Head of Employee Relations Full Time

MRZ Recruitment is partnering with a dynamic and rapidly growing organisation to recruit an exceptional Head of Employee Relations.
This is a senior leadership opportunity for an accomplished Employee Relations / Industrial Relations professional who can combine deep technical labour relations expertise with strong commercial judgement and strategic leadership.

🔴 THE ROLE
As the Head of Employee Relations, you will lead the Group Employee Relations function and play a critical role in building a consistent, proactive and commercially sound approach to employee relations across a large, multi-site organisation.
You will serve as the senior technical authority on complex and high-risk ER matters while helping to shift the organisation from reactive case management towards proactive risk prevention.

🔴 THE IDEAL CANDIDATE
We are looking for someone with:
✔️ A Bachelor’s Degree in Human Resources, Industrial Relations, Labour Law or a related field.
✔️ A postgraduate qualification in Labour Relations or Labour Law would be advantageous.
✔️ Professional HR/ER certification such as SABPP, CIPD or equivalent would be advantageous.
✔️ 8–10 years of progressive Employee Relations or Industrial Relations experience.
✔️ At least 3 years’ experience in a senior ER, IR or Labour Relations leadership role.
✔️ Expert knowledge of South African labour legislation, including the LRA, BCEA, EEA and relevant Codes of Good Practice.
✔️ Extensive experience managing complex disciplinary, grievance, incapacity, poor performance, investigation and dismissal matters.
✔️ Strong CCMA and/or bargaining council representation experience.
✔️ Experience within a large, multi-site, high-volume environment such as retail, FMCG, logistics or hospitality would be highly advantageous.
✔️ A proven ability to influence senior stakeholders while balancing legal risk, fairness and commercial realities.

🔴 THIS ROLE IS FOR YOU IF…
You are a highly credible Employee Relations leader who can confidently navigate complex labour matters while seeing the bigger picture.
You understand that great Employee Relations is not just about managing cases—it is about identifying risks before they escalate, building management capability and creating sustainable solutions that support both people and business performance.