Hr advisor | 12-month contract

We have an exciting opportunity for a HR Advisor to join our Melbourne office for a 12‐month contract, supported by our People and Development team nationally. As a highly motivated HR professional you will be a self‐starter who provides a hands‐on approach to your client groups.

• Minimum of 3 years of previous experience within Human Resources and a minimum of 1 year in an HR Advisor role.
• Previous experience working in a legal or professional services environment.
• Demonstrated stakeholder management, influencing, and accountability skills – especially with senior leaders.
• Experience providing high quality advice and guidance on people plans, engagement and initiatives.
• Sound knowledge of the Fair Work Act, Awards, contractual requirements and Workplace Health and Safety legislation.
• Ability to build rapport and foster trusted relationships within the P&D team and across the firm.
• Take initiative and ownership of role deliverables and projects.
• Work well under pressure in a fast‐paced environment, managing multiple priorities and ensuring service delivery.
• Tertiary qualifications in human resources, management, business or an equivalent field is preferred.

You will play an integral role partnering with people leaders and staff to drive high performance in alignment with the firm's vision and strategy. In this role, you will be responsible for delivering people initiatives and managing operations across the full employee life cycle for your client groups, both locally and nationally. This includes:

• Coaching partners and managers to build leadership capability, strengthen team performance and embed a high‐performance culture aligned to the firm's objectives.
• Contributing to and supporting broader People and Development cyclical initiatives including capability development programmes, reward and recognition activities, policy development and updates, and cross‐functional projects.
• Partnering with client groups through active participation in team meetings, providing workforce data and clear communication on people priorities, performance outcomes and planned initiatives.
• Managing employee relations and performance management issues applying sound judgement and risk awareness while supporting leaders to achieve fair, timely and sustainable outcomes.
• Driving Performance and talent management practices.
• Ensuring compliance with WHS/OH&S obligations and embedding safe work practices.
• Providing responsive advice to employee queries and requests.

At Gadens, we engage with all our people to create a work environment that encourages and promotes inclusion and diversity, while instilling pride in the firm and our values of collaboration, authenticity, responsibility and excellence. Our culture fosters professionalism and personal fulfilment. We embrace sustainability, corporate social responsibility and actively connect with First Nations people, providing access to justice to those in need through our pro‐bono practice. Recognised in the AFR BOSS Magazine's Best Places to Work 2024 and 2025, we are a modern, market‐leading law firm that puts its people first and offers opportunities for career development and progression.

• 30 weeks paid parental leave – Our market‐leading policy includes 30 weeks paid parental leave for all permanent staff, no tenure required. This also covers superannuation contributions while on leave, an external coach, and support for surrogacy and IVF treatment.
• Flexibility – Hybrid working arrangements with flexible hours and equipment support for working from home.
• Annual leave – Ability to purchase up to 3 weeks of annual leave a year and a gifted day of leave for your birthday month.
• Health & Wellbeing – A range of benefits including regular social events, an employee assistance programme, a bonus program for non‐fee earners, discounted private health insurance, annual flu vaccinations, skin checks, recognition awards and more.
• Learning & Development – Continuous learning opportunities, professional development for all employees, coaching, mentoring, study support and further education support.
• Community involvement – Contributions to the community through our well‐established pro‐bono programme and staff volunteering initiatives.