Employment Senior Associate (5-8 PQE)

Manchester – £95,000

Role: Senior Employment Solicitor (5–8 PQE) 
Location: Manchester (hybrid)
Salary: up to £95K DOE

An excellent opportunity has arisen for an experienced Employment Solicitor (5–8 PQE) to join a highly regarded employment team within a progressive commercial law firm.

This is a standout role offering high-quality work, strong client exposure and genuine long-term progression within a collaborative and forward-thinking environment.

The Role You will work across a broad mix of predominantly non-contentious employment matters, advising a diverse client base of employers ranging from SMEs to large corporates.

Your experience will include:

• Advising on TUPE transfers and business restructuring projects
• Supporting clients on collective employment issues, including redundancies and reorganisations
• Leading on change management programmes, including contract variation exercises
• Handling a mix of day-to-day advisory work and complex employee relations matters
• Providing transactional support, including employment due diligence, drafting warranties and indemnities and advising on M&A, outsourcing and commercial arrangements.
• Advising on senior hires, exits and executive-level issues

This role offers strong autonomy, with scope to lead matters and build direct client relationships.


The Opportunity

This is a firm that places genuine emphasis on development, with clear expectations and support in the following areas:

• Technical excellence – continuing to build and refine your employment law expertise
• Client delivery – providing commercially focused, solution-driven advice
• Relationship-building – working collaboratively and developing internal and external networks
• Business development – contributing to client growth, profile-raising and market engagement

The Candidate

You will be a motivated and commercially-minded employment lawyer who is comfortable operating with autonomy.
Key requirements:

• 5–8 years’ PQE with strong employment law experience
• Excellent technical grounding across non-contentious employment matters
• Strong drafting, analytical and communication skills
• Ability to manage your own caseload and build client relationships
• Experience supervising or mentoring junior lawyers (desirable)
• Exposure to both advisory and contentious employment work (preferred)
• A proactive, commercially aware and collaborative approach

Why Apply?

• High-quality, varied work across advisory and transactional employment matters
• Strong client exposure and early responsibility
• Supportive and collaborative team culture
• Clear progression with defined career development framework
• Opportunity to play a role in business development and practice growth

If you’re an ambitious employment lawyer looking to step into a broad, high-impact role within a strong commercial platform, this is a fantastic opportunity to develop your career further.

Contact Huw@douglas-scott.co.uk for further details.