Labor Relations Business Partner, Expert Level

The Labor Relations Business Partner, Expert Level role is the highest-level individual contributor in People Relations, responsible for leading the most sensitive and complex employee and labor relations matters. This role provides credible, strategic, and insight-driven advisory support to senior leaders. The role shapes and advances labor and employee relations strategy for the business, including preparation for CBA negotiations, workforce changes, and systemic risk matters.

The Labor Relations Business Partner, Expert Level operates as a performance-driven strategic advisor through the lens of Delta Dental's Mission and Purpose: advocating for respectful outcomes, enabling leaders to make informed decisions, and reducing legal and operational risk through strong fundamentals, insight, and consistent standards. This role partners with leadership at all levels, People COEs, Legal, Compliance/Risk, and business stakeholders to align strategy and drive consistency across the organization.

Responsibilities:

• Leads the highest-risk and most complex People Relations matters end-to-end, including executive-level employee issues, matters with significant legal or reputational exposure, and cases requiring enterprise-level judgment.
• Provides strategic consultation to senior leaders on CBA interpretation, grievance escalation strategy, discipline frameworks, performance outcomes, and workforce decisions affecting represented and non-represented populations.
• Co-leads labor strategy planning and execution for assigned negotiations, bargaining preparation, and labor-management engagement; serves as a key member of the negotiations team, up to second chair.
• Performs internal and external trend analysis and root-cause diagnosis; designs interventions that improve leader capability, reduce recurrence, and strengthen employee experience.
• Serves as a senior subject matter expert for labor and employee relations, employment practices, HR policies/procedures, employment law concepts, and government regulations; translates complexity into clear direction for leaders, People COEs, and other partners.
• Partners with Legal to evaluate risk and support strategy for pre-litigation, active litigation, and litigation-adjacent matters, including administrative charges, arbitrations, mediations, documentation, and witness readiness. This role does not serve as legal counsel of record.
• Designs and facilitates scenario-based, practical leader training aligned to Delta Dental standards, focusing on capability building and long-term skill development.
• Maintains integrity, discretion, and composure during high-pressure engagements, including bargaining and contentious leader-employee dynamics.
• Performs other duties as requested or assigned.

• Bachelor's degree and 7 years of employee and labor relations experience required; additional relevant experience may be considered in lieu of a degree. A Juris Doctor (JD) may be considered in lieu of some years of direct experience when accompanied by meaningful labor and employee relations experience.
• Preference for 8-12 years of progressive employee and labor relations experience, including direct union interface and leadership of complex, high-risk cases.
• Demonstrated experience supporting negotiations, contract administration, and grievance/arbitration preparation.
• Experience designing enterprise standards and leader capability programs.
• Expert labor relations capability, including NLRA fundamentals, labor-management relationship strategy, grievance processes, arbitration readiness, and bargaining preparation.
• Strong understanding of employment risk concepts (EEO, retaliation, wage and hour, leave frameworks) and ability to translate them into operational decision-making.
• Executive-level consultation skills, including confident communication, negotiation, stakeholder management, and conflict navigation.
• Advanced investigation capability, including planning, interviewing, credibility assessment, evidence analysis, and defensible documentation.
• Strong operational rigor: prioritization, case governance, standard work discipline, and ability to build repeatable systems and playbooks.
• Analytical mindset: ability to use data and insights to identify systemic drivers, recommend interventions, and measure outcomes.
• Advanced proficiency in Microsoft Office (Word, Excel, PowerPoint) and collaboration tools (Teams); comfort operating in HR case management systems.
• Strong interpersonal skills, mediation skills, consultation, and the ability to handle difficult situations with tact and diplomacy.
• Ability to prioritize and handle multiple projects simultaneously in a fast-paced environment in order to meet deadlines.
• Ability to work across multiple teams and with stakeholders at all organizational levels in often ambiguous circumstances.
• Juris Doctor (JD) preferred; however, this role does not represent the Company in legal matters and does not act as attorney of record.
• SHRM Certified Professional (SHRM-CP) or Professional in Human Resources (PHR) preferred.

• Competitive base and incentive pay
• 401(k) with robust matching and non-matching contributions
• Rich medical & pharmacy benefits
• 100% employer-paid dental and vision benefits
• Holistic wellbeing program with deep financial incentives
• Generous paid time off plus 12 paid holidays and your birthday off
• Culture of growth and learning: career development; tuition reimbursement; recognition program
• Family support: adoption assistance, fertility treatment, child, elder & pet care assistance
• Social responsibility and volunteer opportunities
• Employee discount program