A career without limits

As the nation’s flag carrier, we take great pride in connecting Britain with the world and the world with Britain.

It’s something we’ve been doing for over 100 years, ever since we launched the world’s first international scheduled air service between London and Paris.

This originality has been in our blood since day one. It’s the spirit we share with the people that fly with us, our partners, and our colleagues.

So, whether you are a reassuring voice on the end of a phone, a smile at the door, under a wing keeping the turbines spinning or landing us gently in far-flung places, a job at British Airways is yours to make.

We know great things can happen when you’re inspired to think big and bring your ambition to work every day, which is why, at British Airways the sky is never the limit.

Senior Employment Lawyer

Join our legal team at British Airways as a Senior Employment Lawyer, providing expert advice on all employment law matters across the business, including at management committee and board level. You would bring a wealth of experience into supporting leaders and teams by delivering clear, commercially focused legal guidance on both contentious and non-contentious employment issues, always being aware of our industrial arrangements.

What you’ll do:

• Be a trusted partner across British Airways, providing business-oriented legal advice on all areas of employment law, ensuring guidance is practical, legally sound and aligned with company objectives.
• Be a go-to adviser on often complex employment issues across the entirety of the business, including senior leaders, management committee, and board.
• Have strategic oversight of our employment litigation, managing external counsel.
• Coordinate legal advice across the globe, supporting projects, ad-hoc advice requests, and litigation, working alongside local counsel in each country.
• Work closely with our data protection team to ensure their work is supported from an employment law perspective.
• Ensure your stakeholders are up to date with ongoing work, developments, and changes in employment law.

What you’ll bring to British Airways:

• Strong commercial awareness with the ability to balance legal risk with business priorities.
• Confidence engaging with senior stakeholders, taking the lead on providing clear, constructive legal advice on topics which can be time-pressured and sensitive.
• Ability to challenge appropriately.
• Being accountable for helping to guide business strategy, taking ownership of matters from instruction to resolution.
• Excellent collaboration skills and collegiate nature, working effectively with colleagues across teams and with external advisers.
• Strong judgement with the ability to manage complex issues and competing priorities.

Your experience:

• UK-qualified solicitor or barrister specialising in employment law with the following experience:
• Advising across the entire breadth of contentious and non-contentious employment law matters.
• Engaging with senior leaders, including executives and boards.
• Managing external counsel, both within the UK and internationally.
• Advising on projects across the world, ensuring advice obtained from multiple jurisdictions is presented and understood in a practical and commercial way.
• Ideally, you would have experience working in a unionised environment and advising on trade union and collective matters.
• Supporting data protection colleagues with the employment law aspects of their work is also desirable.
• Given these requirements, we would encourage applications from those with at least 7-10 years’ PQE but would hear from anyone with demonstrable experience of the above.
• You would also have significant experience working in an inhouse environment (including secondments), but we would be keen to hear from lawyers in private practice with experience operating as principal adviser within the requirements above.

Interview dates:

First stage: 25^th and 26^th March

Second stage: 8^th and 9^th April

Interview dates are provided for information, and individual times will be confirmed directly with shortlisted candidates.

What we offer:

We believe that all the people who work with us should feel valued for the part they play. It’s one of the reasons our rewards go far beyond a competitive salary.

From the day you join us, you’ll get access to brilliant staff travel benefits including unlimited basic and premium standby tickets on British Airways flights. You’ll also receive up to 30 discounted ‘Hotline’ airfares per year for yourself, friends, and family.

At British Airways you’ll have the chance to take on new challenges and move forward in a way that feels right for you. We encourage all those who work for us to consider opportunities right across our business to help you develop and progress.

We never stand still, and we don’t expect our people to either.

Inclusion & Diversity

At British Airways we all have a part to play in creating an inclusive place to work. Diverse representation among our people is really important to us and we recognise that all our colleagues are uniquely different and bring their own originality, creativity and identity to work.

Inclusion and diversity is a key driver of innovation and we’re committed to creating a culture where everyone feels that they can be themselves. We’re looking for people from all backgrounds and cultures to join us and be a part of our journey to become a Better BA as we continue to connect Britain with the world and the world with Britain.