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About the Role

This senior legal business partner role serves as the lead employment lawyer for Hiscox, providing commercially focused legal advice on employment, labour relations, workforce change, employee relations, investigations, and people-related risk across the Group. The role combines strategic advisory work with hands-on support for complex and sensitive employment matters, working closely with senior leaders in Human Resources, business leadership, Risk, Compliance, and local legal teams.

Responsibilities

Act as a trusted legal adviser to the Group General Counsel, Chief People Officer, people leadership, and senior business stakeholders on employment law and workforce-related matters.
Provide commercially pragmatic legal advice that supports strategic decision-making and helps manage employment, conduct, regulatory, and reputational risk.
Support significant people-related projects, including organizational design, restructuring, transformation, senior hiring and exits, workplace investigations, and cross-border workforce initiatives.
Influence and shape business outcomes through proactive engagement, clear risk analysis, and solution-oriented legal support.
Advise on the full range of employment law matters, including employee relations, disciplinary and grievance issues, performance management, sickness absence, reasonable adjustments, whistleblowing, discrimination, harassment, restrictive covenants, and settlement agreements.
Advise on senior executive employment arrangements, departures, severance, garden leave, confidentiality, post-termination restrictions, and related governance considerations.
Support the business and HR teams on legally sensitive people matters requiring careful judgment, confidentiality, and clear documentation.
Provide practical guidance that balances legal risk, employee fairness, regulatory expectations, and commercial objectives.
Lead legal support for restructurings, reorganizations, redundancy programs, transfers, and other workforce change initiatives.
Advise on cross-border employment matters, working with local legal colleagues and external counsel where required.
Support consistency of employment law advice across the Group while recognizing local legal, regulatory, and cultural requirements.
Help senior stakeholders manage people risk arising from acquisitions, integrations, disposals, outsourcing, and business transformation.
Advise on internal investigations, whistleblowing matters, conduct concerns, and other sensitive employee issues.
Manage employment disputes, threatened claims, and litigation, including instructing and supervising external counsel where appropriate.
Support preparation of legally privileged advice, investigation plans, witness materials, settlement strategy, and risk assessments.
Identify themes and lessons learned from disputes and investigations, and work with stakeholders to reduce future risk.
Advise on employment-related policies, procedures, templates, and guidance, ensuring they remain legally compliant, practical, and aligned with Hiscox values.
Monitor legal and regulatory developments affecting employment law and workforce governance, translating them into practical guidance for HR and the business.
Support employment-related aspects of regulatory, governance, and culture matters, including conduct, accountability, whistleblowing, diversity and inclusion, and workplace behavior.
Contribute to training and awareness for HR, managers, and legal colleagues on key employment law and people risk topics.
Drive continuous improvement in the delivery of employment law support, including use of templates, playbooks, triage processes, AI tools, and external counsel management.
Optimize use of external counsel and legal service providers, ensuring cost discipline, quality, and appropriate escalation of sensitive matters.
Promote collaboration, knowledge sharing, and best practice across the global Legal function and people teams.
Support and mentor colleagues within the Legal team where appropriate.

Requirements

Qualified solicitor or equivalent lawyer with significant post-qualification experience.
Strong employment law experience, ideally gained through a combination of private practice and in-house roles.
Experience advising on complex employee relations, senior exits, investigations, whistleblowing, discrimination, harassment, restructurings, and employment disputes.
Experience providing pragmatic legal advice to HR and senior business stakeholders on sensitive and confidential people matters.
Strong understanding of employment litigation risk, settlement strategy, and dispute resolution.
Experience supporting international or cross-border employment matters, including management of external counsel.
Experience working within financial services, insurance, or another regulated or complex corporate environment.
Proven ability to influence senior stakeholders and provide commercially focused legal advice.
Excellent communication, negotiation, and relationship-management skills.
Strong organizational skills with the ability to manage competing priorities effectively.
Sound judgment, discretion, resilience, and a pragmatic approach to risk management.
Knowledge of insurance, financial services regulation, or conduct-related employment issues.
Experience advising on senior manager accountability, culture, or conduct matters in a regulated environment.
Experience supporting large-scale transformation, restructuring, or integration programs.
Experience leading policy improvement, employment law training, or legal process improvement initiatives.
Demonstrate the Hiscox values of Humanity, Integrity, Courage, Ownership, and Connection.
Combine strong technical employment law capability with practical commercial judgment.
Exercise discretion, sensitivity, and sound judgment in complex people matters.
Build trusted relationships across functions, geographies, and levels of seniority.
Take ownership of outcomes and operate with a high degree of accountability.
Provide constructive challenge while maintaining a collaborative and solutions-focused approach.
Communicate clearly, calmly, and persuasively, including in sensitive or high-pressure situations.
Be resilient, adaptable, and comfortable operating in a fast-paced and evolving environment.

Skills

Employment law
Labour relations
Workforce change
Employee relations
Investigations
People-related risk management
Strategic advisory
Stakeholder management
Legal judgement
Discretion
Resilience
Pace
Pragmatism
Sensitivity
Cross-jurisdictional advice
Risk analysis
Solution-oriented legal support
Employee relations
Disciplinary and grievance issues
Performance management
Sickness absence
Reasonable adjustments
Whistleblowing
Discrimination
Harassment
Restrictive covenants
Settlement agreements
Senior executive employment arrangements
Departures
Severance
Garden leave
Confidentiality
Post-termination restrictions
Governance considerations
Restructuring
Reorganization
Redundancy programs
Transfers
Cross-border employment matters
Acquisitions
Integrations
Disposals
Outsourcing
Business transformation
Internal investigations
Conduct concerns
Employment disputes
Litigation management
External counsel supervision
Policy development
Legal compliance
Regulatory monitoring
Workforce governance
Conduct
Accountability
Diversity and inclusion
Workplace behavior
Training and awareness
Continuous improvement
Template utilization
Playbook development
Triage processes
AI tools
External counsel management
Cost discipline
Knowledge sharing
Best practice promotion
Mentoring
Negotiation
Organizational skills
Competing priorities management
Risk management
Financial services regulation
Conduct-related employment issues
Senior manager accountability
Culture matters
Transformation programs
Integration programs
Policy improvement
Legal process improvement
Communication
Adaptability

Work Type

Permanent
Hybrid

Experience Level

Senior
Significant post-qualification experience

Education Level

Qualified solicitor or equivalent lawyer

About the Company

Hiscox is an international specialist insurer focused on niche areas of expertise.
The company fosters a culture that encourages challenging convention and seeking better ways of doing things.
Hiscox seeks talented individuals who are smart, reliable, and supportive of customers and each other.
The company believes in doing the right thing, making good decisions, and rectifying mistakes.
Hiscox encourages creative thinking, challenging the status quo, and finding solutions.
The business is described as solid yet contrary, with a history dating back to 1901, but with an ambitious and evolving approach.
Life at Hiscox is presented as dynamic and engaging, contrary to the perception of insurance being dull.

Equal Opportunity

At Hiscox we care about our people.
We hire the best people for the job, and we are committed to diversity and creating a truly inclusive culture, which we believe drives success.
Working life does not always have to be in the office so we have introduced hybrid working to encourage a healthy work life balance.
This hybrid working model is set by the team rather than the business to enable you to manage your own personal work-life balance.
We see it as the best of both worlds; structure and sociability on one hand, and independence and flexibility on the other.