Summary
Description
Arcadis is the world's leading company delivering sustainable design, engineering, and consultancy solutions for natural and built assets.
We are more than 36,000 people, in over 70 countries, dedicated to improving quality of life. Everyone has an important role to play. With the power of many curious minds, together we can solve the world’s most complex challenges and deliver more impact together.
Role description:
As Employee Relations Director, Americas, you will shape the future of how our organization connects with its people—leading the Employee Relations team for approx. 12,000 employees across diverse markets and cultures. You will be the driving force behind creating a fair, respectful, and legally compliant work environment that empowers our people, protects our business, and supports our growth. By balancing business needs with empathy and integrity, you’ll champion a culture of trust, inclusion, and accountability—ensuring our values come to life in every employee experience, every day, around the world.
Role accountabilities:
Strategic Leadership
Lead the employee relations function for Americas, supporting the vision for the Global Employee Relations Centre of Expertise and assisting with the execution of a globally consistent employee relations strategy that aligns with our values, empowers our people, and supports sustainable business success. Serve as a trusted advisor to senior leaders, helping them navigate the evolving employee relations and employment law landscape with clarity and confidence.
Policy Innovation & Global Governance
Design and oversee employee relations frameworks that strike the right balance between global consistency and local relevance. Champion forward-thinking, inclusive policies that reflect our cultural aspirations and local labor realities—ensuring fairness, transparency, and long-term trust.
Proactive Risk & Compliance Stewardship
Anticipate challenges before they arise. You’ll lead with a proactive lens to identify emerging risks, ensure global compliance with labor laws and employment practices, and guide decisions that protect both people and the business.
Labor & Union Relations Strategy
Shape and influence our approach to union engagement and collective bargaining, building collaborative relationships with labor partners and works councils (as applicable). Ensure local HR teams are empowered with the right guidance, resources, and tools to lead with confidence.
Complex Case Leadership & Resolution
Be the escalation point for the most sensitive and high-impact employee relations and employment law cases and investigations globally. Model principled, fair decision-making that reflects our values and protects the integrity of our culture. Equip and coach HR leaders to build strong employee relations and employment law acumen at all levels.
Change Leadership & Organizational Transformation
Play a pivotal role in managing the people side of transformation—in particular major transitions such as restructuring, M&A, and cultural shifts by providing strategic employee relations and employment law support ensuring smooth execution and minimal risk. Ensure our people feel seen, heard, and respected during change.
Stakeholder Engagement & Influence
Build and nurture strong relationships with a wide range of stakeholders—internally and externally.
Internally, partner closely with People Services, People Business Partners and Advisors, Compliance, Data Privacy and senior leadership teams to embed best-in-class employee relations and employment law practices into day-to-day operations and strategic planning.
Externally, act as the face of the organization in engagement with works councils, regulators, and industry bodies. Represent the company with credibility, diplomacy, and a commitment to collaboration.
Team Development & Global Collaboration
Lead the employee relations team for Americas. Cultivate a learning culture, build deep expertise, and ensure the team is equipped to navigate complexity with agility. Partner seamlessly with the Global Employee Relations Director, the Employee Relations Directors for UK, Ireland, Asia & Middle East and Europe (and their teams), the Global Employee Relations Operations Manager, the wider People team, Compliance, and Data Privacy teams as well as senior leaders to co-create solutions.
Data-Driven Strategy & Continuous Improvement
Leverage employee relations and employment law updates, insights, analytics, employee voice data and AI to inform decisions, identify patterns, and improve our approach. Your ability to turn data into action will help us foster a workplace that’s not just compliant—but exceptional.
Culture & Inclusion Advocacy
Act as a guardian of the company’s values and culture through employee relations and employment law strategies that promote respect, inclusion, and fairness.
Ensure that every employee relations and employment law touchpoint contributes to a workplace where all employees feel valued, included, and heard. Ensure that employee relations approaches contribute positively to employee experience and employer brand.
General
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Act as a visible steward of health and safety and ensuring familiarity and compliance with Health and Safety regulations and guidelines including wellbeing and resilience.
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Where required, undertake external promotion and presence for both the Arcadis and personal brand in the marketplace through though leadership and speaking engagements.
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Travel: This role will may require travel from time to time to meet with key stakeholders, and attend meetings and workshops.
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Depending on location it may require work outside normal business hours
Qualifications & Experience:
We’re looking for a dynamic, globally minded leader who combines strategic vision with deep expertise in employee relations and employment law. The ideal candidate is someone who thrives in complex, multicultural environments and brings a balance of legal knowledge, people leadership, and business acumen.
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Extensive Employee Relations and Employment law Experience
Proven track record of leading employee relations strategy and employment law in large, complex, and highly matrixed organizations across multiple geographies.
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Leadership in Complex Environments
Proven experience managing employee relations and employment law issues across different geographies, labor law frameworks, and cultural contexts. You understand how to lead globally while adapting to local realities.
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Strong Employment law knowledge
Must be a qualified employment lawyer with a deep understanding of global labor and employment laws. Ability to interpret and apply legal principles pragmatically in a business setting is essential.
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People Leadership
Inspirational people leader with experience managing and developing globally dispersed teams. Experience leading through change, transformation, or crisis. You’ve supported business transitions such as mergers, restructuring, or global expansions while ensuring people are treated with dignity and fairness.
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Strategic Influence & Stakeholder Management
Adept at building trusted relationships across senior business leaders, HR, Legal, Compliance, and external labor bodies. You have the presence, communication skills, and credibility to influence at the highest levels.
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Change & Transformation Expertise
Experience supporting M&A, restructuring, or workforce transformation initiatives with a people-first approach and strategic employee relations planning.
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Data & Insight Driven
Strong analytical mindset with the ability to interpret employee relations and employment law trends, use data and AI to drive strategy, and turn insights into action.
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Culturally Fluent & Globally Minded
Deep appreciation for cultural nuance and diversity. Able to navigate complexity with sensitivity, diplomacy, and an inclusive mindset.
Personal Attributes:
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Purpose-driven, values-led, and courageous in standing up for fairness and integrity.
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Solutions-oriented and agile—able to pivot between strategy and execution.
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Emotionally intelligent, calm under pressure, and a natural relationship-builder.
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Comfortable with uncertainty and competing priorities.
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Passionate about creating workplaces where people feel safe, respected, and heard
Why Arcadis?
We can only achieve our goals when everyone is empowered to be their best. We believe everyone's contribution matters. It’s why we are pioneering a skills-based approach, where you can harness your unique experience and expertise to carve your career path and maximize the impact we can make together.
You’ll do meaningful work, and no matter what role, you’ll be helping to deliver sustainable solutions for a more prosperous planet. Make your mark, on your career, your colleagues, your clients, your life and the world around you.
Together, we can create a lasting legacy.
Join Arcadis. Create a Legacy.
Our Commitment to Equality, Diversity, Inclusion & Belonging
We want you to be able to bring your best self to work every day which is why we take equality and inclusion seriously and hold ourselves to account for our actions. Our ambition is to be an employer of choice and provide a great place to work for all our people. We are an equal opportunity and affirmative action employer. Women, minorities, people with disabilities and veterans are strongly encouraged to apply. We are dedicated to a policy of non-discrimination in employment on any basis including race, creed, color, religion, national origin, sex, age, disability, marital status, sexual orientation, gender identity, citizenship status, disability, veteran status, or any other basis prohibited by law.
Arcadis offers benefits for full time and part time positions. These benefits include medical, dental, and vision, EAP, 401K, STD, LTD, AD&D, life insurance, paid parental leave, reward & recognition program and optional benefits including wellbeing benefits, adoption assistance and tuition reimbursement. We offer nine paid holidays and 15 days PTO that accrue per year. The salary range for this position is $136,000 – $299,000. Actual salaries will vary and are based on several factors, such as experience, education, budget, internal equity, project and location.
