Head of Recruitment Job Description
Hire a senior recruitment leader to set strategy, lead a recruitment function and deliver consistent hiring outcomes across your organisation.
What does a Head of Recruitment professional do?
Senior people leader responsible for recruitment strategy, team leadership, employer brand and end-to-end hiring for mid-to-senior roles.
Head of Recruitment job description template
Use this employer-ready example as a starting point, then replace the placeholders and adjust the content so it accurately reflects your vacancy.
Head of Recruitment
About the role
[Company name] is hiring a Head of Recruitment to lead our talent attraction and hiring capability. You will develop and deliver a recruitment strategy, manage a team of recruiters and partners, own employer brand and talent pipelining, and partner with senior stakeholders to fill critical roles. This is a [full-time / permanent / fixed-term] position based in [Location] with an indicative salary of [Salary range].
Key responsibilities
- Define and implement a recruitment strategy aligned with business objectives and workforce plans.
- Lead, coach and develop an in-house recruitment team and manage any external recruitment partners.
- Design and maintain talent pipelines for critical and hard-to-fill roles, including senior hires.
- Own employer branding and candidate experience across all touchpoints.
- Create and monitor recruitment KPIs and regular reporting to senior leadership.
- Manage recruitment budgets, agency spend and vendor relationships.
- Ensure recruitment policies and processes meet UK employment law, data protection and equality requirements.
- Optimise recruitment technology and the applicant tracking system (ATS) to improve efficiency.
Essential skills and experience
- Proven leadership experience in recruitment or talent acquisition, preferably at senior/head of function level.
- Track record of developing and delivering recruitment strategy and measurable hiring outcomes.
- Experience managing and developing a team of recruiters and external suppliers.
- Strong stakeholder management skills with evidence of influencing senior leaders.
- Ability to use recruitment metrics and analytics to drive decisions and continuous improvement.
- Knowledge of UK employment law and best-practice recruitment processes.
Desirable
- CIPD qualification or membership.
- Experience with employer branding and social recruitment campaigns.
- Experience hiring across a broad mix of technical, commercial and senior roles.
- Background in managing recruitment for multi-location or multi-site organisations.
- Experience commissioning or running executive search for senior appointments.
- Experience with psychometric or structured assessment methodologies.
What we offer
- [Flexible / hybrid working policy]
- [Pension contribution scheme]
- [Annual bonus or incentive plan]
- [Training and development budget]
- [Private medical insurance or health cash plan]
- [Generous annual leave entitlement]
How to apply
Apply with your CV and any additional information requested. Make the interview process, closing date and any assessment stages clear where known.
Use this as a starting point rather than a final advert. The strongest version will reflect the real role, salary, location, systems, responsibilities, benefits and working arrangements.
What is a Head of Recruitment role?
A Head of Recruitment leads an organisation's talent attraction and selection activities. They set recruitment strategy, manage a team of recruiters and suppliers, develop employer branding, and use data to improve hiring speed, quality and cost. The role is accountable for filling critical roles, ensuring fair selection processes and aligning talent plans with business priorities.
People leadership
Line-manage recruiters and build capability across the team.
Strategy & metrics
Set recruitment strategy and report on KPIs to senior stakeholders.
Process & systems
Own ATS, vendor relationships and end-to-end hiring processes.
Typical Head of Recruitment responsibilities
Responsibilities should reflect the real scope of the vacancy rather than every task someone in this profession might ever complete.
Define
Define and implement a recruitment strategy aligned with business objectives and workforce plans.
Lead, coach
Lead, coach and develop an in-house recruitment team and manage any external recruitment partners.
Design
Design and maintain talent pipelines for critical and hard-to-fill roles, including senior hires.
Own employer branding
Own employer branding and candidate experience across all touchpoints.
Create
Create and monitor recruitment KPIs and regular reporting to senior leadership.
Manage recruitment budgets
Manage recruitment budgets, agency spend and vendor relationships.
Ensure recruitment policies
Ensure recruitment policies and processes meet UK employment law, data protection and equality requirements.
Optimise recruitment technology
Optimise recruitment technology and the applicant tracking system (ATS) to improve efficiency.
Head of Recruitment skills and experience to look for
Keep the essential list focused on what the person really needs to perform the role. Move useful-but-trainable experience into desirable criteria.
Usually worth prioritising
- Proven leadership experience in recruitment or talent acquisition, preferably at senior/head of function level.
- Track record of developing and delivering recruitment strategy and measurable hiring outcomes.
- Experience managing and developing a team of recruiters and external suppliers.
- Strong stakeholder management skills with evidence of influencing senior leaders.
- Ability to use recruitment metrics and analytics to drive decisions and continuous improvement.
- Knowledge of UK employment law and best-practice recruitment processes.
Useful where relevant
- CIPD qualification or membership.
- Experience with employer branding and social recruitment campaigns.
- Experience hiring across a broad mix of technical, commercial and senior roles.
- Background in managing recruitment for multi-location or multi-site organisations.
- Experience commissioning or running executive search for senior appointments.
- Experience with psychometric or structured assessment methodologies.
See our guide to what to include in a job advert before publishing.
How to write a Head of Recruitment job advert
Small role-specific details can make the advert much easier for suitable candidates to assess.
Be explicit about scope
State whether this role covers all hiring or specific functions, geographies or seniority levels so candidates understand remit and scale.
Specify authority and resources
Say whether the role controls budgets, agency spend and hiring policy, and include expected team size to set realistic expectations.
List measurable priorities
Highlight immediate priorities (e.g. reduce time-to-hire, build leadership pipeline, implement new ATS) so applicants can align experience to outcomes.
Describe culture and decision-making
Briefly explain how HR and the business interact and where the role sits in the leadership structure to help senior candidates assess fit.
Include practical working details
State hybrid/home working expectations, travel requirements and any significant out-of-hours commitments.
Head of Recruitment salary considerations
Senior recruitment leaders' pay is influenced by the organisation's size, sector and the role's scope. Rather than a single market figure, consider factors below when setting a salary range.
depending on experience
- Use a genuine range
- Separate variable pay
- Avoid “competitive” alone
- Match salary to seniority
What Head of Recruitment candidates will want to know
Practical details can influence whether a suitable candidate applies, even when the title and salary are attractive.
What is the current team size and structure?
Candidates want to know direct reports, in-house vs. agency mix and any immediate hiring needs for the team.
What hiring volumes and seniority will I be responsible for?
Clarify expected number of hires per year and proportion of senior or specialist appointments.
Who does the role report to and what level of influence is expected?
Senior candidates will assess decision-making authority and access to the executive team.
What budgetary control and external supplier support are in place?
Candidates often need to know agency budgets, vendor relationships and available recruitment tools.
Which ATS and recruitment technologies are used?
Knowledge of existing systems helps candidates judge transition work and improvement opportunities.
What are the expected working pattern and hybrid arrangements?
Clear information on office attendance, flexible hours and any travel commitments supports better-fit applications.
Where to post a Head of Recruitment job
For this senior role use a mix of channels: LinkedIn and senior-level UK job boards reach actively searching HR leaders, while sector-specific or HR‑focused sites and the CIPD network attract specialist talent. Consider targeted executive search or recruitment-marketing campaigns for confidential or hard-to-fill leadership appointments and use your own employer brand channels to promote strategic priorities.
Related human resources / talent acquisition job descriptions
Recruiting for a slightly different role? These templates may be a closer fit.
Head of Recruitment job description FAQs
How long does it typically take to recruit a Head of Recruitment?
Senior hires usually take longer than operational roles. Expect a process of 8–12 weeks from shortlisting to offer, depending on interview rounds, assessment stages and candidate notice periods.
When should we use an executive search firm?
Use search when the role is confidential, requires sector-specific or board-level experience, or when your internal network is unlikely to yield suitably senior candidates.
What selection methods work best for senior recruitment roles?
Combine competency-based interviews, stakeholder panels, situational exercises or case studies and, where appropriate, psychometric or leadership assessments to evaluate strategic capability and cultural fit.
How should we assess cultural fit without bias?
Use structured interview questions linked to role-specific behaviours, involve diverse stakeholders in panels and focus on demonstrable past behaviour and outcomes rather than hypothetical traits.
What notice period should we expect from senior HR candidates?
Many senior candidates have notice periods of one to three months; plan recruiting timelines accordingly and be prepared to negotiate start dates if necessary.
Ready to hire your Head of Recruitment?
Use this template to create a clear advert and recruitment brief, or promote the vacancy through targeted channels to reach experienced talent leaders.
