Senior HR Advisor

Senior HR Advisor – People Services & Advisory Team, UK&I

Role Purpose

The Senior HR Advisor is a key member of the People Services & Advisory team, responsible for delivering expert HR advice across a broad range of employee relations and people matters.

Acting as the primary escalation point for Advisors and People Services team members, the role provides specialist guidance on complex, sensitive, and high-risk employment matters, ensuring consistency, compliance, and effective risk management. This includes reviewing and challenging case strategies, analysis, recommendations and documentation prepared by other team members before matters require escalation to HR leadership.

The role serves as a trusted partner to managers and senior business stakeholders, balancing commercial priorities with legal and employee relations considerations. The Senior HR Advisor must be able to explain risk clearly, provide a reasoned recommendation and influence stakeholders.

In addition to managing complex casework, the Senior HR Advisor plays an important role in coaching and developing Advisors, driving service excellence, and supporting continuous improvement across the People Services function.

Key Responsibilities

Senior HR Advisory & Employee Relations

• Act as the primary escalation point for Advisors and People Services team members on complex employee relations matters, reviewing the facts, evidence, applicable law and policy, procedural approach, risks and proposed recommendation.
• Provide expert guidance on disciplinary, grievance, performance management, capability, absence management, discrimination, whistleblowing, restructuring, redundancy, TUPE, flexible working, and other employment matters.
• Advise on matters involving ambiguity, conflicting evidence, overlapping processes, allegations of discrimination or retaliation, protected disclosures, senior employees, potential litigation, significant reputational concerns or other material organisational risk.
• Independently lead and manage complex, high-risk, and sensitive cases that present legal, financial, operational, or reputational risk.
• Assess risk and provide commercially focused recommendations that balance business requirements, employee experience, and legal compliance. Present stakeholders with clear options, explain the relative risks and consequences, and make a reasoned recommendation.
• Partner with HR leadership, Legal, and business stakeholders to manage significant employment matters and mitigate organisational risk.
• Support managers through difficult employee relations situations, providing coaching and challenge where required. Test assumptions, identify gaps in the available evidence and challenge conclusions that are not adequately supported.
• Ensure consistency and fairness in the application of employment policies, procedures, and people practices.

Team Support & Capability Building

• Provide day-to-day guidance, mentoring, and technical support to HR Advisor and Senior People Services team members, acting as a sounding board on difficult cases and helping colleagues develop their own analysis and judgement.
• Act as a subject matter expert on employment legislation, policy interpretation, and employee relations best practice.
• Review and provide guidance on complex case documentation, outcome letters, settlement agreements, and other sensitive correspondence.
• Quality-assure the work of other team members, identifying factual, legal, procedural or drafting gaps and providing clear, constructive feedback before advice or documentation is issued.
• Support the development of team capability through knowledge sharing, coaching, and informal training.
• Use individual cases and recurring quality issues as opportunities to improve the team’s technical knowledge, reasoning and written advice.
• Drive consistency in decision-making and case management across the advisory team.

Case Management & Risk Oversight

• Oversee the management of complex HR cases, ensuring risks are identified and appropriately managed.
• Monitor case trends and emerging people issues, escalating significant risks or themes to HR leadership.
• Ensure case management standards, documentation, and audit requirements are maintained to a consistently high standard.
• Support workload prioritisation across the team and provide guidance where competing business demands arise.
• Utilise HR metrics and case data to identify trends and recommend proactive interventions.

Stakeholder Partnership

• Build trusted relationships with managers and business leaders, providing credible and pragmatic HR guidance.
• Establish credibility with senior stakeholders through a detailed understanding of the matter, sound judgement and concise, well-reasoned advice.
• Influence decision-making through expert advice, effective challenge, and risk-based recommendations.
• Communicate difficult or unwelcome advice clearly and constructively, maintaining the relationship while remaining firm on material legal, procedural or employee relations risks.
• Partner closely with Legal, Payroll, Talent Acquisition, Reward, Finance, and other stakeholders to deliver integrated people solutions.
• Support organisational change initiatives, restructures, and business transformation activities from an employee relations perspective.

Process Improvement & Projects

• Lead and contribute to HR projects, policy reviews, process improvements, and continuous improvement initiatives.
• Identify opportunities to improve service delivery, increase efficiency, and enhance the employee experience.
• Identify recurring weaknesses in case handling, manager capability or advisory processes and develop practical measures to address them.
• Support the implementation of new HR processes and ensure operational readiness within the advisory team.
• Contribute to the development of HR policies, guidance materials, and manager toolkits.

About You

Skills, Experience & Qualifications

• Significant experience operating in a Senior HR Advisor role, with responsibility for personally leading complex, sensitive and high-risk employee relations matters.
• Demonstrable experience acting as an escalation point and subject matter expert for HR Advisors or junior HR team members.
• Experience quality-assuring complex casework and written documentation prepared by others, while retaining case ownership and accountability at the appropriate level within the team.
• Extensive knowledge of employment legislation and practical application across a range of jurisdictions.
• Strong experience managing complex and high-risk employee relations cases from initial advice through to resolution.
• Experience supporting organisational change, restructures, redundancy programmes, consultations, and business transformation initiatives.
• Proven ability to assess risk, exercise sound judgement, and provide pragmatic, commercially focused recommendations.
• Strong stakeholder management and influencing skills, including the ability to challenge constructively and build credibility with senior managers.
• Ability to operate independently on sensitive matters while recognising when leadership escalation is required.
• Strong analytical, organisational, and prioritisation skills within a fast-paced environment.
• Excellent written communication skills, including drafting complex employee relations documentation.
• Experience using HR systems, preferably Workday.
• CIPD qualified (Level 5 or 7) or equivalent experience.

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