Senior Employment Counsel

Hiscox; Colchester; On-site; GBP 110,000 - 150,000; Full time

Job summary

Hiscox is seeking a Senior Employment Counsel to act as the lead employment lawyer within the Hiscox Legal team. The role partners with the Group General Counsel and senior HR and business leaders to deliver commercially focused employment law advice across the Group.

The successful candidate will provide strategic guidance on workforce changes, investigations and regulatory alignment while balancing legal risk with business objectives. Strong stakeholder management and discretion are essential.

Qualifications

• Qualified solicitor or equivalent with significant post-qualification experience.

Responsibilities

• Act as a trusted adviser to the Group General Counsel and senior stakeholders on employment law and workforce matters.
• Provide commercially pragmatic legal advice to support strategic decisions while managing risk.
• Lead major people projects including restructuring, senior hiring/exits, and workplace investigations.
• Support cross-border workforce initiatives and harmonise advisory across the Group.
• Advise on employee relations, disciplinary and grievance matters, performance management and equal opportunity issues.
• Oversee internal investigations, whistleblowing matters and when needed instruct external counsel.

Skills

Employment law expertise

Education

Qualified solicitor or equivalent

Job description

Job Type:

Permanent

Build a brilliant future with Hiscox

Senior Employment Counsel

The Role

This is a senior legal business partner role within the Hiscox Legal team, reporting to the Group General Counsel.

The successful candidate will serve as the lead employment lawyer for Hiscox, providing commercially focused legal advice on employment, labour relations, workforce change, employee relations, investigations and people-related risk across the Group.

The role combines strategic advisory work with hands-on support for complex and sensitive employment matters. The successful candidate will work closely with senior leaders in Human Resources, business leadership, Risk, Compliance and local legal teams to support good decision-making, protect the business and enable Hiscox to manage its workforce in a fair, compliant and commercially effective way.

The role requires excellent legal judgement, strong stakeholder management skills, discretion, resilience and the ability to balance legal rigour with pace, pragmatism and sensitivity across multiple jurisdictions.

Key Responsibilities

Strategic Business Partnering

• Act as a trusted legal adviser to the Group General Counsel, Chief People Officer, people leadership and senior business stakeholders on employment law and workforce-related matters.
• Provide commercially pragmatic legal advice which supports strategic decision-making and helps manage employment, conduct, regulatory and reputational risk.
• Support significant people-related projects, including organisational design, restructuring, transformation, senior hiring and exits, workplace investigations and cross-border workforce initiatives.
• Influence and shape business outcomes through proactive engagement, clear risk analysis and solution-oriented legal support.

Employment Law Advisory

• Advise on the full range of employment law matters, including employee relations, disciplinary and grievance issues, performance management, sickness absence, reasonable adjustments, whistleblowing, discrimination, harassment, restrictive covenants and settlement agreements.
• Advise on senior executive employment arrangements, departures, severance, garden leave, confidentiality, post-termination restrictions and related governance considerations.
• Support the business and HR teams on legally sensitive people matters requiring careful judgement, confidentiality and clear documentation.
• Provide practical guidance that balances legal risk, employee fairness, regulatory expectations and commercial objectives.

Workforce Change and International Support

• Lead legal support for restructurings, reorganisations, redundancy programmes, transfers and other workforce change initiatives.

• Advise on cross-border employment matters, working with local legal colleagues and external counsel where required.

• Support consistency of employment law advice across the Group while recognising local legal, regulatory and cultural requirements.

• Help senior stakeholders manage people risk arising from acquisitions, integrations, disposals, outsourcing and business transformation.

• Investigations, Litigation and Disputes

• Advise on internal investigations, whistleblowing matters, conduct concerns and other sensitive employee issues.

• Manage employment disputes, threatened claims and litigation, including instructing and supervising external counsel where appropriate.

• Support preparation of legally privileged advice, investigation plans, witness materials, settlement strategy and risk assessments.

• Identify themes and lessons learned from disputes and investigations, and work with stakeholders to reduce future risk.

Policy, Governance and Regulatory Alignment

• Advise on employment-related policies, procedures, templates and guidance, ensuring they remain legally compliant, practical and aligned with Hiscox values.
• Monitor legal and regulatory developments affecting employment law and workforce governance, translating them into practical guidance for HR and the business.
• Support employment-related aspects of regulatory, governance and culture matters, including conduct, accountability, whistleblowing, diversity and inclusion, and workplace behaviour.
• Contribute to training and awareness for HR, managers and legal colleagues on key employment law and people risk topics.

Legal Operations and Team Contribution

• Drive continuous improvement in the delivery of employment law support, including use of templates, playbooks, triage processes, AI tools and external counsel management.
• Optimise use of external counsel and legal service providers, ensuring cost discipline, quality and appropriate escalation of sensitive matters.
• Promote collaboration, knowledge sharing and best practice across the global Legal function and people teams.
• Support and mentor colleagues within the Legal team where appropriate.

Role Scope

• Lead employment law support for significant, sensitive and cross-border people matters.
• Manage a diverse portfolio of complex employment law and workforce risk matters with substantial autonomy.
• Act as employment law subject matter expert within the Hiscox Legal team.
• Build trusted relationships with people team, senior management, Risk, Compliance and local legal teams.
• Contribute to the ongoing development of the Legal function and its operating model.

Reporting Relationships

• Reports to the Group General Counsel.
• Acts as the lead employment law adviser to the Group General Counsel, People leadership and senior business stakeholders.
• Works closely with People, Risk, Compliance, Privacy, Finance and local legal teams.
• Manages relationships with external employment law advisers and other relevant legal service providers.
• Supports and develops more junior legal colleagues where appropriate.

Knowledge, Skills and Experience

Essential

• Qualified solicitor or equivalent lawyer with significant post-qualification experience