Employee Relations Lead - DACH & Belgium

About this role

As an Employee Relations Lead within our People Services Team in Berlin, you will provide expert ER oversight across Germany, Austria, Switzerland, and Belgium. You will lead and develop a distributed team of ER Case Managers, acting as a dedicated coach to help your team deliver high-quality, efficient, and timely service to all stakeholders.

In this role, you will care for our people by acting as the primary escalation point for sensitive cases, and support your team in managing underperformance, disciplinary matters, dispute resolution, whistleblowing investigations and sickness management.

As an ER Lead, you will manage and foster positive relationships between employees and the organisation, working effectively with the German Works Council to ensure the fair and consistent application of our workplace policies. By ensuring compliance with labour laws and company policies, you will contribute to a fair, consistent, and harmonious work environment.

These are some of the key components to the position:

• Supervise and lead a team of ER Case Managers, emphasising collaboration and helping one another succeed.

• Assign ER cases to team members and oversee their resolution within established SLAs, serving as the primary contact for case escalations and offering coaching as needed to drive development and high performance.

• Conduct and supervise high-stakes internal investigations and whistleblower cases, ensuring thorough and compliant processes.

• Apply employment standards and labour laws to maintain legal compliance, including validation of country-specific regulations.

• Maintain quality standards for ER guidelines, policies, and procedures, ensuring accurate and up-to-date content.

• Move fast to address process inefficiencies and bottlenecks and identify improvement opportunities, ensuring the team remains agile and effective.

• Raise the bar by identifying ER trends and proposing actionable adjustments to the ER Manager.

• Enhance team development by cross‑training in global employment laws and contributing to the effectiveness of ER practices globally.

• Prime representative for country ER i.e. Attend meetings with stakeholders such as HRBP, Legal, process calls, update calls as well as supporting restructures.

• Lead global ER projects, sharing best practices to drive improvements and make a lasting impact.

What will you bring to the team?

• Post secondary education in Human Resources (Business), or Psychology preferred

• 3+ years HR Experience, or combination of 3+ years of leadership/HR experience

• Full professional proficiency in German and English; the ability to work in French, Dutch or Italian is a significant advantage.

• Comprehensive, hands‑on expertise in German labour law and Works Council relations. You will act as the subject matter expert for Germany, while providing strategic ER oversight and applying labor standards for Austria, Switzerland, and Belgium

• Experience managing internal investigations and whistleblower cases.

• Demonstrated ability to maintain high‑quality content for Employee Relations guidelines and policies.

• Strong experience in guiding team members and business managers on employment‑related actions, including terminations and adherence to standards.

• Effective collaboration skills with internal HR teams for case validation and escalation management.

• Proven partnership capabilities with HRBPs and Legal on employee‑related matters and escalations.

• Attention to detail in ensuring consistency and accuracy of information in HR Systems (Workday, Jira etc).

• Drive excellence through a proactive mindset that challenges the status quo for continuous improvement.

• Natural ability to mobilise others and turn complex discussions or projects into synchronised team action.

• Proven leadership capability to coach and develop others through constructive feedback and growth opportunities.

• Determination and resilience to push through obstacles and maintain a high sense of urgency.

• Ability to adapt your communication style to effectively influence leaders across all levels of the organisation.

Our Offer

Just like a well‑balanced recipe: your skills and our offer are a perfect match! With us, you can expect:

• Competitive Compensation: A salary package that recognizes your performance – complemented by an open feedback culture and regular performance reviews.

• Flexibility: A permanent employment contract with hybrid work options: three days per week in our Berlin‑Kreuzberg office and two days working from the comfort of your home.

• ️♀️ Urban Sports Club Membership: For your work‑life balance and a clear head in your daily routine.

• ️ Additional Perks: A monthly travel allowance of €59 and a €90 monthly Lieferando Pay credit to have delicious food delivered straight to your workspace.

• Company Pension: A company pension scheme with a 20% employer contribution.

• Diversity & Inclusion: A diverse and inclusive team with colleagues from over 99 nations, plus the opportunity to join our various communities and Employee Resource Groups (ERGs).