Head of Employee Relations

Location: Hybrid working, with occasional travel for client and team meetings. Candidates must be based in the South East of England.

Job Type: Full-time (minimum 30 hours per week)

Salary: Starting from £67,000 FTE per annum

We offer a competitive salary package aligned with current market rates for this role. The final offer will reflect your skills, experience and qualifications, alongside our commitment to internal equity.

About us

We’re a full-service HR consultancy that partners with clients to help their people and businesses thrive. Sometimes we act as their in-house HR team, sometimes as an extension of their existing people team — but always as a trusted partner that genuinely cares.

We believe people are the foundation of every business’s success. Our job is to help clients create workplaces where everyone can do their best work.

The opportunity

We're looking for a Head of Employee Relations (South East) to join our growing Employee Relations leadership team.

Working alongside our Head of Employee Relations (South West), you'll lead our Employee Relations service across the South East region, helping to ensure our clients receive exceptional advice, support and outcomes.

This is a senior, hands‑on leadership role. You'll lead and develop a talented team of ER specialists, build trusted relationships with clients, and personally support some of the most complex and high‑risk employee relations work we deliver.

You'll also play a key role in the ongoing development of Fitzgerald's wider Employee Relations service, helping us strengthen capability, maintain quality and support continued growth.

What you’ll be doing

Leading a high‑performing ER team

• Leading and developing a team of Senior ER Specialists and ER Specialists.
• Creating clarity, focus and accountability across the team.
• Supporting colleagues to develop their technical expertise and confidence.
• Managing workload, capacity and delivery quality.
• Building a positive, high‑performing culture where people feel supported, challenged and valued.

Leading complex client work

• Acting as a trusted advisor to senior client stakeholders.
• Leading and overseeing complex employee relations matters, including investigations, disciplinary and grievance processes, appeal hearings, restructuring, redundancy and TUPE projects.
• Supporting clients through high‑risk and sensitive people challenges.
• Reviewing and quality‑assuring advice and documentation.
• Drafting and reviewing employment contracts, policies and procedures.

Driving quality and commercial success

• Delivering agreed billable income and performance targets.
• Ensuring work is appropriately scoped, priced and delivered.
• Managing risk and maintaining high professional standards.
• Supporting client retention, account development and new opportunities.
• Working closely with colleagues across People Partnering and Talent & People Solutions to deliver joined‑up client support.

About you

You’re an experienced Employee Relations leader who combines technical expertise with sound judgement, commercial awareness and a genuinely people‑centred approach.

You’ll bring:

• Significant experience leading complex Employee Relations work.
• Strong working knowledge of UK employment law.
• Experience supporting disciplinary, grievance, investigation, restructuring, redundancy and TUPE processes.
• Experience leading and developing people.
• Confidence building relationships with senior stakeholders.
• Strong commercial awareness and experience managing competing priorities.
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills.

You’ll also be:

• A clear, credible and engaging communicator
• Calm under pressure and comfortable with ambiguity
• Highly‑organised, detail‑focused and able to juggle multiple priorities
• Collaborative, values‑led and invested in developing others

CIPD Level 7 or equivalent employment law qualification (or qualified by experience at that level) is essential. Experience in consultancy or professional services is highly desirable.

You must be based in the South East of England. You’ll also need a UK driving licence and be happy to travel as required for the role.

The perks

• Competitive salary (starting from £67,000 per annum FTE)
• 25 days’ annual leave to start, rising to 27 after one year and 29 after two years, plus bank holidays
• Career qualifications supported and paid for, with real opportunities to grow
• Monthly homeworking allowance and all equipment provided
• Flexible working patterns for a healthy work‑life balance
• Pension scheme options (including salary sacrifice) and 4% employer pension contributions, with a minimum of 4% employee contributions
• Life assurance at four times basic salary
• Shopping discounts platform, flu vaccinations, and technology and cycle‑to‑work schemes
• Medicash health cash plan and wellbeing benefits (including EAP)
• Enhanced family leave
• A growing, progressive business with people at its heart

We’re committed to building a diverse and inclusive team and actively encourage applications from people of all backgrounds.