Estée Lauder Companies Employee Relations Governance and Advisory Director
- Location
- New York City New York USA
- Employment
- Full-Time
- Seniority
- Director
- Department
- Human Resources, People & Culture
- Posted
- Oct 22, 2026
About Estée Lauder Companies
The Estée Lauder Companies is a global leader in prestige beauty, founded in 1946 by Estée and Joseph Lauder and built on an enduring belief in creativity, high-touch service, and entrepreneurial spirit. As an employer, the Group offers talent the scale of an international house with the energy of distinctive brands across skincare, makeup, fragrance, and hair care. Its culture values innovation, inclusion, learning, and responsible growth, inviting professionals to shape consumer experiences from laboratory to counter, digital platform to boardroom. Employees join a purpose-led organization where heritage, artistry, and scientific excellence meet to define the future of luxury beauty.
The Employee Relations Governance and Advisory Director leads enterprise employee and labor relations standards, governance, policy guidance, escalations, and risk oversight, while partnering across HR, Legal, Compliance, and business functions. The role is posted with a New York, NY location and is open to all geographies.
Role & Responsibilities
- Drive and evolve enterprise employee relations and labor relations standards and governance frameworks to enable consistent decision-making, clear accountability, and scalable adoption across geographies and business units.
- Enforce enterprise-wide guardrails and escalation protocols that clarify when and how matters move between local execution and Center of Excellence advisory support.
- Advise people leaders and HR Business Partners on complex or ambiguous policy interpretation and employee and labor relations guidance.
- Align the strategic approach to global people-related policy with Legal, Total Rewards, and Employee Engagement, ensuring cohesion between intent, practice, and governance.
- Develop practical decision tools, guidance, and standards that support consistent and equitable application of employee and labor relations practices.
- Organize and embed global people-related policies into governance and management systems so standards are accessible, understood, and operationalized.
- Partner with Legal and Compliance to align governance guardrails, policy intent, and enterprise risk positioning, particularly in complex or precedent-setting scenarios.
- Provide expert guidance on escalated matters requiring policy interpretation, governance alignment, or enterprise consistency, coordinating with Employee Relations/Labor Relations Center of Excellence leadership and investigation partners as needed.
- Analyze trends and recurring themes from employee and labor relations cases and advisory activity to identify systemic issues, improve standards, and inform enterprise priorities.
- Refine governance frameworks, playbooks, and guidance based on feedback, outcomes, and evolving business and legal needs.
- Build partnerships across People Partners, the People Experience Team, Legal, Ethics and Compliance, Total Rewards, Talent, Inclusion, Diversity and Equity, and business leaders to drive alignment, adoption, and consistent execution of enterprise standards.
- Model sound judgment, clarity, and fairness, strengthening employee and labor relations capability across the People function through guidance, coaching, and governance discipline.
Qualifications
- 10–12+ years of progressive HR experience, with significant depth in employee relations governance, policy interpretation, and advisory work in a matrixed environment.
- Demonstrated ability to define and embed enterprise standards, governance frameworks, and scalable guidance that drive consistency and adoption across diverse contexts.
- Experience partnering with Legal and cross-functional stakeholders to align policy intent, risk positioning, and practical execution.
- Strong analytical and systems-thinking capability, with the ability to identify themes, anticipate downstream impacts, and translate insights into improved standards and tools.
- Exceptional judgment and discretion; ability to navigate ambiguity with confidence and integrity.
- Bachelor’s degree required; advanced degree preferred.
Skills
Experience
10–12+ years of progressive HR experience, with significant depth in employee relations governance, policy interpretation, and advisory work in a matrixed environment.
Education
Bachelor’s degree required; advanced degree preferred.
Workplace
The role is situated in New York City, New York, USA.
Explore jobs in the USA.
Culture
The Estée Lauder Companies fosters a collaborative, inclusive workplace where creativity, entrepreneurial thinking, and a passion for prestige beauty are deeply valued. As a global house of distinctive brands, it offers employees an environment that encourages innovation, professional growth, and a shared commitment to excellence and consumer inspiration.
About Cerulean
Cerulean is the definitive career portal for the global luxury industry. We match exceptional professionals with exclusive opportunities at the world's most prestigious brands. From haute couture and fine watchmaking to prestige beauty, hospitality, and boutique retail, Cerulean centralises luxury employment to help you find the career for which you were destined.
Frequently Asked Questions
The luxury industry is characterised by a diverse and nuanced nomenclature. Esteemed houses frequently employ proprietary terminology, and even within a single organisation like Estée Lauder Companies, titles may vary across global markets to reflect local conventions. To ensure absolute clarity, Cerulean assigns a standardised, industry-coherent canonical title to every listing. However, it is worth noting that this role is functionally synonymous with «Employee Relations Director», «Employee Relations Governance Director», «Employee Relations Advisory Director», «Labor Relations Director», and other variations. Our sophisticated search architecture anticipates these variations, ensuring that inquiries using related terms will seamlessly yield the exact roles you desire.