Legal Counsel - Employment

At Aztec, we’re committed to building and nurturing a diverse and inclusive workforce where everyone feels valued, respected, and able to grow. We know that different backgrounds, perspectives, and experiences strengthen our business and we welcome applications from all individuals. So, if your experience doesn’t exactly match with every part of the job description, but you are excited about the role, we would still like to hear from you. If you are passionate, curious, innovative and data driven, you could still be a good fit.

About the role:
 

Reporting to Group Head of Legal

The role can have a hybrid or remote work schedule.

We're looking for an experienced, talented and highly motivated employment law expert to support our rapidly growing and evolving businesses. The role is varied and will cover the full range of employment work, supporting the Group Head of Legal and acting as lead employment lawyer to the People team and wider business as and when required.

You should be comfortable working in a fast-paced environment with broad range of responsibilities, with a focus on delivering specialist legal advice and support in the areas of employment law across all our jurisdictions.

The role requires a skilled professional who:

• has a high degree of legal expertise in the employment law

• can balance commercial awareness with independence of mind

• enables the organisation to achieve our organisational objectives, whilst working within the legal framework

• identifies and manages risks, whilst maintaining ethical standards

• is comfortable working on domestic and international employment law matters

• is comfortable supporting the business in other areas of law, such as client and supplier contracts.

You will be required to work independently, as well as part of various teams, along with taking on an active leadership role in projects, in addition to your day-to-day duties.

This role can be full time or part time. 

Key responsibilities:

You will be involved in the following Employment law related matters:

• act as a trusted advisor, providing expert legal advice to the People function and the leadership teams on complex employment law matters across the Group including contracts, policies, disciplinary actions, grievances, redundancies, restructures and disputes

• acting as a key point of contact for the People team to provide deep technical knowledge on legal aspects of employee relations issues

• ensuring compliance with evolving employment legislation and workplace regulations in each of the jurisdictions Aztec operates

• lead on the handling of employment tribunal claims, negotiate settlements, and liaising with external counsel when necessary

• drafting and reviewing employment contracts, handbooks, and workplace policies, identifying opportunities for improvement and anticipating the future needs of the business

• identifying potential legal risks in workforce decisions and proposing mitigation strategies

• building deep and effective relationships with internal and external stakeholders

• supporting the Reward team in the management of Aztec’s employee equity plan

• support the Legal Team by providing legal advice in additional areas such as supplier and client contract negotiations

Skills, knowledge and expertise

The successful candidate will be a Lawyer, qualified in the UK or another Common Law Jurisdiction, with prior experience in a top tier law firm or in-house legal department and a strong focus on employment law. They will have:

• demonstrable post qualification experience (anticipated to be a minimum of 6 years of PQE)

• employment law as their core skill set

• strong attention to detail and effectiveness managing complex projects and teams to demanding deadlines

• a proactive, flexible mindset with the ability to deliver effectively in a fast-paced environment

• ability to identify, focus and prioritise on key issues and adapt quickly to changing circumstances

• strong drafting skills

• good people skills to build strong and trusted relationships

Desirable but not pre-requisite:

• in-house experience of providing legal advice.

• international employment advisory experience

We understand that everyone has different needs, and that’s why our employee package includes a variety of benefits. In addition to a competitive salary, here are some examples of the benefits that we may offer:

• Discretionary bonus scheme
• Flexible, hybrid working
• Ability to work abroad for up to 3 weeks per annum
• Generous holiday allowance
• Pension scheme
• Private medical insurance, including eye care
• Life assurance (death in service and critical illness benefit)
• Worldwide travel insurance
• Health and wellbeing programmes
• On-site parking (location dependent)