HR Manager Employee Relations
| Posting date: | 02 April 2026 |
|---|---|
| Salary: | £47,410 to £54,210 per year |
| Hours: | Full time |
| Closing date: | 09 April 2026 |
| Location: | Birmingham, West Midlands, B4 6WR |
| Company: | National Highways |
| Job type: | Permanent |
| Job reference: | 7293_1775125460 |
Summary
About the job.
National Highways are seeking an experienced HR Manager to join our Employee Relations (ER) team based in Birmingham on a fixed term contract for 18 months.
In this role, you will lead on high-risk and complex ER matters, providing expert advice, guidance and practical solutions to managers across the business. This will include supporting cases such as disciplinaries, grievances, ACAS conciliations and Employment Tribunals.
You will play a key role in protecting the organisation by ensuring legal compliance and consistent application of National Highways policies and procedures. Working closely with Senior HR Business Partners, you will help drive and embed ER initiatives, while building manager capability to confidently lead on people and ER matters.
This role also offers the opportunity to contribute to wider HR projects and support the review and development of ER policies and practices.
- Lead on complex Employee Relations (ER) cases, including disciplinaries, grievances, performance, absence, flexible working, and Employment Tribunal claims, ensuring effective case management from initiation to resolution.
- Provide expert, risk-based ER advice to managers and stakeholders, applying employment law knowledge and working closely with HRBPs and legal teams to mitigate organisational risk.
- Drive the development and implementation of ER policies, strategy, and guidance, acting as a subject matter expert and leading key ER workstreams across the business.
- Coach and support people managers, building capability to manage ER issues effectively and ensuring consistent application of HR policies and best practice.
- Build strong stakeholder relationships, collaborating with senior HRBPs, trade unions, and business leaders to support organisational objectives and foster positive employee relations.
About you.
- Proven experience managing complex, end-to-end Employee Relations cases, demonstrating strong practical application of HR and ER principles.
- Sound knowledge of UK employment law and its application in workplace scenarios, including risk assessment and compliance.
- Strong stakeholder management skills, with evidence of building effective relationships and influencing managers at all levels.
- Experience of advising, coaching and supporting people managers to handle ER matters confidently and consistently.
- Understanding of governance, compliance and regulatory requirements within an HR/ER environment.
- CIPD level 5 qualification or working towards CIPD Level 7 qualification
About us.
Here at National Highways, we manage and improve England's motorways and major A roads, helping our customers have safer, smoother and more reliable journeys. Our priorities are safety, customers and delivery, and at the core of this, are our values of passion, integrity, safety, teamwork and ownership.
Our HR directorate includes a wide range of services to support our people to be the best they can be, and to enable the organisation to achieve its goals and objectives.
We're fully committed to making National Highways a great place to work. We want an inclusive culture where our people feel informed, motivated, engaged - and always reaching for high levels of performance.
Through our People Strategy we're also building our company's resilience, making it better prepared for the future - and we're always striving to improve our day-to-day services.
External candidates will be offered a starting salary at the lower end of the pay scale, while current employees will be appointed in accordance with our established pay policy.
We are committed to creating a diverse environment and welcome applicants from all backgrounds.
Proud member of the Disability Confident employer scheme