Employment Lawyer

Barclays UK; London; On-site; GBP 60,000 - 100,000

Job description

Do you have what it takes to advise across the full range of employment law issues, in one of the UK’s leading in house employment law teams? The successful candidate will need the ability to work independently and flexibly, identify and manage risk, and to plan for change brought by developing legislation, case law and regulation.

Essential skills/Basic qualifications:

• Solicitor or barrister qualified in the UK or equivalent commonwealth jurisdiction.
• Experience of working in a leading law firm and/or in-house.
• Displays excellent communication, influencing and negotiation skills.
• Technical excellence in employment law, including strong litigation experience.

Desirable skills/Preferred qualifications:

• People regulatory technical expertise, including regulatory investigation/enforcement experience, and advising on the Senior Manager and Certification Regime.
• Experience of delivering strategically important global projects.
• Technical expertise in aligned areas of people risk: health and safety, immigration etc.

You may be assessed on key critical skills relevant for success in role, such as risk and controls, change and transformation, business acumen, strategic thinking and digital and technology, as well as job-specific technical skills.

This role can be based in either London or Manchester.

Purpose of the role:

To ensure that the Employment, Incentives and Pensions (EIP) activities of the bank are conducted in compliance with applicable laws and regulations, and to help the bank manage legal risks associated with these activities.

Accountabilities:

• Development and implementation of best practice legal strategies for risk management and compliance.
• Legal advice and support to Human Resources and the businesses on the full range of EIP issues, including recruitment, policy issues, diversity matters, change programs, investigations and disputes, compensation and benefits, and pension matters.
• Representation of the bank in legal proceedings related to EIP matters, such as litigation, arbitration, and regulatory investigations.
• Creation and review of legal documents such as employee contracts and policies, severance agreements, incentive plans, and pension documentation.
• Legal research and analysis to stay up to date on changes in laws and regulations that may impact the bank's EIP activities.
• Developing and delivering training programmes to educate employees on applicable legal and regulatory requirements relating to employment, incentives or pension matters.
• Pro-active identification, communication, and provision of legal advice on applicable laws, rules and regulations (LRRs). Keeping up to date with regards to changes to LRRs in the relevant coverage area. Ensuring that LRRs are effectively allocated to, and adequately reflected within, the relevant policies, standards and controls.

Vice President Expectations:

• To contribute or set strategy, drive requirements and make recommendations for change. Plan resources, budgets, and policies; manage and maintain policies/processes; deliver continuous improvements and escalate breaches of policies/procedures.
• If managing a team, they define jobs and responsibilities, planning for the department’s future needs and operations, counselling employees on performance and contributing to employee pay decisions/changes. They may also lead a number of specialists to influence the operations of a department, in alignment with strategic as well as tactical priorities, while balancing short and long term goals and ensuring that budgets and schedules meet corporate requirements.
• If the position has leadership responsibilities, People Leaders are expected to demonstrate a clear set of leadership behaviours to create an environment for colleagues to thrive and deliver to a consistently excellent standard. The four LEAD behaviours are: L – Listen and be authentic, E – Energise and inspire, A – Align across the enterprise, D – Develop others.
• OR for an individual contributor, they will be a subject matter expert within own discipline and will guide technical direction. They will lead collaborative, multi-year assignments and guide team members through structured assignments, identify the need for the inclusion of other areas of specialisation to complete assignments. They will train, guide and coach less experienced specialists and provide information affecting long term profits, organisational risks and strategic decisions.
• Advise key stakeholders, including functional leadership teams and senior management on functional and cross functional areas of impact and alignment.
• Manage and mitigate risks through assessment, in support of the control and governance agenda.
• Demonstrate leadership and accountability for managing risk and strengthening controls in relation to the work your team does.
• Demonstrate comprehensive understanding of the organisation functions to contribute to achieving the goals of the business.
• Collaborate with other areas of work, for business aligned support areas to keep up to speed with business activity and the business strategies.
• Create solutions based on sophisticated analytical thought comparing and selecting complex alternatives. In-depth analysis with interpretative thinking will be required to define problems and develop innovative solutions.
• Adopt and include the outcomes of extensive research in problem solving processes.
• Seek out, build and maintain trusting relationships and partnerships with internal and external stakeholders in order to accomplish key business objectives, using influencing and negotiating skills to achieve outcomes.

All colleagues will be expected to demonstrate the Barclays Values of Respect, Integrity, Service, Excellence and Stewardship – our moral compass, helping us do what we believe is right. They will also be expected to demonstrate the Barclays Mindset – to Empower, Challenge and Drive – the operating manual for how we behave.