Employee Relations Lead

Job description & person specification

Department: Human Resources

Help shape the future of sustainable travel at one of the UK’s busiest airports. At London Luton Airport (LLA), delivering a seamless, modern, and sustainable public transport experience is essential to our ambition to be the UK’s simplest and friendliest major airport. As we grow, we’re working to ensure that millions more journeys are made by public and shared transport, making travel better for people, and reducing the impact of our operations.

The Surface Access team leads this mission, overseeing strategic planning and delivery of all ground transport services used by over 17 million passengers and more than 10,000 airport staff each year. We’ve also launched our Sustainable Investment Fund (SIF) a nascent and bold new portfolio of projects designed to drive modal shift across Rail, DART, Coach and Bus services.

Now we’re looking for a passionate and capable Transport Delivery Lead to join our small but influential team. If you thrive in a fast-moving, multi-stakeholder environment, and you want to make a genuine impact on the future of transport, this is your opportunity.

In return, we offer:

• Competitive salary

• Flexible hybrid working

• 25 days holiday (plus bank holidays)

• Generous company pension

• BUPA private health insurance

• Discounted rail season tickets and other travel perks

Job purpose summary:

The Employee Relations Lead is responsible for developing and delivering a proactive, fair, and consistent approach to employee relations (ER) across the organisation. Acting as the subject matter expert, this role provides advice and guidance on complex ER issues, ensuring compliance with employment legislation, and supports managers in following relevant processes, resolving ER issues and building manager capability to foster a positive workplace culture. This role also requires working closely with a team of HR Advisors and supporting them in the day-to-day dealings with any ER issues.

Key responsibilities and accountabilities:

  • Lead on complex and high-risk employee relations cases (e.g. disciplinaries, grievances, appeals, performance management, absence management and capability and whistleblowing).
  • Support and mentor the HR Advisors with ER case management.
  • Provide expert advice and guidance to managers and HR colleagues on all ER matters to drive consistency, fairness, and legal compliance.
  • Empower managers to do the right thing and to lead on ER cases. 
  • Develop and maintain ER policies, procedures, and guidance documents aligned with best practice and legislation to support managers across the business in dealing with ER issues.
  • Partner with senior leaders and HR colleagues to identify ER trends, risks, and opportunities, using data and insights to inform proactive decision-making.
  • Deliver training and provide toolkits to line managers to build confidence and competence in managing people issues.
  • Act as the escalation point for sensitive or complex ER cases, ensuring timely resolution and minimising risk to the organisation.
  • Work collaboratively with legal advisors where required to manage litigation risks, including Employment Tribunal cases and any initial dealings with ACAS.
  • Analyse ER case data to produce regular reports, identify patterns, and recommend improvements to any HR policies and practices.
  • Champion a positive employee experience and contribute to wider HR initiatives such as engagement, wellbeing, and inclusion.
  • Proactively and positively promote the LLA Way initiatives and projects with all employees and the wider airport community.

Skills, knowledge and experience:

  • Proven track record in employee relations within a complex or unionised environment.
  • Strong knowledge of employment law and HR best practice.
  • Skilled at managing a high volume of ER cases
  • Skilled at managing complex cases with discretion and sound judgement.
  • Ability to influence and build credibility with senior stakeholders.
  • Excellent problem-solving, conflict resolution, and negotiation skills.
  • Strong written and verbal communication skills, with the ability to deliver clear, pragmatic advice.
  • Experience of policy development, delivering training to people managers, and ER data analysis.
  • CIPD level 5 or 7 qualification (or equivalent experience) desirable.
  • A qualification in Employee Relations or Employment Law is desirable but not essential for this role.

Personal Attributes

  • Approachable, empathetic, and resilient under pressure.
  • Solutions-focused, pragmatic, and commercially aware.
  • High integrity with a strong sense of fairness and confidentiality.
  • Comfortable balancing legal compliance with business needs.
  • Work well within a team and within a fast-paced environment.

Diversity and accountability:

We are committed to building a diverse and inclusive workplace that reflects the communities we serve. We actively welcome applications from people of all backgrounds and experiences, especially those traditionally underrepresented in the transport and infrastructure sectors.

This job description is intended to give an appreciation of the role and the range of duties and responsibilities to be undertaken. It does not attempt to detail every activity. Specific task and objectives will be agreed on an on-going basis. The post holder will be required at all times to perform any other reasonable tasks, as requested by the Line Manager in order to meet the operational needs of the business.

For any further information, please contact the Human Resources department [email protected] London Luton Airport Operations Ltd collects your personal information when you submit your application. For more details about the personal information LLA collects, how we collect it, why we need it, what we do with it, how long we keep it and what your rights are, please see our privacy notice at https://www.london-luton.co.uk/privacy-notice.

LLA is committed to fostering, promoting and preserving a culture of diversity, equality and inclusion, as we carry out our mission. We will always be respectful and seek to learn from those different from ourselves. We strive to be an equal opportunities employer and we are determined to ensure that no applicant or employee has a negative experience for being who they are. We welcome all applications!

To apply:

If you wish to apply for this role, please send your CV that summarises your knowledge, skills, and experience within the context of the Employee Relations Lead job description to [email protected], using the reference ERL1010 in the subject line. In the body of the email, please make sure to include the following:

  • Current and expected salary
  • Notice period / availability to start
  • Right to work in the UK / sponsorship requirements
  • Whether you are happy to travel to Luton three days a week