Employee Relations Specialist 12 months FTC

Job Description

Employee Relations Specialist 12 months FTC

• Be the trusted expert behind confident people decisions – helping leaders navigate complex employee relations matters with clarity, consistency and care.


• Shape fair, legally sound outcomes – balancing business needs, risk and employee experience to protect what matters most.


• Make a real impact across the organisation – influencing leaders, strengthening relationships and supporting NFU Mutual to be a great place to work.

About the role

We currently have an opportunity for a 12-month FTC as an Employee Relations Specialist. You’ll act as a subject matter expert, partnering closely with leaders and HR colleagues to provide expert advice, challenge thinking and guide decision‑making across a wide range of employee relations matters.

This is a hands‑on, influential role where you’ll own and coordinate complex ER casework, support employment litigation, and help ensure our people practices are applied consistently, fairly and in line with UK employment legislation. Alongside casework, you’ll play a key role in improving capability across the business by designing and delivering ER resources, toolkits and workshops.

Key responsibilities include:

• Providing expert ER advice and coaching to leaders


• Owning and coordinating complex employee relations casework


• Supporting employment litigation processes


• Designing and delivering ER workshops, resources and guidance


• Identifying ER trends, risks and improvement opportunities


• Building strong relationships with unions, forums and third‑party providers


• Delivering short‑term projects as agreed

About you

You’re confident operating in complex, sensitive situations and comfortable influencing at all levels. You balance empathy with pragmatism and bring sound judgement to challenging people decisions.

To join the team, you’ll bring:

• Proven experience managing complex employee relations cases


• Strong knowledge of UK employment legislation


• Excellent written and verbal communication skills


• Strong stakeholder management and influencing capability


• The ability to assess and manage people, legal and operational risk

Desirable qualifications:

• CIPD Level 5 qualified or working towards


• Degree‑level education or equivalent experience


• Experience supporting ER‑related projects or initiatives

At NFU Mutual, we support an inclusive workplace and value all the differences that make us unique. We celebrate the creativity and innovation that comes from diverse perspectives and experiences and share a common vision of doing the right thing for our customers and employees.

We recognise that some candidates may experience barriers during the recruitment process. So, we encourage candidates to discuss any adjustments or accommodations they need to be the best they can be throughout our recruitment process.

We're proud to be a Disability Confident Employer, a Race at Work and Women in Finance Charter signatory and welcome applications from people of all backgrounds, regardless of age, ethnicity, disability, neurodiversity, gender, religion, marital status, sexual orientation, or socioeconomic background.

Benefits and Rewards

When you join our team, you can expect a supportive culture and an attractive range of rewards and benefits including:

• Salary up to £50, 000 dependent on experience


• Annual bonus (up to 17.5% of salary)


• Contributory pension scheme, up to 20%, including your 8% contribution


• 25 days annual leave + bank holidays + buy/sell/save holiday trading scheme


• A Family Friendly policy that helps you balance your work and family responsibilities


• Access to savings at High Street brands, travel and supermarkets


• £20 contribution to a monthly gym membership – subject to T&Cs


• Health and wellbeing plan - cashback for dentist, opticians, physio and more


• Access to voluntary benefits, including health assessments, private medical insurance and dental insurance


• Employee Volunteering - volunteer in the community for one day each year


• Unlimited access to Refer a Friend £500 bonus scheme


• Life Assurance cover of 4 x salary


• Employee discounts of 15% on a range of NFU Mutual insurance policies.


• Salary sacrifice employee car scheme - subject to eligibility

Working at NFU Mutual

We’re one of the UK’s leading general insurance and financial services organisations, and for over 110 years we’ve put our customers at the heart of everything we do. Our people are just as important to us, so we’re proud to be recognised as “a great place to work”.

Our Gallup Exceptional Workplace 2025 award was not only awarded with Distinction, but it also marked us as the first UK based company to earn a Gallup Exceptional Workplace award for ten consecutive years. We’ve also been consistently recognised by Glassdoor. We appeared in the Glassdoor Best Places to Work UK list in 2023, 2024 and 2026 — and in 2026, we were the highest ranked insurance business in the UK, highlighting our strong employee experience and the positive feedback our people share on the platform.

Additionally, we were named in the LinkedIn Top 15 Companies 2025 list of “Best midsize employers to grow your career in the UK”, and we’ve been certified as a UK Top Employer by the Top Employers Institute in 2023, 2024, 2025 and 2026.

We offer a supportive and empowering culture where people are inspired to perform, given opportunities to grow, and recognised and rewarded for their contribution. Our people are proud to work for a company that respects them and their communities, and they trust us to be financially sustainable—so we’re successful now and in the future.