Job Description

As an Employee Relations Manager, you will lead a team of Employee Relations Specialists, supporting leaders through complex people challenges and fostering a positive, inclusive and high-performing workplace culture. Operating within a highly unionised environment, you'll provide expert guidance on complex case management, investigations, organisational change and Trade Union consultation. You'll act as a trusted advisor across the business, helping leaders navigate sensitive employee relations matters while ensuring fair, consistent outcomes.

You'll also use insight and data to identify trends, share key learnings and develop targeted interventions, coaching and training that strengthen management capability and enhance the colleague experience. This is a team that genuinely values collaboration, well-being and professional development. You'll be joining a high-performing team with an excellent reputation across the business, strong levels of colleague engagement and a supportive culture where no two days are the same.

• Lead, coach and develop a team of Employee Relations Specialists, ensuring the delivery of consistent, compliant and high-quality colleague relations support.
• Manage complex employee relations cases and sensitive people matters, acting as the escalation point for high-risk issues and championing Heathrow’s standards of conduct and ethics.
• Build trusted relationships with leaders across the business, providing expert guidance on employee relations, employment legislation and people management matters.
• Lead consultation activity relating to organisational change, ensuring compliance with legislation while supporting positive business outcomes.
• Partner with Trade Union representatives to build effective working relationships and support collaborative solutions.
• Work with Investigation Working Group and complex investigations, ensuring matters are managed fairly, consistently and professionally.
• Analyse colleague relations data and trends to identify opportunities for proactive interventions, targeted training and capability building.

• Expertise in managing complex employee relations cases, investigations and high-risk people matters.
• Strong people leadership skills, with the ability to coach, develop and support high-performing teams.
• Strong knowledge of UK employment law and the ability to apply it effectively within a business environment.
• Ability to build and maintain effective relationships with Trade Union representatives and successfully lead consultation activity.
• Strong stakeholder management and communication skills, with the ability to build trusted relationships and provide expert guidance on complex people matters.
• Ability to analyse employee relations data and trends to develop proactive interventions, coaching and training that strengthen leadership capability and improve colleague experience.

Desirable

• CIPD Level 5 qualification (or equivalent professional experience).
• Experience working within a large, complex or highly regulated environment.
• Experience supporting organisational change and transformation programmes.
• Employment Tribunal experience or a background in employment law.

There’s something so special about working at the world’s most iconic airport. Its sights. Its sounds. Its constant air of excitement. Heathrow is an amazing backdrop to a career filled with unique opportunities.

Every day, you’ll discover a world full of fresh possibilities and end the day buzzing with stories to tell, as you encounter people from all cultures, nationalities and experiences. A world full of pride for what we do and no end of exciting career prospects to explore.

It brings out the best in all of us. And inspires everyone to deliver on our ambitious plans. Together, we’re working to welcome millions more passengers while ensuring aviation can continue to be a force for good by leading global efforts in sustainability.

Join us on that journey and we'll help you achieve your ambitions too. Supporting you to learn, encouraging you to be yourself, backing you to achieve more than you might ever have imagined. Because there’s no place like Heathrow.

Our rewards

We offer competitive salaries and excellent benefits that will support you now and in the future. As well as performance-based annual bonuses and our longer-term Share in Success Bonus plans, we also offer generous annual leave allowances and market-leading pensions. With family friendly policies, access to private health insurance and a wide range of wellbeing tools, we’ll support you to be at your best inside and outside work. And of course, we’ll provide varied learning and development opportunities too. Here you’ll find everything you need for a fulfilling career journey that can take you in exciting directions.

Working Location

Our Hybrid working approach offers the opportunity for colleagues in some roles to work from home for an average of two days a week, providing the flexibility to work in an agile way whilst ensuring we deliver for the operational needs of HeathrowWorking arrangements vary from team to team and will be confirmed during the recruitment process. You’ll need to be based in the UK and within a commutable distance to Heathrow.

Sustainable Travel to work

Heathrow’s Sustainable Travel Guide sets out easy and sustainable travel options that everyone can access.

Equal Opportunities

As an equal opportunities employer, we encourage applications from all. We believe that diverse talent makes us stronger – not least because we welcome passengers from all corners of the globe, every single day. Heathrow is an accessible place to work. With five diversity networks, we champion inclusivity and celebrate individuality.