Senior Employee Relations Specialist - 12 month fixed term contract in Edinburgh

Overview of Department

The people team develops the capabilities, culture and experiences that create a human and commercial edge for Baillie Gifford. We exist to make the firm the world’s most distinctive place to grow a career, investing in our people with the same long‑term conviction as our portfolios and continually reimagining how work is done to outpace the industry. The team supports the full people lifecycle, including people operations, people partnering, leadership, learning and capability development, attraction and resourcing, organisational culture, reward, wellbeing and the end‑to‑end people experience. Through this work, we ensure that people and performance are deeply connected and that our colleagues are equipped to deliver long‑term value for clients.

Purpose of Role

Our Senior Employee Relations Specialist is responsible for managing and resolving complex employee relations issues. The role involves delivering clear, human‑centred and technology‑enabled advice, ensuring compliance with employment laws and People policies. The role helps us to build trust with colleagues, ensure fair outcomes, compliance, and policy clarity. The role is envisaged to be a full time position, although we are happy to consider the role on a part‑time or job‑share basis.

Responsibilities

• Manage a portfolio of complex People Relations cases, providing seamless human‑centred and commercially sound advice.
• Expert adviser for escalated policy queries from managers and colleagues, balancing colleague and manager experience with the firm’s risk appetite.
• Identify opportunities to simplify policies and processes so it is easy for colleagues and people managers to do the right thing.
• Contribute to a culture of continuous improvement, transparency, and accountability within the People Team.
• Contribute to data‑driven reporting and identification of themes to improve case management outcomes and influence our People Relations approach.
• Support the People Relations Manager with all People Relations processes including conflict resolution, litigation and business change.

What success looks like:

• Clear, human people experiences
  • Delivers simple, supportive services on all complex case matters.
  • Success looks like: Clear and consistent processes; High trust and satisfaction from colleagues and people managers; Contributes to service culture grounded in empathy, clarity, and follow‑through; Advice is grounded in strong technical knowledge with risk well understood, well managed, and proportionate.
• Trusted people data and insight
  • People Relations data is accurate, timely, and used to support sound decisions.
  • Success looks like: Clear and practical data; High confidence in data quality and integrity; Insight that informs policy improvements and proactive advice to leaders.

Your knowledge and experience:

• A strong technical HR specialist with deep employment law knowledge.
• Financial services experience is preferred.

The type of candidate that we’re looking for:

You’ll be colleague‑focused with a genuine interest in creating a great people experience across the organisation. You’ll be able to distil complex facts into clear, simple and commercial recommendations that align with our legal obligations and our shared beliefs. Comfortable working with ambiguity, you’ll be adept at managing multiple, and often competing, priorities at the same time, supported by excellent organisational skills. You’ll be skilled at building strong, trusted relationships at all levels and confident in constructively challenging stakeholders when needed, while also demonstrating the ability to listen, reflect and bring people with you. You’ll be digitally fluent and curious, excited by the potential of using data to help develop our People Relations offering in line with our strategy and priorities, and open to testing new and innovative approaches.

Critical skills:

• Digital effectiveness (including AI)
• Storytelling
• Openness and discernment

Closing Date: February 20, 2026

At Baillie Gifford we are committed to fostering an inclusive and respectful culture in which each of our colleagues can thrive and develop. We believe that our clients are best served by a diverse workforce with the experiences, ideas and perspectives that this brings.