Employee Relations & Advisory Team Lead

Are you an experienced senior HR professional looking for the opportunity to shape and lead a newly created function within one of the UK's most iconic cultural organisations?

My client is the world's leading group of science museums, inspiring millions of visitors each year. It operates five museums across the UK and works to engage people with science, technology, engineering and innovation through exhibitions, learning programmes and research.

As they continue to evolve their People & Culture function, they are looking for an experienced Employee Relations & Advisory Team Lead to establish and lead a new centre of expertise, ensuring colleagues and managers receive a consistent, high-quality and commercially focused employee relations and advisory service.

This is an exciting opportunity to join the organisation at a time of transformation. Reporting to the Head of People, you'll lead a small team of Employee Relations Advisors and People Advisors, working closely with People Partners and the wider People & Culture team to embed new ways of working, strengthen governance and help create an exceptional employee experience across their national museum group.

The Employee Relations & Advisory Team Lead role is a permanent position paying £60,000 - £70,000 per annum and can be based in London, York, Bradford, Manchester or Wroughton, with hybrid working available. Occasional travel between sites will be required.

Some of the key responsibilities of the role include:

• Leading, coaching and developing a team of Employee Relations Advisors and People Advisors, creating a collaborative, customer-focused and high-performing culture.
• Establishing and embedding a new Employee Relations & Advisory Centre of Expertise, ensuring consistent support across the organisation and close partnership with the People Partner and People Operations teams.
• Acting as the senior escalation point for complex and sensitive employee relations matters, including disciplinaries, grievances, organisational change, restructures and senior exits.
• Building robust employee relations governance, developing policies, frameworks, guidance and reporting that ensure consistency, fairness and compliance with UK employment legislation.
• Working closely with senior leaders, recognised Trade Unions and external legal advisers to provide expert advice, manage organisational risk and support strategic decision-making.
• Using employee relations data and insight to identify trends, improve people practices and provide meaningful reporting to senior leadership.
• Supporting large-scale organisational change programmes, consultations and restructures while ensuring managers are equipped with the tools and confidence to lead their teams effectively.
• Managing relationships with external employment law and occupational health providers, overseeing budgets and ensuring high-quality, cost-effective support.

This is a fantastic opportunity for an experienced leader who enjoys combining strategic thinking with a hands-on approach. You'll have significant experience operating within a complex, multi-site organisation and be confident managing high-risk employee relations issues while leading and developing others. You'll bring excellent knowledge of UK employment law, outstanding stakeholder management skills and the ability to influence senior leaders with pragmatic, solutions-focused advice.

Experience working within a unionised environment, the public, cultural or not-for-profit sector and a Chartered CIPD qualification would be advantageous, although not essential.

The interview process will consist of two stages.

If you're looking for an opportunity where you can make a real impact, shape a newly established function and contribute to an organisation with an inspiring purpose, I would love to hear from you.