Head of Labour Relations, Heidenheim or Munich (DE)

Our client is Voith, a globally active technology company and one of Germany's most established family-owned industrial enterprises, founded in 1867. Headquartered in Heidenheim, the company employs approximately 22,000 people worldwide and generates revenues exceeding €5 billion across the energy, paper, raw materials, and transport & automotive sectors. The organisation is in the midst of a company-wide digital and sustainability transformation, and its People & Culture function is evolving in step, building an integrated structure of Business Partners, Centres of Expertise, and Shared Services across its key regions.

The Head of Labour Relations reports to the CPO EMEA and leads the labour law and works council function for the German entity landscape. The mandate combines two dimensions: building an overarching, proactive works council engagement strategy for the organisation, and managing the operational realities that come with it — from day-to-day works council matters to collective bargaining. A near-term priority is post-close integration following a significant restructuring, where the incoming leader will act as the primary interface to works council bodies and drive consolidation of the existing works agreement landscape. The role combines substantive collective bargaining and co-determination responsibility with strategic advisory work, reflecting the weight this function carries within the organisation.

The role requires a fully qualified lawyer with at least ten years of relevant experience in German employment law, gained in an employer-focused law firm, an employer association, or the legal department of a major industrial enterprise. Familiarity with the IG Metall tariff environment is a strong advantage. Candidates should bring a demonstrable track record of managing works council relationships strategically — including in restructuring, contested negotiations, and multi-body co-determination — alongside experience with balance-of-interests negotiations, social plans, and business transfers. Prior leadership experience developing and positioning a specialist team is required.

This is a rare mandate to build a function's strategic architecture from the ground up with a direct line to the CPO EMEA and a visible role in a major post-close integration. There is substantive ownership of collective bargaining, not a purely advisory remit with a genuin strategic labour relations remit inside a €5bn+ family-owned global industrial enterprise.

Integration work following a significant restructuring begins immediately, with no extended ramp-up period. This is a large, multi-site entity landscape where the strategic architecture for works council engagement still needs to be redefined. The role demands equal credibility in the works council room and at executive committee level, and is not a purely advisory or technical legal position. Success requires sustained composure and strategic judgement through contested restructuring and multi-body negotiations, not just legal precision.