Middlemore are retained with PE backed business in the Cheshire region, who are seeking an experienced employment lawyer to lead its employment law agenda across the group. This is a newly created, hands-on role for someone who can combine strategic advisory work with practical day-to-day support across a broad range of people-related legal matters.

 This is a newly created role, designed to:

• Reduce reliance on external employment counsel and reinvest that spend into internal capability.
  
  
• Provide faster, commercially focused advice directly to the People team, Executive Leadership Team and wider business.
  
  
• Build a centre of excellence for employment law, strengthening the partnership between Legal and People while supporting future growth and organisational change.
  
  

• Lead the provision of employment law advice across the group, acting as the main point of contact for the People team and senior management.
  
  
• Advise on complex employee relations issues including grievances, disciplinaries, whistleblowing, restructures, and senior exits.
  
  
• Manage employment litigation and tribunal claims end to end, including instructing and overseeing external counsel where required.
  
  
• Draft, review, and maintain employment contracts, policies, handbooks, and template documentation to a consistently high standard.
  
  
• Support organisational change matters including restructures, redundancy programmes, and post-acquisition integration.
  
  
• Provide employment law input into M&A activity, commercial transactions, and new market entry.
  
  
• Ensure ongoing compliance with employment legislation and horizon scan for relevant legislative and case law developments.
  
  
• Advise on executive hiring, settlement agreements, restrictive covenants, and confidentiality arrangements.
  
  
• Deliver practical training to managers and the People team to build capability and confidence.
  
  
• Work in partnership with the People team to embed sound legal thinking into policy and process from the outset.
  
  

• Qualified solicitor in England & Wales, or equivalent jurisdiction, with a strong specialism in employment law.
  
  
• Significant post-qualification experience, typically 10+ years, gained in private practice, in-house, or both.
  
  
• Strong current knowledge of UK employment law.
  
  
• Experience within a regulated environment, particularly financial services or telecoms, would be beneficial but is not essential.
  
  
• Commercial and pragmatic, with the ability to translate legal risk into clear, actionable advice.
  
  
• Confident advising and influencing senior stakeholders, including at board level.

• Salary - c£120k - £140k + bonus, benefits
  
  
• A role with genuine scope to influence at senior level.
  
  
• The opportunity to support the business from day one and contribute to an environment that values inclusivity, innovation aagility.