Middlemore are retained with PE backed business in the Cheshire region, who are seeking an experienced employment lawyer to lead its employment law agenda across the group. This is a newly created, hands-on role for someone who can combine strategic advisory work with practical day-to-day support across a broad range of people-related legal matters.
This is a newly created role, designed to:
- Reduce reliance on external employment counsel and reinvest that spend into internal capability.
- Provide faster, commercially focused advice directly to the People team, Executive Leadership Team and wider business.
- Build a centre of excellence for employment law, strengthening the partnership between Legal and People while supporting future growth and organisational change.
The role
- Lead the provision of employment law advice across the group, acting as the main point of contact for the People team and senior management.
- Advise on complex employee relations issues including grievances, disciplinaries, whistleblowing, restructures, and senior exits.
- Manage employment litigation and tribunal claims end to end, including instructing and overseeing external counsel where required.
- Draft, review, and maintain employment contracts, policies, handbooks, and template documentation to a consistently high standard.
- Support organisational change matters including restructures, redundancy programmes, and post-acquisition integration.
- Provide employment law input into M&A activity, commercial transactions, and new market entry.
- Ensure ongoing compliance with employment legislation and horizon scan for relevant legislative and case law developments.
- Advise on executive hiring, settlement agreements, restrictive covenants, and confidentiality arrangements.
- Deliver practical training to managers and the People team to build capability and confidence.
- Work in partnership with the People team to embed sound legal thinking into policy and process from the outset.
About you
- Qualified solicitor in England & Wales, or equivalent jurisdiction, with a strong specialism in employment law.
- Significant post-qualification experience, typically 10+ years, gained in private practice, in-house, or both.
- Strong current knowledge of UK employment law.
- Experience within a regulated environment, particularly financial services or telecoms, would be beneficial but is not essential.
- Commercial and pragmatic, with the ability to translate legal risk into clear, actionable advice.
- Confident advising and influencing senior stakeholders, including at board level.
What’s on offer
- Salary - c£120k - £140k + bonus, benefits
- A role with genuine scope to influence at senior level.
- The opportunity to support the business from day one and contribute to an environment that values inclusivity, innovation, agility, and grit.
Head of Legal (Employment Law) in Cheshire employer: Middlemore
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