Head of Employee Relations - EMEAPAC (FTC)

Company Overview

Norton Rose Fulbright is a global law firm with more than 3,000 lawyers advising clients across the United States, Europe, Canada, Latin America, Asia, Australia, Africa and the Middle East. With over 50 offices and 7,000 employees worldwide, our culture is a thread that connects us, guided by unity, quality and integrity.

Role Overview

Reporting to the Director of Partner Performance & Business Partnering, the Head of Employee Relations will drive the Employee Relations vision and strategy across the EMEAPAC region. This is a 12‑month fixed‑term contract role with one ER Manager reporting into it.

Key Responsibilities

• Work closely with partner leadership, General Counsel, Risk, and senior teams to develop, drive and communicate the ER strategy across the EMEAPAC region.
• Drive best practice approaches to ER issues across the firm.
• Further develop and refine the suite of ER templates and tools (PIPs, redundancies, investigations, terminations, etc.) to support business partnering and advisory teams.
• Proactively review employee handbooks, policies and contractual documents, updating them to align with strategy, culture and legal changes.
• Maintain a deep understanding of employment law changes and industry trends, incorporating them into day‑to‑day ER operations and briefing relevant teams.
• Lead People & Culture initiatives in response to the Employment Rights Act (2025).
• Build clear processes and structures for handling Partner ER matters, including investigations and complaints.
• Build strong, sustainable relationships across the firm and act as a trusted advisor.
• Support leadership coaching to reduce ER risks and promote inclusive leadership.
• Monitor and advise on regional ER cases and provide strategic advice to the business partner teams.
• Enable and upskill local people and culture teams through training or coaching.
• Build and lead the Centre of Excellence (“CoE”) for ER, providing strategic advice on policies, investigations and processes.
• Design and deliver training programmes in collaboration with Learning & Development, General Counsel and Compliance.
• Provide strategic commercial advice to regional business partners, heads and local offices on policies, ER matters, cases, exit negotiations, investigations and processes.
• Conduct and review ER processes, coach and advise on investigations and support complex exercises such as reorganisations and TUPE.
• Drive a data‑led approach, monitor ER metrics, analyse trends, spot issues and propose targeted interventions.
• Work with General Counsel to meet legal and regulatory requirements (e.g., SRA) and report matters for EPLI purposes.
• Build strong relationships with external counsel, manage the external legal budget, and minimise costs for complex cases.
• Lead and initiate ER‑related initiatives within wider People & Culture projects, providing a people‑ER/risk perspective.

Key Skills and Experience

• Relevant ER experience, including setting, communicating and driving ER vision and strategy.
• Experience dealing with complex ER matters across a multinational organisation.
• Experience leading ER at all levels, including senior leadership and partners, ideally within a partnership structure.
• Strong understanding of managing complex reporting relationships in a matrixed organisation.
• Exceptional partnering, consulting, influencing, negotiation and relationship management skills.
• Commercial acumen, balancing business and people needs.
• Excellent written and oral communication, with the ability to influence across all levels.
• High degree of professional ethics and integrity.
• Strong leadership and team management experience.
• Substantial international experience, willingness to travel, and ability to work across time zones.

Diversity, Equity and Inclusion

To attract the best people, we strive to create a diverse and inclusive environment where everyone can bring their whole selves to work, feel a sense of belonging, and realise their full career potential. Our enabled work model offers flexibility in how employees choose to work from the office or remotely, while delivering the highest standards of service.

We offer a range of family‑friendly and inclusive employment policies and access to programmes and services that nurture health and overall well‑being. We are proud to be an equal‑opportunity employer and encourage applications from individuals who complement our existing teams. We strive to create an inclusive and accessible recruitment process for all candidates. If you require any tailored adjustments or accommodations, please let us know.