Employment Agreement: senior employee

What this document covers

This contract template includes all the statutory terms required under the Employment Rights Act 1996, plus enhanced commercial protections tailored for senior or managerial employees.

It’s suitable for roles with strategic, managerial, or high-trust responsibilities –  — such as heads of department, operational leads, or senior client-facing staff.

Key terms covered in this template

• • Job title and duties
    Sets out the employee’s role and may include a high-level description of strategic or leadership responsibilities.
  • Start date and continuous employment
    Confirms the start date and continuity, with options to reflect prior service where relevant.
  • Working hours and location
    Allows for greater flexibility in hours and working patterns, including provisions for hybrid or remote leadership roles.
  • Salary, bonuses, and benefits
    Goes beyond the junior template to include optional clauses for performance-related bonuses, car or travel allowances, private healthcare, or other senior-level benefits.
  • Annual leave
    Offers flexibility to include enhanced holiday entitlement above the statutory minimum, in line with seniority or market expectations.
  • Sickness absence
    Includes optional enhanced sick pay terms, suitable for more senior roles, while remaining compliant with statutory requirements.
  • Notice periods and termination
    Provides longer notice periods (often 3–6 months), with options to include garden leave and payment in lieu of notice (PILON) to help you manage exits smoothly and protect business interests.
  • Confidentiality and data protection
    Enhanced clauses to reflect access to high-value information, client data, strategy documents, or trade secrets.
  • Intellectual property (IP)
    Strengthened provisions to ensure any business-critical IP created in the role belongs to your company.
  • Restrictive covenants
    One of the key enhancements in this contract. It includes optional post-termination restrictions to help prevent senior staff from:
    • Poaching clients or employees
    • Misusing confidential information
    • Competing unfairly after leaving

  Disciplinary and grievance procedures
  Refers to internal procedures, with optional tailoring for seniority and board-level involvement if required.

Why use our template?

This template is a step up from a standard employment contract. It’s designed specifically for roles where the risks – and the rewards – are higher. That includes:

• Greater commercial protections to help safeguard your business
• Provisions that reflect senior-level responsibilities, including decision-making, staff management, or access to sensitive data
• Optional clauses that allow for customisation based on role, sector, or benefit structure

Whether you’re hiring a head of operations, finance lead, senior engineer, or department manager, this contract ensures you’ve covered the legal essentials and protected your business interests.

Practicle guidance included

As with all PaperRock templates, you’ll receive clear, plain-English guidance notes to help you fill out the contract confidently. These explain key terms and outline any options or decisions you may need to make, such as whether to include restrictive covenants or enhanced benefits.

You don’t need to be a lawyer to use this document. It’s designed for businesses that want professional-grade protection without professional-grade fees.

When to use this contract

This employment contract is suitable for:

• Heads of department
• Senior managers or team leads
• Strategic or operational hires
• Employees with access to key clients, data, or trade secrets
• Staff earning higher salaries or receiving performance bonuses

If you’re hiring someone into a junior or non-managerial role, we recommend our Simple Employment Contract (Junior Employee) template instead.

Template details

• Jurisdiction: England and Wales
• Format: Microsoft Word (.docx)
• Length: Approx. 13-15 pages
• Includes: Detailed guidance notes and clause options

A trusted resource for growing teams

This senior employment contract has been created by leading employment lawyers with deep experience advising UK businesses. It reflects current legal requirements as well as best practice when hiring at senior level.

At PaperRock, we know how important it is to get the legal detail right  – especially when you’re trusting someone with a key part of your business. That’s why we’ve created this flexible, robust, and user-friendly contract to help you hire with confidence.