Join Rolls-Royce as Legal Counsel - Employment in Derby on a hybrid, full-time basis. Deliver strategic UK employment law advice across all divisions, manage employment tribunal claims, and collaborate with senior management in a high-performing environment.
Requirements
England and Wales qualified employment solicitor with approximately 3–6 years' post-qualification experience.
Extensive experience of managing employment tribunal claims and disputes.
Excellent written and oral communication skills.
Sound commercial judgement, business acumen, and stakeholder management skills.
Skills & Responsibilities
UK employment law expertise: Deliver commercial, pragmatic advice on contracts, HR policies, redundancies, TUPE, and industrial relations.
Dispute management: Manage employment tribunal claims and collaborate effectively with external and internal legal counsel.
Stakeholder engagement: Build strong relationships across business units and influence effectively at all levels, including senior management.
Regulatory monitoring: Monitor legislative developments and provide updates to key stakeholders via group regulatory horizon scanning.
Potential transition routes: People from employment law backgrounds in private practice or corporate in-house legal teams may bring relevant advisory and dispute resolution skills, alongside meeting the mandatory qualification requirement.
Job description
Job Description
Legal Counsel-Employment
Derby/Hybrid
Full time
Why join Rolls-Royce?
At Rolls-Royce we are proud to be a business that has truly helped to shape the modern world and are committed to always being a force for progress; powering, protecting, and connecting people everywhere.
By joining Rolls-Royce, you'll have the opportunity to work on world-class solutions, supported by a culture that believes individuality is our greatest strength, and all perspectives, experiences and backgrounds help us innovate and enable our high-performance culture.
Position Summary
We have an exciting opportunity for legal counsel to join our team based in Derby.
The role delivers strategic employment law advice on all aspects of UK employment law. The role supports all of Rolls-Royce’s divisions, functions and capabilities within the UK, including Civil Aerospace, Defence, Power Systems, Head Office and Group Business Services.
What you will be doing:
Deliver high quality, timely, and commercial advice, in a decisive and user-friendly manner, on all aspects of UK employment law, including:
Contracts of employment
HR policies and procedures
Disciplinaries and grievances
Performance management
Sickness absence
Employee exits and settlement agreements
Pay and benefits
Redundancy and business transformation
Employment aspects of supplier and customer contracts, including TUPE
Secondment agreements
Employment-related data privacy matters, including data subject access requests
Employee/industrial relations matters
Manage all the Group’s employment tribunal claims, collaborating with external legal counsel and internal stakeholders. Instruct and manage external legal counsel and ensure delivery of high quality, cost-effective legal services.
Monitor legislative developments and emerging employment law trends and update key stakeholders via group regulatory horizon scanning.
Work closely with internal clients, building and maintaining strong and collaborative relationships across all businesses and functions.
Interact, communicate, and influence effectively at all levels, including senior management.
Seek opportunities to continuously improve the provision of advice and management of employment law matters, including the use of technology
Position qualifications:
England and Wales qualified employment solicitor with approximately 3–6 years' post-qualification experience.
Extensive experience of managing employment tribunal claims and disputes.
Excellent written and oral communications skills.
Sound commercial judgement and business acumen.
Able to provide commercial, pragmatic, decisive and solutions-focused advice.
Able to work with a high degree of autonomy and initiative.
Excellent stakeholder management and influencing skills.
Able to prioritise workloads to meet demanding deadlines under pressure.
Flexible, innovative, resilient, and comfortable in a fast-paced working environment.
Adaptable and effective when faced with organisational change.
Common sense and cost-conscious approach to legal risk management, and a willingness to drive pace and simplicity into working practices.
Put safety first, do the right thing, keep it simple and make a difference.
Regional Benefits
Generous Annual Leave
Retirement Savings through the Rolls-Royce Retirement Savings Trust
Group Life Assurance provides for a lump sum benefit if you die whilst employed by Rolls-Royce
Group Income Protection provides an income in the event that you are unable to work due to illness or injury
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Our vision is to ensure that the excellence and ingenuity that shaped our history continues into our future. Our multi-year transformation programme aims to turn Rolls-Royce into a high-performing, competitive, resilient, and growing company. Join us, and it can be your future vision too.
Rolls-Royce are committed to being a respectful, inclusive, and non-discriminatory workplace where individuality is valued, diverse perspectives fuel innovation, and everyone can thrive.
Closing Date: 27.11.2026
As part of our selection process, candidates in certain locations may be asked to complete an online assessment, which can include cognitive and behavioural aptitude testing relevant to the role. If required, full instructions for the next steps will be provided.
