Head of Legal - Employment

Swindon, South West England, United Kingdom UK Research and Innovation Job Description

Head of Legal - Employment
Salary: £70,752-£88,893 per annum (depending on experience).
Band: UKRI Band G .
Contract Type: Fixed Term (23 Months).
Hours: Full Time - Flexible working available.
Location: Polaris House, Swindon - Hybrid Working Available.

Closing Date: Sunday 30th August 2026.

Interview Dates: Between 16th - 17th September 2026.

UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) is an independent, non-departmental public body, which brings together the UK's seven Research Councils, Innovate UK, and Research England. The UKRI Legal function is located within UKRI's corporate centre and provides advice on a wide range of legal areas from commercial and IP law, subsidy control, procurement and public law; to regulatory law, information governance, property and employment.

Working closely with the Heads of Legal for Regulatory Law/Litigation, and Commercial and Property Law, the Head of Legal - Employment will be jointly responsible for the day-to-day leadership and management of the Legal team, deputising for the UKRI General Counsel/Director of Legal in all legal casework and team management matters as required. As a senior legal professional and the Employment Law subject matter expert for UKRI, you will advise on a range of contentious and non-contentious employment law issues, managing your own case load of complex matters and taking a lead role for UKRI Legal by contributing expert employment law advice and insights to support central initiatives, programmes projects as well as UKRI's business as usual. You will lead and line manage a small team of employment lawyers and be responsible for controlling and managing the Employment Law team's workflow to ensure the delivery of timely, high-quality, pragmatic legal advice to UKRI clients.

Note that there may be a requirement to travel to various UKRI locations as part of this role.

Your Responsibilities:

Provision of Legal Advice:

• Oversee and ensure the provision of high-quality, timely, risk-based and pragmatic employment law advice to support the business of UKRI, providing updates and insights into relevant legal developments to support compliance and best practice.
• Supervise and be responsible for the effective and efficient management of cases and workloads in your team, ensuring that case management records are updated and maintained in accordance with team policy.
• Exercise sound judgment when balancing key legal and commercial risks and benefits, making appropriate recommendations aligned with the organisation's risk appetite.
• Provide advice as required on complex, strategic and/or technical legal issues, which may have significant impact on UKRI.

Leadership and Management:

• Jointly lead and run the day-to-day operation of the UKRI Legal Team, working closely with the other Heads of Legal, , to ensure effective operational delivery of Legal services to the wider organisation.
• Lead and empower a small team of qualified employment lawyers, ensuring they have the skills, flexibility and agility to deliver in a changing environment.
• Enhance learning and development and career progression opportunities for legal staff, and support the acquisition of professional qualifications and ongoing professional development.
• Engage as necessary with legal working groups in HR and in other areas of UKRI operations, where employment law advice is required.

Stakeholder Engagement and Relationship Management:

• Positively and proactively engage with senior managers throughout the organisation, building credibility, trust and respect by demonstrating consistent professionalism and expert knowledge in all interactions.
• Lead by example, actively promoting cooperation and commitment to achieve goals and results.

Continuous Improvement:

• Support the General Counsel/Director of Legal in driving the development and implementation of new legal capability for the organisation, actively seeking input of senior stakeholders across the organisation.
• Review, identify and embed best practice policies, processes and protocols to drive efficiency in legal spend and enhance internal controls ensuring that the organisation is legally compliant and able to access expert legal advice where required.

Key Dimensions:

• Budget:
  Work with the Legal Practice Manager to support the General Counsel/Director of Legal in managing the legal budget, to drive efficiency through UK Research and Innovation's annual legal expenditure, in particular in relation to procurement of external legal support and application of the Legal Training Budget.
• Management:
  Reporting to: UKRI General Counsel/Director of Legal.
  Line management: Up to 5 legal professionals.

About You

• Strong technical expertise in employment law, ability to think strategically, see legal issues in their wider context and advise accordingly.
• Substantial experience of advising a wide range of clients on employment law issues particularly at senior leadership level.
• Ability to work on own initiative and be comfortable in taking and standing by difficult decisions.
• Ability to manage and effectively prioritise a personal caseload of complex legal matters, delivering high-quality work to tight deadlines.
• Strong experience of line management and professional supervision of qualified lawyers, developing staff capability to meet evolving demands for legal advice.
• Ensure resource levels and skills meet fluctuating workloads throughout the year.
• Excellent written and oral communication skills and ability to communicate complex legal issues with clarity, and ability to influence, build and maintain strong working relationships with a wide range of internal and external stakeholders at all levels.
• Ability to work flexibly and adapt working style in a changing environment.

Additional Information:

• Understand drivers affecting the operation of a legal services function within the public sector and sectoral issues impacting legal advice.
• Understand the links and dependencies between the Legal function and other corporate services functions (particularly Board Secretariat, Strategy, and Governance, Assurance and Risk) promoting a culture of teamwork and helping to break down silos if they emerge.
• Act as the point of escalation for complex queries for employment law matters.

Personal Specification

The below criteria will be scored during Shortlisting (S), Interview (I) or both (S&I).

Essential

• Minimum of a 2:1 honours degree in your first degree (in any subject) or equivalent high level academic and/or professional achievement where satisfactory evidence can be provided (e.g. via relevant experience and results achieved for the Graduate Diploma in Law (GLD)/CPE, Legal Practice Course (LPC), Bar Professional Training Course (BPTC)) (S).
• Qualified to practise as a Solicitor, Barrister or Chartered Legal Executive in England and Wales (S).
• Substantial post-qualification experience of advising on a range of contentious and non-contentious employment law matters (S&I).
• Experience of leading and managing a legal team, providing professional supervision and developing staff (S&I).
• Skilled and experienced employment lawyer with the ability to understand public sector policy drivers and work effect