Head of Employee Relations and Policy

Summary

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This is a pivotal leadership role at the heart of Virgin Media O2’s People function, shaping and delivering a progressive, future-ready Employee Relations and People Policy strategy across our organisation and wider enterprise network.

You’ll be the driving force behind frameworks that foster a positive and fair employee relations climate, ensuring our approach not only anticipates and responds to legislative change but also strengthens trust with our recognised unions (CWU and Prospect) and elected Employee Voice representatives. By enhancing the employee experience, your work will directly support our priority of customer obsession.

With responsibility spanning both our core business and aligned brands, you’ll lead a small team and work collaboratively across functions to embed constructive, transparent, and forward-looking ER practices. Central to this will be building strong, solution-focused relationships in an industrial relations context, while contributing to an inclusive culture where colleagues feel heard and empowered.

This is an opportunity to make a tangible impact on how we shape work, influence change, and drive fairness across one of the UK’s most exciting and dynamic businesses.

The UK’s fastest broadband network. The nation’s best-loved mobile brand. And, one of the UK's biggest companies too.

Diverse, high performing teams - jam packed with serious talent. Together, we offer the UK more choice and better value, through our boundary-pushing, customer-championing values and ambitions.

Together, we are Virgin Media O2, and we can't wait to see what you can do.

Accessible, inclusive and equitable for all

Virgin Media O2 is an equal opportunities employer and we're working hard to remove bias and barriers for our people and candidates. So, we build equity and inclusion into everything we do, from the policies we craft to the relationships we shape. We support and encourage you to be your authentic self throughout your application journey with us.

In order to be considered, you must have the following experience;

• Proven experience in a senior ER or industrial relations role within a complex, unionised environment.
• Deep knowledge of UK employment law and upcoming legislative changes.
• Demonstrated ability to lead pay and benefits negotiations, manage political dynamics, and hold paradoxes with empathy and clarity.
• Experience developing ER strategies for enterprise networks, M&A and organisational change contexts.
• Exceptional relationship-building, influencing, and communication skills.
• Proven experience in scaling initiatives across complex organisations, high levels of collaboration and leading through others.
• There is a minimum expectation of 8 days per month in an office location and the requirement to travel to offices that may not be the contractual base location.

We'd also love you to bring;

• Experience in telecoms, tech, or regulated industries.
• Experience of working in a matrix organisation with complex shareholder dynamics.

Our goal is to celebrate our people, their lives and everything in-between. We aim to create a culture that empowers everyone to bring the best versions of themselves to work each and every day. We believe the most inclusive and diverse culture makes for a better business and a brighter world.

Working at Virgin Media O2, you get a bumper reward package bursting with benefits, and loads of extras you can add if you’d like to. These are designed to support both you and your loved ones, making sure that you’re covered no matter what life throws your way.

If we feel like a place where you can belong, we'd love to learn more about you as a person and your experience to date. Once you've submitted an application the next steps of the process, if successful, are likely to include a three stage interview process.

When you apply, you'll be asked about any adjustments you might need to support the recruitment process. Let us know, and we'll be sure to discuss it with you.

Please note: Applications will be reviewed, and interviews conducted throughout the duration of this advert, therefore we may bring the closing date forward. We encourage all interested applicants to apply as soon as possible. If you’re offered a job with us, it will be conditional, based on the passing of background checks. All roles require a criminal record check and some roles need a financial probity check. Your recruiter can provide you with more information if needed.

Thanks for your patience and for showing an interest in joining the Virgin Media O2 family.