Senior Policy Consultant

Standard Life; City of Edinburgh; Hybrid; GBP 46,000 - 55,000; Full time

Job summary

A leading financial services company is seeking a Senior Policy Consultant to join its Employee Relations and Colleague Wellbeing team. This role provides expert employment knowledge and guidance on policy development and requires strong experience in HR policy management. The position is hybrid, based mainly in Edinburgh, and offers a competitive salary and comprehensive benefits. Candidates should have a solid understanding of UK employment law and a track record of effectively managing HR policies.

Benefits

Up to £55,000 DOE

Bonus range of 16-32%

Private medical cover

38 days annual leave

Excellent pension plan

12x salary life assurance

Income protection

3x volunteering days

Qualifications

• Proven experience of developing and enhancing an HR policy proposition.
• Accustomed to working in businesses with a mature Employee Relations agenda.
• Strong working knowledge of UK employment law and its application.

Responsibilities

• Provide expert employment knowledge and advice on policy development.
• Manage and enhance employment policies to stay legally compliant.
• Collaborate with HR stakeholders to ensure alignment on policy changes.

Skills

Experience in HR policy management

Knowledge of UK employment law

Strong communication skills

Job description

We have an incredible opportunity to join us here at Phoenix Group as an Senior Policy Consultant, joining our Employee Relations and Colleague Wellbeing team.

Job Type: FTC - 12 months

Location: Hybrid with travel to our core offices as needed, mainly Edinburgh and Telford, possibly Birmingham

Flexible working: All of our roles are open to part-time, job-share and other types of flexibility. We will discuss what is important to you and balancing this with business requirements during the recruitment process. You can read more about Phoenix Flex here.

Closing Date: 05/01/2026

Salary and benefits: Up to £55,000 DOE plus an indicative bonus range of 16-32%, private medical cover, 38 days annual leave, excellent pension, 12x salary life assurance, career breaks, income protection, 3x volunteering days and much more

Who are we?

We want to be the best place that any of our 6,600 colleagues have ever worked.

We’re Phoenix Group, we’re a long-term savings and retirement business. We offer a range of products across our market-leading brands, Standard Life, SunLife, Phoenix Life and ReAssure. Around 1 in 5 people in the UK has a pension with us. We’re a FTSE 100 organisation that is tackling key issues such as transitioning our portfolio to net zero by 2050, and we’re not done yet.

The role

The Senior Policy Consultant provides expert employment knowledge alongside a pragmatic and commercial approach to policy development. They are a trusted advisor, accountable for all aspects of employment policies, providing a governance role across policies that sit within other SME areas such as talent and reward. You’ll partner closely with People Leaders, HRDs & HRBPs and People LT.

What we’re looking for?

• Manage and enhance our suite of employment policies and employment contracts, ensuring not only that these remain legally compliant and align to regulatory requirements (e.g. SMCR, employment legislation, FCA/PRA guidance), but also apply a business lens and position us as the best place any of us have ever worked.
• Ensure external employment law and policy knowledge is kept up-to-date in order that we have complete confidence our policies benchmark well externally.
• Anticipate key changes in legislation which may impact our policies, people practices and our business so that we stay one step ahead. Actively lobbying government where appropriate to influence outcomes.
• Ensure engagement with relevant HR SMEs to support and implement change. Share any changes to relevant stakeholders ahead of time in clear, easy to understand terms.
• Work collaboratively on exciting developments across HR including working to ensure they follow the same high standards of policy development and governance.
• Provide expert technical employment, contract and policy advice and guidance to frontline HR colleagues and at a strategic level.
• Provide expert advice on the operation of the regulatory rules in conduct cases.
• Work across our function to design targeted upskilling to ensure a level of technical policy knowledge exists to allow us to anticipate changes to our people advice and processes.
• Foster collaboration with key stakeholder, including HR Directors, HR Business Partners and colleagues across the business.
• Manage the relevant stakeholders to ensure that our policies continue to work commercially with the business and to enhance and continually improve our ways of working and promote our people proposition and employer brand.
• Provide leadership and support to projects or initiatives that have an impact or dependency on our ER agenda. This may include corporate projects or supporting company responses to public affairs issues.
• Be able to use data and analytics to understand trends in our employee populations and make recommendations based on those insights.

What are we looking for?

• Accustomed to working in businesses with a mature Employee Relations and policy agenda
• Proven experience of developing and enhancing an HR policy proposition
• Example of monitoring the legislative and political landscape in order to evolve our offering accordingly working alongside wider business SME functions and updating key stakeholders
• Experience in policy and employment contract management and in providing technical and strategic advice, support and guidance on employee relations and policy matters to HR colleagues and the business
• Strong working knowledge of UK employment law and its practical application in a commercial and regulatory environment

We are committed to ensuring that everyone feels accepted and welcome applicants from all backgrounds. If your experience looks different from what we’ve advertised and you believe that you can bring value to the role, we’d love to hear from you.

If you require any adjustments to the recruitment process, please let us know so we can help you to be at your best.

We’re reviewing applications as they come in, so apply early to avoid missing out.

Find out more about #LifeAtPhoenix

• Guide for Candidates: thephoenixgroup.pagetiger.com/guideforcandidates
• Find or get answers from our colleagues: www.thephoenixgroup.com/careers/talk-to-us

Many of our colleagues will be taking a well‑earned over the festive period. We’re still advertising our open roles and as part of our commitment to providing the best candidate experience, we wanted to let you know that there may be a delay in responding to applications received between the 19th December and 5th January. Please bear with us and we’ll be in touch as soon as we can.

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