Global Employee Relations Lead (12 month FTC) Departmental People Partnering London

We're - you might not know our name, but companies like eBay, ASOS, Klarna, Uber Eats, and Sony do. That moment when you check out online? We make it happen. is where the world checks out. Our global network powers billions of transactions every year, making money move without making a fuss. We spent years perfecting a service most people will never notice. Because when digital payments just work, businesses grow, customers stay, and no one stops to think about why.

With 19 offices spanning six continents, we feel at home everywhere - but London is our HQ. Wherever our people work their magic, they're fast-moving, performance obsessed, and driven by being better every day. Ideal. Because a role here isn't just another job; it's a career-defining opportunity to build the future of fintech.

We're looking for an experienced Employee Relations Manager to design and elevate our global ER approach. This role is ideal for someone who thrives in building frameworks from the ground up and someone who can take existing ER foundations, strengthen them, and enable our People team to confidently handle ER matters at scale. This is not a full-time case-handling role. Instead, you will focus on building the systems, tools, policies, and capabilities that enable our People teams and managers to manage ER situations effectively. You will also act as a backup subject matter expert for complex or sensitive cases when needed.

We are looking for someone who combines deep ER expertise with strong commercial judgment, an ability to simplify complex situations, and a mindset oriented toward scalable design. They will modernise how we approach ER globally, leveraging process redesign, technology, and AI, while striking the right balance between legal compliance and pragmatic business outcomes.

Build & Enhance Employee Relations Capability

• Develop a clear ER strategy and operating model that aligns with our business structure, risk appetite, and future scale.
• Create modern, user-friendly frameworks, playbooks, and toolkits that equip People Partners and managers to independently navigate ER issues (grievances, disciplinaries, performance management, redundancies, sickness absence management, etc.).
• Design decision trees, case categorisation models, escalation pathways, and quality standards that reinforce consistency, speed, and commercial decision making.
• Introduce mechanisms that reduce dependency on ER specialists while improving capability across the People Partner and leadership populations.

Training & Capability Uplift

• Develop and deliver structured training for People Partners, managers, and leaders on ER best practices, investigations, performance management, and policy application.
• Provide live, on-the-job coaching and case mentorship to build capability and reduce escalations.
• Build digital self-service content and learning modules that empower employees and decrease reliance on ER experts.
• Facilitate quarterly ER simulation training using real Checkout case patterns to build confidence and decision making ability.

Policy Ownership & Expansion

• Audit and benchmark existing ER policies, identifying opportunities for simplification, clarity, and alignment to our culture, legal standards, and commercial needs.
• Draft and implement updated and new ER-related policies (conduct, grievances, investigations, performance management, etc.) that are globally consistent but locally adaptable.
• Build a global ER policy architecture that supports scale, transparency, and ease of application by non-experts.

Process Redesign (Including AI Integration)

• Assess and strengthen Employee Relations case management practices by identifying opportunities where tooling could add value, and designing and embedding effective internal processes, frameworks, and guidance to enable consistent, efficient case management and reporting.
• Redesign ER processes end-to-end to make them scalable, efficient, data-driven, and globally consistent.
• Identify opportunities to embed AI in workflows (case intake, document drafting, triage tools, early risk detection, theme identification, etc.) to improve speed, accuracy, and decision consistency.
• Define governance, controls, and safe use practices for AI supported ER tools in partnership with Legal, Tech, and Compliance.
• Lead implementation of new systems, workflows, and tooling that modernise the ER experience for People Partners, managers, and employees.
• Constantly identify friction points and redesign processes that balance compliance with pragmatic, commercially sound outcomes.

Advisory & Escalation Support

• Act as a strategic advisor for complex and sensitive cases, balancing legal risk, culture, commercial impacts, and reputational considerations.
• Provide high-quality support for high-risk or high complexity cases, including sensitive conduct issues.
• Drive consistency and fairness across decisions by supporting calibration, case reviews, and cross team alignment discussions.
• Serve as the primary escalation point for ER appeals and critical decision reviews.

Risk Management & Culture

• Use ER data, insights, and trends to identify behavioural themes, systemic risks, and opportunities for proactive intervention.
• Partner with People, Legal, and business leaders to design interventions that strengthen trust, fairness, accountability, and performance discipline.
• Ensure the ER approach reinforces positive employee experience, organisational values, and an environment where good performance and good conduct are expected and managed consistently.
• Continuously scan for external developments in ER, AI, legal changes, and people risk-and translate them into actionable improvements at Checkout.

About You

• A minimum of 6 years experience in a dedicated ER role, such as an ER Manager role or ER CoE role. Experience must include designing and implementing ER frameworks, policy and tooling.
• Proven track record operating in a global business with employees across multiple regions.
• Proven ability to build policy, processes, and training from scratch or in a rapidly evolving environment.
• Strong investigative skills and a deep understanding of employment law across multiple regions.
• Experience integrating AI tools or technology into HR/ER processes (or strong appetite to develop this skill).
• Excellent communication, coaching, and influencing skills
• High integrity, sound judgment, discretion, and a balanced, pragmatic approach.