Head of Talent

Our client is a private equity backed financial planning business in a period of rapid growth, using technology and exceptional people to widen access to high quality financial advice. As they enter their next phase of scale, they are looking for a Head of Talent to own the hiring agenda end to end. This is a hands on leadership role reporting into the CEO, suited to someone who wants to build a talent function rather than inherit one, and who is as comfortable shaping the plan as they are personally running a critical search.

Head of Talent

• Location: Manchester
• Salary: Up to £70,000 depending on experience
• Contract: Permanent, full time
• Working pattern: 5 days per week in the office
• Benefits: Performance related bonus, private healthcare, profit share, 8% employer pension contribution, death in service cover

Role Responsibilities

• Own the talent strategy, translating the company’s growth plan into clear, prioritised hiring plans and building the foundations of a function that can scale.
• Personally lead priority, senior and hard to fill searches, building sourcing strategies across multiple talent pools.
• Act as a trusted adviser to the CEO, leadership team and hiring managers, challenging briefs where the evidence points a different way and bringing market insight to hiring decisions.
• Define what great looks like across the business and develop structured, fair assessment methods that test capability, values, judgement and potential.
• Equip hiring managers with the tools and confidence to interview and select well, introducing consistent standards across the organisation.
• Develop the employer proposition, strengthening the ability to attract ambitious people from both inside and outside financial services.
• Establish recruitment metrics and reporting that give leadership visibility of demand, pipeline health, conversion, speed and cost.
• Introduce practical systems and processes that support growth without adding bureaucracy.
• Work with the wider People team to ensure new hires land well and become productive quickly.

Person Specification

• A strong track record in talent acquisition, executive search or recruitment leadership.
• Experience in a high growth, entrepreneurial or scale up environment, with the resilience to work at pace and with ambiguity.
• Evidence of hiring across a broad range of disciplines and seniority levels, including leadership and difficult to fill roles.
• Experience partnering directly with senior leaders and turning broad business requirements into clear talent decisions.
• Strong working knowledge of structured interviewing, assessment, sourcing strategy, employer brand and recruitment data.
• The confidence to challenge stakeholders and influence hiring decisions.
• A genuinely hands on approach, leading important searches personally rather than managing through a large internal team or agency network.
• Excellent communication skills and credibility with people at every level.

This is a rare opportunity to shape how a growing business attracts, assesses and develops its people, with direct access to the leadership team and real ownership of the outcome.

How to Apply

If this sounds like the right next step, apply with an up to date CV or get in touch with the team at Lily Shippen for a confidential conversation.

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