Senior Labor Relations Leader — Enterprise Strategy & Bargaining

FirstEnergy; Akron (OH); On-site; USD 110,000 - 150,000; Full time

Job summary

FirstEnergy is seeking a Lead, Labor Relations to provide strategic leadership and enterprise coordination for complex labor programs across our represented workforce. This senior advisor role partners with HR, Operations, Legal and Labor Relations leadership to shape bargaining and contract administration.

The position emphasizes cross-functional project leadership, data-driven labor analytics, and development of enterprise policies and tools to ensure consistent, compliant labor relations

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in Human Resources, Business Administration, Industrial Relations, Labor Relations, or related discipline.
• 8–10 years progressive labor relations experience in a unionized environment.
• Experience supporting or leading collective bargaining, contract administration, grievance resolution, arbitration, and complex labor relations matters.
• Demonstrated experience leading complex programs or cross-functional initiatives.
• Strong understanding of labor law, collective bargaining agreements, grievance/arbitration processes, and union-management relations.
• Demonstrated ability to analyze complex workforce and labor issues and translate findings into business recommendations.
• Strong executive communication, negotiation, influencing, and conflict-resolution capabilities.

Responsibilities

• Lead enterprise labor relations programs and initiatives aligning with business strategy, workforce objectives, operational performance, and constructive union-management relationships.
• Develop bargaining strategies, costing scenarios, data analyses, and supporting materials.
• Partner with Lead Negotiators and Labor Relations leadership to promote consistency in bargaining strategy and outcomes.
• Evaluate proposed settlements for alignment with enterprise labor strategy, business objectives, financial considerations, and operational requirements.
• Provide strategic support during high-risk or complex negotiations and labor disputes.
• Provide senior-level expertise regarding collective bargaining agreement interpretation, past practices, work rules, and labor-management issues.
• Develop enterprise approaches to recurring or complex contract interpretation issues.
• Identify inconsistencies in contract administration and recommend approaches that strengthen enterprise alignment.
• Support implementation and communication of negotiated contract provisions.
• Develop tools, standards, and governance practices that strengthen contract administration and labor relations execution.
• Lead development and continuous improvement of labor relations policies, practices, tools, and governance processes.
• Monitor developments in labor law, labor market practices, collective bargaining, and employee relations that may affect FirstEnergy.
• Partner with Legal to support compliance with applicable federal and state labor laws and collective bargaining agreements.
• Promote consistent application of labor policies and practices across represented operations.
• Develop tools, resources, playbooks, and training that strengthen labor relations capability across HR and operating leadership.
• Facilitate labor relations education for leaders on contract administration, grievance management, bargaining, and other labor topics.
• Capture and share lessons learned from negotiations, grievances, arbitrations, and significant labor matters.
• Provide technical guidance and mentorship to Labor Relations professionals as a senior subject matter expert.

Skills

Executive communication

Negotiation

Strategic thinking

Labor relations

Cross-functional leadership

Analytical ability

Influencing

Education

Bachelor's degree in HR/Business/Industrial/Labor Relations

Master's degree or JD (preferred)

Job description

FirstEnergy is seeking a Lead, Labor Relations to provide strategic leadership and enterprise coordination for complex labor programs across our represented workforce. This senior advisor role partners with HR, Operations, Legal and Labor Relations leadership to shape bargaining and contract administration.

The position emphasizes cross-functional project leadership, data-driven labor analytics, and development of enterprise policies and tools to ensure consistent, compliant labor relations