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Salary: £80,000–£100,000 + benefits (DOE)

Location: Milton Keynes

UK & Ireland remit

Full-time | Permanent

About the opportunity

Via is partnering with a major multi-site consumer business to recruit a Senior Employee Relations Manager to lead its Employee and Industrial Relations agenda across the UK and Ireland.

This is a senior People leadership position combining employee relations, industrial relations, employment law, trade union relationships and people leadership.

You'll take ownership of the ER strategy across a large, complex workforce, advising senior leaders on high-risk and sensitive matters while developing a more proactive approach to employee relations.

You'll also lead a team of ER specialists and advisers, helping managers become more confident handling people matters while ensuring employees receive a consistent and commercially balanced approach.

What you'll be doing

Lead the Employee Relations and Industrial Relations strategy across the UK and Ireland
Act as a senior adviser on complex and high-risk employee relations matters
Manage and provide guidance around tribunal, litigation and other sensitive cases
Build constructive relationships with recognised Trade Unions
Lead negotiations and support wider industrial relations activity
Partner with senior leaders on employee relations risks and business decisions
Develop ER policies, processes, guidance and manager toolkits
Ensure policies and practices remain compliant with evolving UK and Irish employment legislation
Coach managers and leaders to handle employee relations matters confidently and consistently
Lead and develop a team of Employee Relations specialists and advisers
Oversee the quality and consistency of ER support provided across the organisation
Use ER data to identify trends, emerging risks and opportunities for improvement
Develop employee engagement initiatives, colleague forums and survey activity
Support organisational change, transformation and other major people projects
Provide specialist ER input during restructures and wider business change
Balance employee experience, legal risk and commercial priorities when recommending solutions

What we're looking for

You'll need significant experience in Employee Relations within a large, complex or multi-site organisation.

We're particularly interested in candidates with:

Extensive Employee Relations or Industrial Relations experience
Strong knowledge of UK employment law and ER best practice
Hands-on experience managing complex, sensitive and high-risk ER cases
Trade Union and collective employee relations experience
Experience managing tribunal or litigation matters
Experience operating across a large, geographically dispersed workforce
Strong commercial judgement with the ability to balance people outcomes and business risk
Confidence advising and influencing senior stakeholders
Experience developing ER policies, processes and frameworks
Experience using employee data and trends to identify organisational risks
Strong negotiation and relationship-management skills
Experience leading, coaching and developing ER or HR professionals
The credibility to operate as a senior subject-matter expert within a People function

Experience within retail, hospitality, logistics, manufacturing, distribution, food & beverage or another large multi-site workforce would be particularly relevant, although we're open to candidates from other complex organisations.

A CIPD qualification or degree in HR, Business or a related discipline is preferred.

Why apply?

Estimated £75,000–£90,000 salary depending on experience
Senior leadership position with a UK & Ireland remit
Take ownership of Employee and Industrial Relations strategy
Significant exposure to senior business leaders
Lead and develop an established ER team
Work on complex and commercially significant employee relations matters
Opportunity to shape policies, processes and manager capability
Influence employee engagement and organisational change initiatives
Join a large, recognisable organisation with a complex multi-site workforce
Learning, development and longer-term career progression opportunities

If you're an experienced ER leader with strong trade union, employment law and complex case-management experience, this is an opportunity to take strategic ownership of Employee Relations across a major UK and Ireland workforce.

VIA MATCH LIMITED

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