Associate Director, Employee Relations Consulting

Guidehouse • San Antonio, TX

23h • Hybrid

About The Position

The Employee Relations Consultant Leader is responsible for leading a team of Employee Relations Consultants who provide strategic, risk-informed, and practical employee relations support to business leaders, managers, and Human Resources partners across the organization. In a centralized Employee Relations model, this role ensures the ER Consultant team delivers consistent, high-quality guidance on workplace matters, including performance concerns, misconduct response, policy interpretation, restructuring support, conflict management, workplace behavior concerns, and other sensitive employee issues. Reporting to the Director, Employee Relations, a successful candidate will oversee the day-to-day management, development, and effectiveness of the ER Consultant team, ensuring consultants are aligned to the business, operate consistently, and provide timely, practical, and defensible guidance. This is a new position; one in which will operate in close partnership with HR Business Partners, Employment Counsel, Ethics & Compliance, HR Operations, and a separate centralized Investigations team, and is accountable for driving ER consulting standards, case quality, service delivery, stakeholder confidence, and risk mitigation across the function.

Requirements

• Bachelor’s Degree and a minimum of 10 years of related HR experience.
• Significant experience in Employee Relations, Human Resources, Labor Relations, Employment Practices, or a related HR function.
• Demonstrated knowledge of federal and state EEO laws and state HR policies.
• Experience building, scaling, and leading teams in large, global, and highly matrixed organizations.
• Demonstrated experience leading employee relations professionals in a complex, matrixed, or multi-business environment.
• Strong experience advising performance issues, misconduct, workplace behavior concerns, policy application, corrective action, and terminations.
• Experience working within a centralized Employee Relations model.
• Demonstrated ability to manage sensitive, high-risk, and high-visibility issues with sound judgment and discretion.
• Strong understanding of case management, documentation standards, issue triage, and cross-functional partnership.
• Experience partnering effectively with Legal, HRBPs, and/or centralized investigations functions.
• Excellent written and verbal communications.
• Excellent organizational skills.
• Experience with Microsoft Office Suite, including Word, Excel, and PowerPoint
• Knowledge of HR technologies, including HRIS and/or Case Management Tool
• Ability to gather, analyze, and synthesize information and data from multiple sources and summarize investigative findings clearly and concisely in writing
• Ability to prioritize work in fast paced environment

Nice To Haves

• Experience supporting professional services, consulting, technology, or other complex business environments.
• Experience building or scaling employee relations operating models, consultant frameworks, or service delivery structures.
• Strong familiarity with global employee relations considerations and region-specific employment practices.
• Experience using case management systems, ER metrics, and trend reporting to inform decisions and improve service delivery.

Responsibilities

• Lead, coach, and develop a team of Employee Relations Consultants aligned to business segments, functions, or geographies.
• Foster a team culture grounded in sound judgment, fairness, responsiveness, discretion, and practical problem-solving.
• Drive calibration across consultants to reduce variability in recommendations and outcomes.
• Establish clear expectations and standards for consultant performance, judgment, responsiveness, documentation quality, stakeholder partnership, and risk management.
• Create strong operating discipline across the team, including consistent intake, consultation practices, and case management standards to ensure similar employee relations matters are handled consistently across business units, leaders, and regions, while accounting for applicable legal, cultural, and policy differences.
• Provide ongoing direction, case consultation, and escalation support on sensitive or high-risk employee relations matters.
• Serve as a senior escalation point for complex or sensitive leadership situations.
• Maintain strong judgment around when issues should remain within consulting support versus when they should be escalated to investigations, legal, ethics, security, or senior HR leadership.
• Build team capability in employee relations consulting, manager coaching, issue assessment, policy application, documentation practices, and workplace risk identification, promoting an approach that balances employee experience, business practicality, and organizational risk.
• Partner with Investigations on scope alignment, business context, interim actions, stakeholder coordination, and post-investigation implementation.
• Maintain clarity between investigative fact-finding responsibilities and ER consulting/advisory responsibilities.
• Define and reinforce clear handoffs between ER Consultants, Centralized Investigations team, and broader HR and Legal teams, as applicable.
• Partner with ER Operations or broader HR Operations teams, as applicable, to improve tools, workflows, reporting, knowledge management, and case documentation practices.
• Contribute to the broader employee relations strategy, operating model refinement, and organizational readiness.
• Ensure consultants are viewed as credible, business-relevant, and consistent partners rather than solely reactive issue managers.
• Support organizational restructuring efforts. drive and execute large-scale and small-scale reductions.
• Stay up to date on changes in employment laws and regulations and ensure company policies and procedures remain compliant.

Benefits

• Medical, Rx, Dental & Vision Insurance
• Personal and Family Sick Time & Company Paid Holidays
• Position may be eligible for a discretionary variable incentive bonus
• Parental Leave and Adoption Assistance
• 401(k) Retirement Plan
• Basic Life & Supplemental Life
• Health Savings Account, Dental/Vision & Dependent Care Flexible Spending Accounts
• Short-Term & Long-Term Disability
• Student Loan PayDown
• Tuition Reimbursement, Personal Development & Learning Opportunities
• Skills Development & Certifications
• Employee Referral Program
• Corporate Sponsored Events & Community Outreach
• Emergency Back-Up Childcare Program
• Mobility Stipend

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Manager