Talent Acquisition Excellence Lead

About the role

The Talent Acquisition Excellence Lead will be the authority on what world-class recruitment looks like. Your mission is twofold: maintain deep expertise in the best TA practices, tools, and methodologies available today, and continuously assess whether our recruitment function is applying them effectively.

This is not a recruiter or HR generalist role. You will operate independently from the HR department, reporting to the Head of Strategy & Execution with direct Board visibility. You define what “great” looks like in talent acquisition and hold the function accountable.

Responsibilities

Talent Acquisition Excellence Standards
• Define and maintain a comprehensive framework of best-in-class recruitment practices covering sourcing, screening, interviewing, offer management, and onboarding
• Benchmark against industry leaders in talent acquisition across financial services and technology sectors
• Stay current on emerging recruitment methodologies, assessment tools, and AI-driven sourcing and screening technologies
Continuous Quality Assurance
• Conduct ongoing audits of recruitment processes, candidate experience, hiring manager engagement, and TA team performance
• Evaluate ATS utilisation, sourcing channel effectiveness, interview quality, and hiring decision consistency
• Identify bottlenecks, inefficiencies, and gaps in the hiring funnel
Metrics & Reporting
• Establish and track Talent Acquisition KPIs: time-to-fill, quality of hire, source effectiveness, candidate experience, offer acceptance rate, and others
• Deliver candid, data-driven assessments of Talent Acquisition operations to leadership with actionable recommendations
• Drive measurable improvements — this role is judged on what changes, not the reports

Qualifications 

Experience
• 7+ years in talent acquisition operations, TA consulting, or recruitment function leadership
• Experience in consulting (strategic or Big4), especially in people and organisation practice or financial services / technology sectors is strongly preferred
• Track record of building, improving, or auditing recruitment functions at scale
• Experience with ATS platforms (Greenhouse, Lever, Workday, BambooHR, or similar) at an advanced level
• Multi-location or international recruitment experience preferred

Skills & Mindset
• Genuine enthusiasm for AI and technology — you already use tools like Claude, ChatGPT, or AI-powered recruitment platforms in your daily work
• Strong analytical skills — comfortable with TA metrics and using data to drive decisions
• Independent and direct — you deliver honest assessments regardless of internal dynamics
• Deep understanding of end-to-end recruitment for a range of roles: technical, commercial, and regulatory
• Fluent English required; additional languages a plus