Director Industrial Relations Netherlands / People & Culture Country representative

As our Director of Industrial Relations Netherlands, you will play a key role in creating a workplace where people thrive and where there's always a way to move forward together.

As Director of Industrial Relations Netherlands, you will lead a diverse Team of approximately 11 people. You will be reporting to the Vice President of Industrial Relations and are part of the Industrial Relations Management Team. Next to this you are the People & Culture (P&C) country representative in the Netherlands, by being the single point of contact for the Dutch CEO on general P&C topics related to Vattenfall N.V.  

What will you do?

The main purpose of the position is to ensure that Industrial Relations Netherlands with constructive cooperation, co-determination and legal advice enables the business to fulfil strategies, meet targets and achieve necessary measures and development. Activities shall be executed within the frameworks of the P&C strategy, Industrial Relations strategy and the Business strategy.  

Next to leading the IR team you are the P&C country representative in the Netherlands. In this role you are attending the Management Board of Vattenfall N.V. and represent them towards the Central Works Council. You are responsible for all P&C topics that do not have a clear ownership within one single Centre of Excellence within P&C and has a country overall importance. You ensure follow-up and decisions on P&C topics relevant for the Netherlands and transfer P&C topics to the designated P&C resources. You are P&C’s single point of contact for the Dutch Country Manager (CEO) in such topics. You also represent Vattenfall as P&C representative externally in the Netherlands when appropriate.  

The key priorities include fostering constructive social dialogue, supporting organisational development and business transformation, and providing strategic guidance on workforce implications of change initiatives. The role contributes to ensuring that Vattenfall remains an attractive employer while continuously improving organizational effectiveness and adapting to evolving business needs.

Key responsibilities: 

• Responsible for policies and strategies relating to Industrial Relations and implementation thereof and guarantee that Vattenfall acts in accordance with current legislation and collective labour agreements; 
• Ensure constructive cooperation with internal and external stakeholders, as the Business Areas, Staff Functions, Supervisory Board, Board of Management, Works Councils, Unions and Employers Association; 
• Responsible from a strategic perspective for the collective labour agreement negotiations; 
• Participate in and contribute to cross-border co-operation within Industrial Relations, both in projects and in day-to-day business as well as in European Works Council (EWC) and EWC Working Committee; 
• Be the interface and negotiate with Works Councils/Unions in all occurring questions; 
• Ensure strategy and qualitative approach for the Employability Centre Netherlands in finding long-term solutions for redundant employees and implementation thereof; 
• Lead the strategic direction of Social Projects Netherlands and the Vattenfall Foundation, ensuring these initiatives create meaningful social impact, support business needs and contribute to Vattenfall’s role as a responsible employer in the Netherlands.

The organisation:

Industrial Relations Netherlands consists of approximately 11 employees. Next to 3 legal counsels providing the primary IR work, the Employability Centre (2 FTE), Social Projects – including the Vattenfall Foundation – (3 FTE) and Works Council Support (3 FTE) are also part of the Industrial Relations Netherlands team. 

Location:  
Amsterdam

Who are you?

As our ideal Director Industrial Relations Netherlands, you bring broad experience as a P&C Manager. You are proactive and performance oriented, like to drive change and to work in partnership with the business. As a leader, you show exemplary behavior in all dimensions of the Vattenfall LEAD model: Lead Yourself, Enable People, Align Teams, and Drive Performance.

Professional characteristics: 

As our Head of Industrial Relations, you will bring the following qualifications: 

• (Law) Degree from university in the Netherlands or other relevant university degree; 
• Experience in high quality Industrial Relations consulting to employers including knowledge of employment and labour law; 
• Experience in negotiations with unions/works councils; 
• Multiple years of experience in complex, international, matrix organisations;
• A demonstrable interest and track record in leading and developing people;
• Fluent skills in Dutch and English, both verbally and written.

To be successful in the role you also bring: 

• A strategic and analytical perspective, and a vision for the people perspective in the business including the importance of working with employability; 
• Capability and flair to build a large contact network, both internally and externally; 
• Excellent stakeholder management skills and the ability to take on different perspectives; 
• Capability to generate confidence and build relationships in a flexible manner as well as having the drive to identify flexible solutions and, when necessary, build bridges within the framework of the P&C Strategy and strategy of Industrial Relations; 
• Capability to be a strong sparring partner for the Dutch Management Board members on a P&C Country level; 
• The right management style to coach, develop and motivate the Industrial Relations Netherlands team according to our LEAD leadership expectations.

Our offer 
Good remuneration, a challenging and international work environment, and the possibility to work with some of the best in the field. You will be working in interdisciplinary teams and you can always count on support from committed colleagues. We offer attractive employment conditions and opportunities for personal and professional development. 

More Information   
We welcome your application in English. The last day to apply is 27th of September. Please do not wait until the last day when applying as we will be handling applications continuously throughout the duration of the process. We kindly request that you do not send applications by any means other than via our website. 

For more information about the recruitment process you are welcome to contact our executive recruiter Manon Helleman via email: manon.helleman@vattenfall.com.

At Vattenfall we are convinced that diversity contributes to build a more profitable and attractive company and we strive to be a good role model regarding diversity. Vattenfall works actively for all employees to have the same opportunities and rights regardless of gender, ethnicity, age, transgender identity or expression, religion or other belief, disability or sexual orientation. Click here for further information.

We look forward to your application!

Vattenfall is one of Europe’s largest producers and retailers of electricity and heat. Our main markets are Sweden, Germany, the Netherlands, Denmark, and the UK. The Vattenfall Group has approximately 21 000 employees. We have been electrifying industries, powering homes and transforming life through innovation for more than 100 years.