Career Coach (Career Advisor)

About the role

Freshfields, a global law firm, is hiring a Career Advisor (Career Coach) for its UK People function in London. Reporting to the Head of HR - UK&I, the role provides confidential, personalised career coaching and advisory support to Associates across the London offices, working with Practice Group Leaders, HR Business Partners, the Diversity & Inclusion team and others to deliver the firm's Talent Development strategy.

Key responsibilities

• Provide confidential career coaching to Associates on topics such as practice integration, relationship building, performance improvement, promotion readiness and long-term career planning, covering progression to Senior Associate or Counsel, lateral moves, secondments and return to work after leave.
• Design and deliver career development programmes and workshops, and oversee the UK mentoring programme, including individual development plans.
• Work with HR Business Partners and Resource Managers to turn performance feedback into development plans and track progress against firmwide career frameworks.
• Partner with partners, Marketing and Business Development and the alumni network to surface external development opportunities, secondments and client-facing experiences.
• Collaborate with external coaching providers on neurodiversity support, early careers coaching and outplacement.
• Work with the Diversity & Inclusion team to support a diverse Associate population and leadership pipeline, and help embed lateral hires.
• Use analytics and reporting to measure the impact of coaching, identify retention trends and share insights with the Learning and Development agenda.

Required profile

• Bachelor's degree and a coaching certification or equivalent (strongly preferred).
• Demonstrable experience in professional development, coaching or career advising, ideally in a law firm, professional services firm or academic institution; law firm practice experience is a strong advantage.
• Familiarity with legal career frameworks and the legal market.
• Discretion with confidential information, strong interpersonal and communication skills, and the ability to manage competing priorities in a matrixed environment.
• Right to work in the UK.

Required skills

• Proficiency in MS Office and HR systems, with the ability to learn new platforms quickly.