Job summary
- Main area
- Recruitment Operations
- Grade
- NHS AfC: Band 7
- Contract
- Fixed term: 12 months (until 1/12/2027 (Secondment only for current NHS employees))
- Hours
- Full time
- Part time
- Job share
- Flexible working
- Job ref
- 990-COO-EC5595-E
- Employer
- NHS England
- Employer type
- NHS
- Site
- Wellington Place
- Town
- Leeds
- Salary
- £49,387 - £56,515 per annum
- Salary period
- Yearly
- Closing
- 08/11/2026 23:59
Employer heading
HR Manager - Recruitment Operations
NHS AfC: Band 7
Our Organisation
We share the core values set out in the NHS Constitution, which all colleagues are expected to demonstrate.
We support you to work in a way that is best for the NHS, our patients and you and your colleagues. Talk to us about how we might be able to accommodate a flexible working arrangement, whether that’s a job share, part time, hybrid working or another flexible pattern.
As part of our commitment to improving patient safety and maintaining safe and trusted services, all successful candidates will be subject to Baseline Personnel Security Screening (BPSS), which includes a Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) check. By submitting your application, you are confirming your agreement to these checks being undertaken as part of the recruitment process.
Anyone who has received a voluntary or compulsory redundancy payment from NHS England since the start of the 2026/27 financial year is not eligible to apply.
Job overview
We are seeking an experienced and proactive HR Manager with a strong recruitment background to join our team during a pivotal period of organisational transition. This is an exciting opportunity to lead recruitment and workforce initiatives, supporting the establishment of the new organisation and the delivery of closure and/or transitional activities across NHS England.
This is an excellent opportunity to contribute to a high-profile transformation programme, supporting the successful transition, closure and future delivery of critical recruitment services.
Main duties of the job
The successful candidate will provide expert advice on recruitment and workforce resourcing, managing complex end-to-end recruitment activity while ensuring an excellent candidate experience. You will support and develop colleagues, oversee the recruitment and onboarding of senior stakeholders, and deliver a consistent, compliant and professional service. The role also includes line management responsibilities, providing leadership and support to team members.
A key focus of the role will be supporting recruitment service transition and closure activity, working closely with stakeholders, colleagues and external providers to implement changes to systems, processes and shared service arrangements while ensuring operational readiness and business continuity.
The ideal candidate will have significant NHS recruitment experience and a strong working knowledge of the TRAC recruitment system, including vacancy management, system administration, reporting and workforce analytics. You will be confident interpreting complex data, producing meaningful insights and recommending improvements to systems and processes.
Working in a fast-paced environment, you will manage competing priorities, navigate uncertainty and provide pragmatic solutions that balance governance, compliance and operational requirements. Strong stakeholder management skills and knowledge of NHS Employment Check Standards and recruitment best practice are essential.
Working for our organisation
NHS England has a wide range of statutory functions, responsibilities and regulatory powers. These are focused on supporting the wider NHS to deliver high quality care, as well as doing those things that are best done once for the whole NHS.
Our staff bring expertise across clinical, operational, commissioning, technology, data science, cyber security, software engineering, education, and commercial specialisms — enabling us to design and deliver high-quality NHS services.
In March 2025, the Government announced that NHS England and the Department of Health and Social Care will increasingly merge functions, ultimately leading to NHS England being fully integrated into the department.
If you currently work within the NHS and if successful at interview, we will initiate an Inter Authority Transfer (IAT) via the Electronic Staff Record (ESR). This retrieves key data from your current or previous NHS employer to support onboarding, including competency status, Continuous Service Dates (CSD), and annual leave entitlement. You may opt out at any stage of the process.
Colleagues with a contractual office base are expected to spend, on average, at least 40% of their time working in our offices.
Staff recruited from outside the NHS will usually be appointed at the bottom of the pay band.
We cannot offer visa sponsorship for any vacancies.
Detailed job description and main responsibilities
The successful candidate must have an extensive working and technical knowledge of Trac, (the application tracking system used within the NHS), with particular emphasis on reporting, data analysis, KPI monitoring and the production of management information to support recruitment and workforce planning decisions.
Candidates invited to interview will be asked to prepare and deliver a 10-minute presentation. Full details of the presentation topic and requirements will be shared at a later stage.
Candidates should note that interviews will be conducted in person on 19th November at our Leeds office, Wellington Place.
Secondments
Person specification
Qualifications
Essential criteria
- Educated to degree level or equivalent experience in Human Resources, Recruitment or a related field
- CIPD Level 5 qualification (or equivalent experience) and/or willingness to work towards professional accreditation
Desirable criteria
- Project management or service improvement qualification/training.
Experience
Essential criteria
- Demonstrable experience managing end-to-end recruitment processes within a large and complex organisation
- Experience of leading, supporting and delivering recruitment projects, service improvement initiatives and process redesign
- Experience of producing, analysing and presenting recruitment and workforce data to inform decision-making
- Experience of developing and maintaining effective relationships with a wide range of stakeholders, including senior managers
- Experience of working within a shared service provider arrangement
- Previous NHS recruitment experience
Knowledge
Essential criteria
- An exceptionally strong working and technical knowledge of the TRAC Recruitment System, including vacancy creation, approval workflows, advert management, candidate tracking, onboarding functionality and user administration
- Proven ability to produce, analyse and interpret TRAC reports and dashboards, including recruitment KPIs, vacancy data, time-to-hire metrics and workforce trends
- Knowledge of equality, diversity and inclusion principles and their application within recruitment processes
- Good understanding of employment legislation and its application to recruitment and selection activities
Skills and Abilities
Essential criteria
- Advanced Microsoft Office skills and experience producing management reports and recruitment performance data. With the ability to present recruitment data and reporting information clearly to a range of audiences
- Excellent organisational skills with the ability to manage multiple priorities and competing deadlines
- Strong communication and influencing skills, with the confidence to challenge and advise stakeholders at all levels
- Highly proficient with a particular focus on quality, reporting, compliance and process improvement
Employer certification / accreditation badges
Applicant requirements
This post will require a submission for Disclosure to be made to check for any unspent criminal convictions.
Documents to download
Further details / informal visits contact
- Name
- Laura Bruin
- Job title
- Senior Recruitment Manager
- Email address
- [email protected]
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