Manager / Senior Manager: HR Transactions and Employment Law Advisory

Role Purpose

EY is seeking an experienced HR Transactions and Employment Law professional to lead and grow our HR Due Diligence and Employment Law Advisory capability across South Africa and Africa.

The role supports clients and transaction teams through the full deal lifecycle by assessing workforce-related risks, employment obligations, organisational structures, leadership considerations, remuneration arrangements, labour relations exposures and operational people risks. The successful candidate will also provide employment law and labour relations advisory services to multinational and local clients across a broad range of workforce matters.

This role works closely with EY Transaction Diligence, Tax, Legal, People Consulting and broader advisory teams to help clients make informed investment, restructuring, integration and workforce decisions.

Key Responsibilities

HR Due Diligence and Transactions

• Lead and deliver HR due diligence engagements for mergers, acquisitions, divestitures, carve-outs and restructuring transactions.
• Manage the end-to-end HR due diligence process.
• Develop scopes of work, proposals and fee estimates.
• Conduct management interviews and coordinate information requests.
• Review workforce, organisational and remuneration data.
• Assess leadership structures, key talent dependencies and workforce risks.
• Evaluate employee relations, labour law and industrial relations matters.
• Review compensation, benefits, incentives and employment-related liabilities.
• Prepare clear, commercially focused risk assessments and executive reports for investors and corporate clients.
• Present key findings and recommendations to clients and deal teams.
• Support post-deal integration, separation and employee transfer planning.

Employment Law Advisory

• Provide practical and commercially focused employment law support across South Africa and, where required, African jurisdictions.
• Advise on labour and employment legislation and its application to client circumstances.
• Draft and review employment contracts, workplace policies and related employment documentation.
• Advise on restructures, retrenchments, workforce transfers and organisational redesign.
• Support clients with disciplinary, grievance, industrial relations and general employee relations matters.
• Advise on the employment aspects of cross-border projects and corporate transactions.
• Develop and deliver employment law training and thought leadership.
• Work collaboratively with EY legal, tax, transaction and people specialists on multidisciplinary engagements.

Business Development and Market Leadership

• Develop trusted client relationships and identify new advisory and transaction opportunities.
• Prepare proposals, scopes of work and engagement documentation.
• Build strong relationships with Transaction Diligence, Strategy and Transactions, Legal, Tax and People Consulting teams.
• Support the growth of EY’s HR Transactions and Employment Law Advisory offering in South Africa and Africa.
• Develop market-facing content, methodologies and thought leadership.

Project and Team Leadership

• Lead multiple engagements simultaneously while maintaining delivery quality and responsiveness.
• Manage engagement budgets, timelines, economics and risk requirements.
• Coach and develop junior team members and multidisciplinary delivery teams.
• Drive quality, consistency and commercial relevance across client deliverables.
• Build scalable methodologies, templates, knowledge assets and delivery processes.

Skills and Experience Required

Technical Skills

• Strong employment law, labour relations and employee relations expertise.
• Experience in HR due diligence, transactions or related workforce advisory services.
• Understanding of mergers and acquisitions, restructures and corporate transactions.
• Ability to assess organisational structures, remuneration arrangements, workforce costs and employment-related risks.
• Excellent analytical, report-writing and executive presentation skills.
• Proven experience in preparing proposals, managing engagements and producing high-quality client deliverables.
• Strong commercial judgement and the ability to translate technical findings into practical business recommendations.

Preferred Experience

• Significant relevant experience in consulting, legal advisory, people consulting, HR transactions, employment law or labour relations.
• Experience working on corporate transactions and due diligence assignments.
• Experience managing senior client stakeholders and multidisciplinary teams.
• Exposure to African and cross-border employment matters would be advantageous.
• Experience in business development and building an advisory pipeline would be advantageous.

Qualifications

• An LLB, labour law, human resources, industrial psychology or other relevant qualification.
• A relevant postgraduate qualification in employment or labour law would be advantageous.
• Admission as an attorney would be advantageous but is not essential where the candidate has strong practical employment law and HR transactions experience.

Key Attributes

• Commercially minded and able to operate at the intersection of people, transactions and law.
• Confident, credible and comfortable engaging with senior executives, investors and deal teams.
• Highly analytical, detail-oriented and able to identify the issues that may affect deal value, execution or integration.
• An effective communicator who can explain complex matters clearly and concisely.
• Collaborative and able to work across service lines, countries and professional disciplines.
• Proactive, adaptable and able to deliver under demanding transaction timelines.

Success Measures

• Growth in HR Due Diligence and Employment Law Advisory revenue and market presence.
• High-quality, timely and commercially relevant client advice and deliverables.
• Strong relationships with clients and EY transaction, tax, legal and people teams.
• Effective conversion of opportunities into engagements.
• Development of a scalable HR Transactions capability across South Africa and Africa.
• Consistently strong client satisfaction, engagement quality and risk management outcomes.
• Development and retention of capable team members.

Why This Role Matters

This position sits at the intersection of people, transactions and law. The role helps clients understand and mitigate workforce-related risks while identifying opportunities to protect and create value during acquisitions, restructures and business transformations. It is a highly visible, client-facing role with the opportunity to build a differentiated HR Transactions and Employment Law Advisory capability within EY Africa.