Senior/Principal Associate - Employment

Join one of the UK's leading employment teams and play a key role in advising some of the most ambitious and innovative businesses in the market. As a Senior Associate or Principal Associate in our national Employment team, you'll work as part of a high performing and collaborative group recognised for delivering commercial, pragmatic and solutions focused advice to employers across a broad range of sectors and industries.

This is an opportunity to take on a genuinely varied practice advising on complex contentious and non-contentious employment matters including Employment Tribunal litigation, strategic workforce projects, transactional (corporate and real estate) support and day to day advisory work. You'll have the autonomy to manage your own matters while benefiting from the support, expertise and national reach of a highly regarded team.

Our clients operate across Shoosmiths' key sectors of Consumer & Retail, Energy & Infrastructure, Financial Services, Mobility, Logistics & Manufacturing, and Technology & AI. You'll advise fast growing businesses, major corporates and household names on employment issues that are business critical, commercially significant and often at the forefront of legal and workplace developments. The role also offers excellent exposure to international work. You'll support clients with multi jurisdictional workforce issues, cross border projects and international transactions, working alongside trusted overseas counsel as part of a globally connected network.

Whether you're looking to deepen your technical expertise as a Senior Associate or broaden your client leadership and business development responsibilities as a Principal Associate, you'll find real opportunities to develop your career, build your profile in the market and contribute to the continued growth of a successful national practice. From day one, you'll be encouraged to take ownership of client relationships, participate in business development initiatives and collaborate with colleagues across the firm. You'll work alongside talented lawyers who are committed to excellence while maintaining a genuinely supportive and inclusive culture.

Shoosmiths is the law firm clients choose for excellent service, incisive thinking and, above all, our ability to focus on what matters most. With offices across the UK and Brussels, we partner with some of the world's most exciting, innovative and ambitious organisations, helping clients make a meaningful impact in their industries and communities. Our people are empowered to bring their authentic selves to work, collaborate in high-performing teams and deliver exceptional results through a culture built on excellence, innovation and mutual support.

As the first Top 50 law firm to achieve the Investors in People Platinum Standard, our values are more than statements on a website. They are embedded in everything we do and form the foundation of our success. Alongside a competitive remuneration package, we offer high quality work, a supportive environment and a comprehensive, flexible benefits programme designed to reward and support our people. We believe our success is driven by our employees and we are committed to recognising their contribution to the firm's continued growth and achievements.

Shoosmiths is proud to be a Disability Confident Employer. Disability Confident is a government scheme designed to encourage employers to recruit and retain disabled people and those with long term conditions. We are committed to ensuring our recruitment process is inclusive and accessible to and usable by everyone. If you have a disability or long-term condition and would like to receive information in a different way, or need us to make any adjustments, changes or do anything differently during the recruitment process, please get in touch with the Talent Acquisition team.

The team is ambitious, supportive and committed to helping its people build successful and rewarding careers. We're looking for an experienced employment lawyer with 5+ years' PQE and a strong track record of advising employer clients across both contentious and non-contentious employment matters. You'll be commercially minded, personable and enthusiastic about building lasting client relationships. Confident managing matters independently while collaborating effectively within a team, you'll have experience advising on a broad range of employment law issues including disciplinary and grievance matters, discrimination and whistleblowing claims, employment contracts and policies, restructures, redundancies and the employment aspects of corporate, real estate and insolvency transactions.

Experience advising on international employment law matters and coordinating multi-jurisdictional projects will be highly valued. Above all, we're looking for someone who enjoys working closely with clients, is passionate about delivering outstanding service and is excited by the opportunity to contribute to a growing and ambitious national team.

Our approach to our people is underpinned by our approach to diversity, inclusion and well-being. Our ambition is to build a diverse and ambitious workforce that reflects all backgrounds and talents, and a workplace that is supportive and inclusive, recognises and nurtures talent, and has a strong sense of community between colleagues.