More than 13,000 employees and around 450 job roles—that’s a wonderfully challenging range.

Would you like to help shape stable and attractive labor law solutions within a large and complex organization? If you’re also someone who builds respectful and effective collaborative relationships with a clear understanding of roles and responsibilities—then this might be the right position for you!

The City Executive Office’s HR Department is the municipality’s strategic and operational function for overarching employer-related issues. We are responsible for ensuring that personnel policy is well-known and consistently applied throughout the organization. Our department leads, coordinates, and monitors efforts related to talent acquisition, leadership development, workplace environment, health, labor law, and compensation policy, as well as payroll and pension administration. In total, we are approximately 90 employees who together provide support to the political leadership and the municipality’s administrative departments. Our work is carried out in close collaboration with the various departments and the labor unions.

We are now looking for two skilled negotiators to join our team in the area of collective bargaining and labor law!

Employment Information

For one of these positions, we are seeking someone with a particular interest in wage setting. Our most senior negotiator in this area has a couple of years left before it’s time to pass the baton. We therefore want to ensure a strong, long-term, and sustainable transfer of expertise.

For the other position, which is an expansion of our team, we’re looking for someone who wants to work broadly across the entire field of negotiation and labor law.

Both positions are for full-time, permanent employment. Our office is located at the City Hall in Umeå. Start date to be agreed upon. In the application form, you’ll have the opportunity to indicate which of the positions you’re interested in.

Your Responsibilities

As a negotiator with us, you will work both strategically and operationally on tasks such as developing contract and negotiation processes, driving development initiatives at the strategic level, and advising colleagues on individual personnel matters. An important part of the role is building and maintaining collaborative relationships with colleagues and labor unions. You’ll contribute to a positive collaborative environment and be a valued colleague who strengthens your colleagues’ expertise in labor law and employer-related issues.

The role involves participating in all of the team’s areas of responsibility and focus. This involves, among other things:

• Providing expert advice on labor law and contractual matters.
• Conducting negotiations regarding interests and disputes.
• Conducting investigations on behalf of the municipal executive board and the personnel committee and, where appropriate, serving as an adjunct expert in complex investigations.
• Contributing to the development of working methods in collaboration with the HR functions of the various administrative departments.

As a negotiator, an important part of the role is to train, develop the skills of, and consult with colleagues, as well as to work with communication tailored to specific target groups. A strategic task is to develop processes, procedures, and system support that make it easy to understand and work with our processes. 

As a negotiator specializing in compensation structure, in addition to the above duties, you will be responsible for driving, developing, and managing Umeå Municipality’s compensation structure and compensation policy. Together with colleagues and management, you will be responsible for conducting strategic analyses of the current situation and desired changes to create an objective and effective pay structure that supports the organization’s long-term talent needs.

The role involves planning and implementing activities in the area of salary determination with a high degree of independence and responsibility. Key activities include leading and coordinating Umeå Municipality’s annual salary review, job evaluation, salary benchmarking, and position management. Together with your immediate colleagues, you will be responsible for conducting analyses and forecasts and developing proposals for salary increase margins and long-term salary initiatives. Another important part of your work is to coordinate and support salary-setting efforts across departments to ensure a consistent salary policy. Together with your immediate colleagues, you will lead and support labor-management cooperation in the area of salary setting.

About You

We are looking for someone who has:

• Relevant college degree in HR or other education deemed equivalent by the employer. 
• Experience with labor-management negotiations and collective bargaining.
• Experience/ability to interpret, apply, and draft collective bargaining agreements.
• Experience providing expert advice on labor law and making recommendations on complex issues.
• Experience leading and coordinating large, cross-organizational processes.
• Strong proficiency in Swedish, both spoken and written.

If you are applying for the role in compensation and benefits, you must also have:

• Experience with compensation and benefits work in a large organization.
• Experience with data analysis, including both internal and external data.
• Knowledge of job evaluation and salary surveys.
• Experience with and proficiency in Excel.

For these positions, it is desirable that you have advanced training in labor law as well as experience in the public sector and working in a politically governed organization.

As a person, you are confident and steady, and you adopt a consultative and strategic approach to your work that is based on both trust and long-term collaboration. Your attentiveness and attention to detail enable you to make well-informed decisions based on current circumstances and a holistic perspective. You are quality-conscious and take responsibility for independently driving processes. You possess strong teaching and communication skills. With your dedication and integrity, you are a valued asset to the organization and help ensure that the City of Umeå remains an attractive and responsible employer. We place great emphasis on personal suitability.

Screening and interviews may take place on an ongoing basis during the posting period, so we warmly encourage you to submit your application today!