Talent Partner

Why Southwark?

At Southwark Council, our People & Organisational Development service plays a key role in shaping a high-performing, inclusive workforce that delivers for our communities.

Our Resourcing team sits at the heart of this, leading how we attract, recruit and retain talent across a diverse and complex organisation. From frontline services to senior leadership roles, we support hiring managers to bring in the right people, at the right time, in the right way.

We're transforming how recruitment is delivered – with a strong focus on quality, consistency, workforce planning, and reducing reliance on agency spend. Alongside this, we're building a more proactive, insight-led approach to attraction and developing internal talent pipelines to support long-term organisational success.

What You'll Be Doing

This is a hands-on, delivery-focused role where you'll manage recruitment activity from start to finish. You’ll work closely with hiring managers to understand their needs, shape campaigns, and ensure the right approach is taken to attract and assess candidates.

Alongside delivery, you’ll contribute to improving how recruitment works across the council. That means using data, market insight and experience to strengthen outcomes, support internal talent, and ensure a consistent, fair and high-quality approach.

Key responsibilities include:

• Managing end-to-end recruitment campaigns, from vacancy approval through to offer, ensuring timelines and standards are met
• Working with hiring managers to design recruitment approaches, including advertising, assessment and selection methods
• Leading attraction activity, including writing job adverts, running campaigns and using direct sourcing to reach suitable candidates
• Supporting redeployment and internal candidates, helping to match talent to opportunities and promote internal movement
• Providing advice, guidance and challenge to managers, while maintaining accurate data, compliance and a positive candidate experience

What We're Looking For

You’ll be someone who is confident delivering recruitment in a fast-paced environment, with the ability to manage competing priorities without losing focus on quality. You understand the importance of getting recruitment right and take a practical, organised approach to delivery.

You’ll also be comfortable working with managers at different levels, offering clear advice and building trust. You’re able to use data and insight to guide your work, and you’re committed to fair and inclusive recruitment practices that support better outcomes.

We’re looking for someone who has:

• Experience delivering end-to-end recruitment and advising managers on recruitment processes and best practice
• Experience designing and delivering attraction campaigns, including sourcing candidates for hard-to-fill or specialist roles
• The ability to manage multiple recruitment campaigns at pace, staying organised and meeting deadlines
• Confidence using recruitment data and insight to track progress, identify issues and improve performance
• Strong stakeholder management skills, with the ability to influence, challenge appropriately and work collaboratively

Additional Information

The closing date is given as a guide. We reserve the right to close this vacancy once a sufficient number of applications has been received. We strongly advise you to complete your application as soon as possible to avoid disappointment.

Guaranteed Interview Scheme:

As part of our commitment to inclusion, we offer guaranteed interviews for specific groups of people. To qualify, you'll need to meet the minimum requirements for the role, and identify with one of the below criteria:

• Members of the Armed Forces and veterans
• Are currently in care, or have previously been in care
• If you consider yourself to be disabled or if you have a long-term health condition

We are an organisation who is passionate about our people and understands that richness of diversity is a requirement to provide the best possible services to our communities. This is demonstrated through our council-wide ambitious commitment to tackle racial inequality in our communities and workforce through our Southwark Stands Together programme. We particularly welcome applications from members of the Black, Asian and ethnic minority communities to increase representation at senior management level in the Council.

Attachments

• Talent Partner - Job Description & Person Specification.pdf