Senior Employee Relations Business Partner

We’re looking for a Senior Employee Relations Business Partner (ERBP) to join our People team at Intercom.

This role has a global remit, sitting at the heart of how we support our people and leaders through complex, sensitive, and high-impact situations.  But this is more than a case management role.  You’ll be shaping how the function operates, building the frameworks and systems that scale it across our global BP team.  You’ll act as a trusted advisor and subject matter expert on employee relations, partnering closely with HRBPs, leaders, Legal (including our Senior Employment Counsel), and People Ops to ensure fair, consistent, and legally sound outcomes.

AI is redefining how businesses operate and how people teams can drive impact. We’re looking for an ambitious and curious ERBP who thrives in this kind of environment; someone who thinks big, leans into change, and sees AI as an accelerator for better, faster, smarter work. You’ll bring confidence and ambition to the table. We value people who love to work hard, learn constantly, and consistently deliver great outcomes.

You’ll play a critical role in maintaining a high-performance, high-integrity culture, balancing empathy with sound judgement, and speed with rigour.

• Manage a broad range of employee relations matters including grievances, investigations, disciplinaries, performance concerns, and exits
• Conduct and support fair, thorough, and timely investigations
• Ensure all processes are compliant with local employment law and internal policies

• Act as a centre of excellence for ER, supporting HRBPs on complex or high-risk cases
• Coach managers and leaders through sensitive situations with clarity and confidence
• Provide pragmatic, business-aligned recommendations grounded in risk awareness

• Build manager capability so people issues are handled early, fairly, and close to the source, reducing reliance on escalation
• Develop practical training and resources grounded in real scenarios: performance, absence, conflict, conduct
• Create scalable self-service tools (guides, templates, decision frameworks) that give managers confidence to act
• Drive a shift from reactive case management toward proactive, early intervention

• Standardise ER approaches across regions to ensure fairness and consistency
• Develop and refine ER frameworks, templates, and guidance
• Identify patterns and trends in ER data to surface root causes and drive earlier intervention 
• Identify opportunities to use AI and automation to improve case management, documentation, and pattern detection, reducing manual effort while improving consistency and speed

• Work closely with our Senior Employment Counsel as a key partnership, jointly owning risk assessment, escalation, and resolution on complex matters
• Support on pre-litigation matters and external claims where needed
• Ensure high-quality documentation and audit-ready case management
• Design and maintain case tracking and decision documentation systems that create a reliable, scalable ER backbone

• Deliver training and enablement for HRBPs and managers on ER topics
• Build confidence across the business in handling people issues effectively
• Contribute to a culture of accountability, high performance/standards, respect, and transparency

• 6+ years experience in Employee Relations, HRBP, or a related role in a fast-paced, global environment
• Strong track record of managing complex, high-risk ER cases independently
• Experience working across multiple jurisdictions (EMEA and/or US preferred)

• Commercial mindset: You understand the business context and balance people risk with commercial impact, making pragmatic decisions that support both employees and company outcomes
• Judgement: You make balanced, well-reasoned decisions in ambiguous and sensitive situations
• Credibility: You build trust quickly with leaders and employees at all levels
• Influence: You can guide and challenge stakeholders effectively
• Resilience: You operate calmly under pressure and manage emotionally charged situations professionally
• Bias for action: You move with urgency, avoid unnecessary process drag, and push for timely resolution of issues while maintaining quality and fairness
• Detail orientation: You maintain high standards of documentation and process integrity

• Strong understanding of employment law and ER best practices
• Familiarity with investigation processes and case management
• Experience partnering with Legal teams on risk and compliance matters

• Experience scaling ER practices in a high-growth tech company
• Background in both HRBP and ER specialist roles
• Experience building ER playbooks, training, or frameworks
• Strong Interest & curiosity in how AI and technology can transform ER delivery, from case management to manager enablement
• Experience designing or implementing case management systems or ER tooling

Intercom has a hybrid working policy. We believe that working in person helps us stay connected, collaborate easier and create a great culture while still providing flexibility to work from home. We expect employees to be in the office at least three days per week.

We have a radically open and accepting culture at Intercom. We avoid spending time on divisive subjects to foster a safe and cohesive work environment for everyone. As an organization, our policy is to not advocate on behalf of the company or our employees on any social or political topics out of our internal or external communications. We respect personal opinion and expression on these topics on personal social platforms on personal time, and do not challenge or confront anyone for their views on non-work related topics. Our goal is to focus on doing incredible work to achieve our goals and unite the company through our core values.  

Intercom values diversity and is committed to a policy of Equal Employment Opportunity. Intercom will not discriminate against an applicant or employee on the basis of race, color, religion, creed, national origin, ancestry, sex, gender, age, physical or mental disability, veteran or military status, genetic information, sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, marital status, or any other legally recognized protected basis under federal, state, or local law.