions. Partnering closely with the People Relations Manager, you will provide day-to-day supervision across the team, deputise when required, and ensure casework maintains high technical standards.

Crucially, you will be applying your legal expertise commercially and pragmatically, identifying workable solutions where the path forward is ambiguous, and balancing your individual deliverables with the space needed to elevate and support the team.

This is a great opportunity for someone with a passion for ER and who genuinely enjoys helping other people succeed. This role isn't about being given the hardest cases, it means raising the capability and effectiveness of the people around you and thinking about what the team needs, not just what is sat with you.

What we're looking for

• Significant experience working at a similar level in a specialist Employee Relations role within a commercial environment
• Extensive experience leading complex, sensitive and higher-risk cases independently
• Deep employment law knowledge and a sound understanding of the wider employment relationship, with the ability to apply both commercially and pragmatically
• Proven experience coaching, mentoring or technically supporting less experienced Employee Relations or People professionals
• Strong stakeholder management skills, including credibility with senior stakeholders and the confidence to challenge and influence decisions
• Experience reviewing or developing people policies, guidance or processes
• The ability to review the work of others, identify where quality or thinking needs to improve and provide clear, constructive feedback
• Excellent written communication skills and experience producing and reviewing high-quality formal documentation
• The ability to delegate effectively and make considered decisions about where your own time and expertise will add the most value
• Experience using people data and trends to identify and drive service or process improvements
• Experience coordinating workload, operational cover or service delivery across a team
• Confidence facilitating workshops, training or manager development sessions
• Experience supporting onboarding or development of less experienced team members
• Understanding of payroll-related processes and impacts on employee pay

We’re offering a salary of £45,000 – £50,000, plus an additional 10% of your salary awarded to you in shares each year. These awarded shares will become yours in yearly instalments over the next three years, and you can choose to either sell them or keep them as shares.

You'll have 28 days holiday per year, and that's in addition to bank holidays and half day closures on Christmas and New Year's Eve.

That's not all. You'll be enrolled in our pension scheme, where our standard contributions are 7% and employee contributions are 5%. We also have comprehensive private medical cover, enhanced family leave provisions, a car salary sacrifice scheme, share-save options, and much more.

We always want to give you the support you need and help prioritise your wellbeing, that’s why we provide access to a Digital GP service, as well as specialist support for assisted fertility, gender dysphoria, menopause, period care plans and lots more.

On top of all that, our hybrid model, Connected Working , combines the best of both worlds – office and home working. You'll spend a minimum of 3 days a week in the office with your team, focused on collaboration and connection.

Additionally, we have our remote-first periods at set times during summer and winter. During these periods, you can work remotely anywhere in the UK and from certain locations abroad.

Alongside a wide range of benefits, we'll help you settle in with confidence from day one. If you're successful, one of the first things you will experience is our tailored new-starter induction programme, Great Start, designed to help you feel welcome, connected, and set up for success.