Senior Employee Relations Business Partner

What's the opportunity? 

We’re looking for a Senior Employee Relations Business Partner (ERBP) to join our People team at Intercom.

This role has a global remit, sitting at the heart of how we support our people and leaders through complex, sensitive, and high-impact situations.  But this is more than a case management role.  You’ll be shaping how the function operates, building the frameworks and systems that scale it across our global BP team.  You’ll act as a trusted advisor and subject matter expert on employee relations, partnering closely with HRBPs, leaders, Legal (including our Senior Employment Counsel), and People Ops to ensure fair, consistent, and legally sound outcomes.

AI is redefining how businesses operate and how people teams can drive impact. We’re looking for an ambitious and curious ERBP who thrives in this kind of environment; someone who thinks big, leans into change, and sees AI as an accelerator for better, faster, smarter work. You’ll bring confidence and ambition to the table. We value people who love to work hard, learn constantly, and consistently deliver great outcomes.

You’ll play a critical role in maintaining a high-performance, high-integrity culture, balancing empathy with sound judgement, and speed with rigour.

What will I be doing? 

Lead complex ER cases end-to-end

• Manage a broad range of employee relations matters including grievances, investigations, disciplinaries, performance concerns, and exits
• Conduct and support fair, thorough, and timely investigations
• Ensure all processes are compliant with local employment law and internal policies

Partner with HRBPs and leaders

• Act as a centre of excellence for ER, supporting HRBPs on complex or high-risk cases
• Coach managers and leaders through sensitive situations with clarity and confidence
• Provide pragmatic, business-aligned recommendations grounded in risk awareness

Enable managers to handle ER confidently

• Build manager capability so people issues are handled early, fairly, and close to the source, reducing reliance on escalation
• Develop practical training and resources grounded in real scenarios: performance, absence, conflict, conduct
• Create scalable self-service tools (guides, templates, decision frameworks) that give managers confidence to act
• Drive a shift from reactive case management toward proactive, early intervention

Drive consistency, best practice, and smarter ways of working

• Standardise ER approaches across regions to ensure fairness and consistency
• Develop and refine ER frameworks, templates, and guidance
• Identify patterns and trends in ER data to surface root causes and drive earlier intervention 
• Identify opportunities to use AI and automation to improve case management, documentation, and pattern detection, reducing manual effort while improving consistency and speed

Mitigate risk and partner with Legal

• Work closely with our Senior Employment Counsel as a key partnership, jointly owning risk assessment, escalation, and resolution on complex matters
• Support on pre-litigation matters and external claims where needed
• Ensure high-quality documentation and audit-ready case management
• Design and maintain case tracking and decision documentation systems that create a reliable, scalable ER backbone

Enable the organisation

• Deliver training and enablement for HRBPs and managers on ER topics
• Build confidence across the business in handling people issues effectively
• Contribute to a culture of accountability, high performance/standards, respect, and transparency

What skills do I need? 

Experience

• 6+ years experience in Employee Relations, HRBP, or a related role in a fast-paced, global environment
• Strong track record of managing complex, high-risk ER cases independently
• Experience working across multiple jurisdictions (EMEA and/or US preferred)

Core capabilities

• Commercial mindset: You understand the business context and balance people risk with commercial impact, making pragmatic decisions that support both employees and company outcomes
• Judgement: You make balanced, well-reasoned decisions in ambiguous and sensitive situations
• Credibility: You build trust quickly with leaders and employees at all levels
• Influence: You can guide and challenge stakeholders effectively
• Resilience: You operate calmly under pressure and manage emotionally charged situations professionally
• Bias for action: You move with urgency, avoid unnecessary process drag, and push for timely resolution of issues while maintaining quality and fairness
• Detail orientation: You maintain high standards of documentation and process integrity

Knowledge

• Strong understanding of employment law and ER best practices
• Familiarity with investigation processes and case management
• Experience partnering with Legal teams on risk and compliance matters

Bonus skills & attributes 

• Experience scaling ER practices in a high-growth tech company
• Background in both HRBP and ER specialist roles
• Experience building ER playbooks, training, or frameworks
• Strong Interest & curiosity in how AI and technology can transform ER delivery, from case management to manager enablement
• Experience designing or implementing case management systems or ER tooling

Benefits 

We are a well-treated bunch, with awesome benefits! If there’s something important to you that’s not on this list, talk to us! 

• Competitive salary and equity in a fast-growing start-up
• We serve lunch every weekday, plus a variety of snack foods and a fully stocked kitchen
• Regular compensation reviews - we reward great work!
• Pension scheme & match up to 4%
• Peace of mind with life assurance, as well as comprehensive health and dental insurance for you and your dependents
• Flexible paid time off policy
• Paid maternity leave, as well as 6 weeks paternity leave for fathers, to let you spend valuable time with your loved ones
• If you’re cycling, we’ve got you covered on the Cycle-to-Work Scheme. With secure bike storage too 
• MacBooks are our standard, but we also offer Windows for certain roles when needed.