Industrial Relations Manager

Role purpose

The Industrial Relations (IR) Manager is a critical control role responsible for protecting HBMX through effective labour relations governance, robust compliance with policies, and disciplined management of employee relations (ER) and industrial relations (IR) risk. This role leads union engagement and collective bargaining activities, ensuring that required union consultation and agreement are secured to enable strategic business change in a compliant and timely manner. The IR Manager also ensures strong internal controls, supports audit/regulatory action closure, and manages complex, time-sensitive ER/IR cases to minimise conduct, litigation, and reputational risk.

Main activities

• Industrial relations strategy and union negotiation
  Lead end-to-end union engagement, consultation, and negotiation, including collective bargaining agreement interpretation, application, and updates.
  Build and maintain constructive relationships with union representatives and key internal stakeholders to support sustainable agreements and reduce dispute risk.
  Provide strategic advice to business leaders on negotiation positions, labour law implications, and risk trade-offs.
• Compliance, risk control, and governance (critical control responsibilities)
  Act as a key control owner for People FIM adherence and internal control standards across IR/ER processes.
  Identify, assess, and manage IR/ER risks; maintain appropriate documentation, governance routines, and escalation paths.
  Drive timely remediation and closure of audit findings, regulatory actions, and internal control issues related to People/IR/ER.
• Time-sensitive consultation for strategic change
  Plan and execute required consultation/negotiation activities to deliver business priorities compliantly and on schedule.
  Partner with People, Legal, Compliance, and business leadership to ensure change programmes meet local labour-law and union requirements, with clear decision records and approvals.
• Case management and conduct risk
  Manage a high volume of complex ER/IR cases, including disciplinary and performance matters with strict procedural and legal timelines.
  Ensure consistent, fair outcomes and reduce procedural errors by applying policy, legal requirements, and best practice investigation standards.
  Track case trends, root causes, and systemic risks; propose preventative actions (manager coaching, policy clarifications, process improvements).
• Stakeholder enablement and capability building
  Coach and advise people managers on labour relations, disciplinary processes, union interactions, and documentation standards.
  Contribute to training, playbooks, and communications to improve ER/IR capability and reduce escalation.

Requirements

• Significant experience in industrial relations and employee relations, including union negotiation/collective bargaining and dispute resolution in a regulated environment (financial services preferred).
• Demonstrated experience leading complex, time-sensitive consultation processes for organisational change.
• Proven track record managing high-volume ER casework, including disciplinary processes with defined procedural timelines.
• Strong knowledge of local labour law, union frameworks, collective bargaining agreements, and grievance/disciplinary procedures.
• Solid understanding of risk and control concepts, audit readiness, documentation discipline, and remediation tracking (experience with HR control frameworks such as HR FIM is desirable).
• Ability to apply policy and legal requirements consistently while balancing business needs and employee fairness.
• Excellent negotiation, influencing, and stakeholder management skills, with the ability to operate credibly with senior leaders and union counterparts.
• Strong judgement, integrity, and discretion when handling sensitive matters and confidential data.
• Structured, detail-oriented execution with the ability to prioritise under pressure and deliver within deadlines.
• Clear written and verbal communication, including the ability to craft defensible case records and consultation documentation.
• Bachelor’s degree in Human Resources, Law, Industrial Relations, or a related field (postgraduate qualifications are an advantage).
• Desirable English fluency

HSBC is an equal opportunity employer committed to building a culture where all employees are valued, respected and opinions count. We take pride in providing a workplace that fosters continuous professional development, flexible working and, opportunities to grow within an inclusive and diverse environment. We encourage applications from all suitably qualified persons irrespective of, but not limited to, their gender or genetic information, sexual orientation, ethnicity, religion, social status, medical care leave requirements, political affiliation, people with disabilities, color, national origin, veteran status, etc., We consider all applications based on merit and suitability to the role.