Senior Employment Counsel UK & Europe

GSK; Greater London; Hybrid; GBP 60,000 - 80,000; Full time

Job summary

A leading consumer health company is seeking a UK qualified lawyer with substantial employment law experience to provide legal support and advice. You will manage a range of employment-related matters and help implement HR policies to minimize legal risks. The position requires at least 6 years of PQE and strong communication abilities. The candidate must be proactive with a practical approach and able to work in a fast-paced environment, attending the London office at least two days per week.

Qualifications

• Minimum 6 years PQE as an employment lawyer.
• Must be able to attend Haleon’s UK offices at least 2 days a week.
• Demonstrated ability to learn and apply new legal concepts quickly.

Responsibilities

• Provide legal advice and implement employment-related policies.
• Manage employment-related claims and advise on employee grievances.
• Support training for HR on employment law risks and best practices.

Skills

UK employment law experience

Excellent communication skills

Ability to work under pressure

Analytical thinking

Problem-solving

Education

UK qualified lawyer

Job description

Welcome to Haleon. We’re a purpose-driven world‑class consumer company putting everyday health in the hands of just three years since our launch we’ve grown evolved and are now entering an exciting new chapter one filled with bold ambitions and enormous opportunity.

Our trusted portfolio of brands including Sensodyne Panadol Advil Voltaren Theraflu Otrivin and Centrum lead in resilient and growing categories. What sets us apart is our unique blend of deep human understanding and trusted science.

Now it’s time to fully realise the full potential of our business and our people. We do this through our Win as One strategy. It puts our purpose to deliver better everyday health with humanity at the heart of everything we do. It unites us inspires us and challenges us to be better every day driven by our agile performance‑focused culture.

About the role

In this role you will be business partnering through the provision of UK employment law advice to the business.

You will be helping the business make pragmatic commercial and ethical decisions in relation to a broad range of employment and regulatory matters across the full employee life cycle including hiring, performance management, family leaves, compensation and benefits, restructures, HR initiatives and inclusion efforts.

Further responsibilities include supporting the continued training, development and tooling of UK HR to be self‑sufficient in day‑to‑day ER processes.

Additionally you will support Europe HR by working with local counsel on matters outside the UK and support the global HR Legal service delivery model both on global projects and individual matters.

We are looking for an individual with a practical approach and a continuous improvement mindset who can combine legal and professional expertise and anticipate and solve problems.

Key responsibilities

• Align business partners including HR, Reward and Employee Relations stakeholders and manage legal risk.
• Provide legal advice and support implementation of employment‑related policies, procedures and initiatives.
• Manage employment‑related claims / disputes and advise on effective management of employee grievances and investigations to minimise legal risk to the Company.
• Support drafting and negotiating broad range of employment‑related agreements, analyse employment and compensation‑related issues and provide subject‑matter expertise on issues related to every aspect of the employment lifecycle.
• Provide general advice regarding employee benefits.
• Identify topics for development of guidance templates and tools to enable HR to self‑serve and be self‑sufficient in low‑risk HR Legal matters.
• Participate in creating and providing training on key employment law risks, changes to the law and best practices.
• Provide strategic support for HR risk management efforts.
• Engage and manage external legal counsel effectively and ensure that our engagements reflect our inclusion and belonging legal obligations and policies.
• Interface with company employees at all levels including senior executives and business lawyers.
• Collaborate with other lawyers on the Global HR Legal team with respect to advice and counselling provided to HR and other business partners.
• Act as point of escalation on more complex Europe matters to provide practical clear support and guidance to market HR teams where matter does not merit escalation to Head of Global Employment but further support is needed to supplement advice from Outside Counsel.
• Support Global HR legal projects including by facilitating the preparation of market versions of global contract and (where appropriate) policy templates and obtaining market legal advice to support the design and delivery of global projects.

Qualifications and skills

Essential

• UK qualified lawyer with substantial UK employment law experience.
• Minimum 6 years PQE as employment lawyer.
• Excellent communication and interpersonal skills including ability to interact with all levels of management.
• Demonstrated ability to work under pressure, juggle numerous priorities, meet deadlines and work independently as well as in a team environment.
• Demonstrated ability to learn and apply new legal concepts quickly, proactively identify issues and succeed in developing solutions in a fast‑paced environment.
• Must be able to attend Haleon’s UK offices in Bankside London at least 2 days a week.
• Must be able to travel and demonstrate flexibility in personal schedule where required.

Preferred

• In‑house experience strongly preferred.
• Experience working in a CPG or FMCG environment.
• Demonstrated ability working with outside counsel from other jurisdictions particularly in Europe to advise HR outside UK.
• Key soft skills: influencing, empathy, analytical thinking, taking initiative, prioritisation, pragmatism, solutions‑focused approach and resilience in managing ambiguity.

Equal Opportunities

Haleon is committed to mobilising our purpose in a way that represents the diverse consumers and communities who rely on our brands every day. It guides us in creating an inclusive culture where different backgrounds and views are valued and respected all in support of understanding and best serving the needs of our consumers and unleashing the full potential of our people. It’s important to us that Haleon is a place where all our employees feel they truly belong.

During the application process we may ask you to share some personal information which is entirely voluntary. This information ensures we meet certain regulatory and reporting obligations and supports the development, refinement and execution of our inclusion and belonging programmes that are open to all Haleon employees.

The personal information you provide will be kept confidential, used only for legitimate business purposes and will never be used in making any employment decisions including hiring decisions.

Adjustment or Accommodations Request

If you require a reasonable adjustment or accommodation or other assistance to apply for a job at Haleon at any stage of the application process please let your recruiter know by providing them with a description of specific adjustments you are requesting. We’ll provide all reasonable adjustments to support you throughout the recruitment process and treat all information you provide us in confidence.

Note to candidates

The Haleon recruitment team will contact you using a Haleon email account (@). If you are not sure whether the email you received is from Haleon please get in touch.

Job Posting End Date

Employment Type: Full‑Time