Chief Specialist Industrial Relations

Join us in this role where you’ll set the strategic direction for employee and industrial relations (ER/IR) across our growing operations, strengthening how we work with unions, works councils and employee representatives, while enabling local teams to deliver consistently and compliantly in their markets. You’ll blend hands‑on credibility with strategic influence to build trust, alignment and clear governance.

You’ll be part of People & Culture – Global People Infrastructure where you, together with your colleagues, will align group level ER/IR frameworks with country realities, partner closely with Generation leadership, and support local ER/IR teams to drive consistent practices, reporting and outcomes across regions.

As a team, we act with clarity, partner transparently and turn complex stakeholder landscapes into practical, people‑centred solutions.

• developing and owning group ER/IR strategy, standards, and operating frameworks rooted in collaboration, transparency and trust
• strengthening constructive relationships with unions, works councils, and employee representatives, ensuring consistent engagement across countries and regions
• advising senior leaders in Generation and P&C, aligning ER/IR priorities, and enabling country teams to negotiate and engage effectively within local legal frameworks
• building capability, playbooks, and shared learning for local ER/IR practitioners, including conflict prevention and dispute resolution approaches
• partnering externally with peers, trade bodies, and industry forums to shape sector practices, skills pipelines, and responsible labour standards
• tracking and reporting ER/IR health metrics and risks, ensuring compliance with national labour law and Ørsted governance, and enabling data driven decisions.

• bring deep understanding of union dynamics and works council environments, ideally from both employee side and employer side experience
• demonstrate strong stakeholder management and communication skills, able to engage credibly from shop floor to executive level
• have proven ability to craft group frameworks that respect local law, culture and maturity and to enable country practitioners to deliver
• are comfortable in complex, matrixed and political settings with sound judgement and a calm, solutions focused approach
• offer international perspective and cultural fluency with experience working across multiple countries or regions
• hold relevant education in HR, law, industrial relations or equivalent experience and apply ethical, compliant, and people centred practice.

Maybe you’ve read the above and can see you have some transferable skills, even though they don’t quite match all the points. If you think you can bring something to the team, we still encourage you to apply.

Send your application to us as soon as possible. We’ll be conducting interviews on a continuous basis and reserve the right to take down the advert when we’ve found the right candidate.

As an applicant or employee, you may request reasonable work and position accommodation or adjustments via

Please note that for your application to be taken into consideration, you must submit your application via our online career pages and answer the screening questions relevant for your country. We don't take applications or inquiries from external recruiters or agencies into account for this position.