Recruitment Team Leader

Main area Human Resources Grade NHS AfC: Band 6 Contract Fixed term: 12 months (Maternity Leave Cover) Hours Full time - 37.5 hours per week Job ref 282-OD1487-NR

Employer The Royal Marsden NHS Foundation Trust Employer type NHS Site The Royal Marsden Town Wallington Salary £45,953 - £54,254 Per Annum Salary period Yearly Closing 03/06/:59 Interview date 12/06/2026

Job overview

An exciting opportunity has arisen for a Recruitment Team Leader to join The Royal Marsden NHS Foundation Trust, this is a fixed term/secondment opportunity 12 month maternity cover.

This is a key operational role within the Recruitment Team, supporting the delivery of an efficient, high-quality, customer-focused and compliant recruitment service across the Trust. The postholder will oversee the end-to-end recruitment lifecycle, from vacancy approval and advertising through to offer management, pre-employment checks and onboarding.

Working closely with HR colleagues, recruiting managers and external stakeholders, the successful candidate will provide operational leadership to the recruitment team, ensuring recruitment activity is delivered in line with NHS Employment Check Standards, employment legislation and Trust policies.

The role will also support service improvement and transformation across recruitment, including work to reduce time-to-hire, improve candidate experience, strengthen compliance, and make better use of systems such as Trac, ESR and NHS Jobs.

You will have strong knowledge of recruitment processes, compliance requirements, stakeholder management and workload planning.

This is an excellent opportunity for a proactive and solutions-focused recruitment professional who is passionate about delivering a high-quality service and supporting the Trust to attract and appoint the best candidates.

Main duties of the job

The Recruitment Team Leader will play a key role in leading and supporting the recruitment team to deliver an efficient, high-quality, customer-focused, and compliant recruitment service across the Trust. The postholder will be responsible for overseeing the end-to-end recruitment lifecycle, ensuring vacancies are managed effectively from approval through to onboarding. The role will provide operational leadership to the recruitment team, supporting managers to attract, recruit, and retain high-quality candidates in line with NHS Employment Check Standards, employment legislation, and Trust policies

Detailed job description and main responsibilities

• Lead, coach, and motivate the recruitment team, ensuring the delivery of a professional and customer-focused service.
• Develop and maintain strong relationships with hiring managers, providing expert recruitment advice, guidance, and support.
• Support digital transformation initiatives including optimisation of Trac, ESR, NHS Jobs, and electronic onboarding systems.
• Investigate and resolve recruitment issues or complaints, escalating them to senior management as necessary.
• Implement best practices, streamline procedures, and suggest innovations to improve the quality and speed of the recruitment process.
• Promote a positive candidate experience by ensuring effective communication, timely feedback, and a smooth recruitment process.

Person specification Education and Qualifications

• CIPD Level 5 or equivalent qualification/experience in Human Resources or Recruitment.
• Evidence of continuing professional development.
• Degree or equivalent experience in a HR environment.

Experience

• Experience of leading or supervising a recruitment team, ideally within a high-volume or complex recruitment environment.
• Understanding of end-to-end recruitment processes, including compliance with employment legislation and safer recruitment requirements.
• Experience of planning and prioritising workloads within a fast-paced environment with competing demands.
• Experience of advising managers on recruitment processes, policy, and compliance requirements.
• Experience of using recruitment systems such as Trac, ESR, or similar HR/recruitment systems.
• Knowledge of the NHS recruitment systems and practices, such as NHS Jobs, Trac, or ESR.
• Experience of planning, organising and prioritising workloads for self and others within a busy environment with competing demands and changing priorities.
• Experience of international recruitment and sponsorship processes.
• Experience within the NHS, healthcare sector, or similarly complex organisation.
• Experience of recruitment marketing or employer branding initiatives.

Skills

• Strong understanding of recruitment compliance requirements including right to work, DBS, GDPR, and employment legislation.
• Excellent organisational and time management skills, with the ability to manage competing priorities and deadlines.
• Understanding of equality, diversity and inclusion principles within recruitment practices.
• Strong communication and stakeholder management skills, with the ability to build effective working relationships.
• Leadership and people management skills, with the ability to motivate and develop a team.
• Ability to analyse recruitment data and produce reports to support service improvement. The ability to interpret recruitment data, monitor KPIs, and prepare reports.
• Demonstrate Trust's Values.
• Knowledge of Agenda for Change terms and conditions.

Other

• A proactive and solutions-oriented approach to problem-solving.
• Ability to work under pressure and adapt to changing priorities.
• Ability to contribute to wider Workforce Directorate objectives and initiatives.

The Royal Marsden values diversity and is committed to the recruitment and retention of underrepresented minority groups. We particularly welcome applications from Black, Asian and minority ethnic candidates, LGBTQ+ candidates and candidates with disabilities.

As a Disability Confident Employer, we are working to create a workplace that enables all staff to reach their full potential. We are committed to this because we know that greater diversity and inclusion will lead to an even greater positive impact for the people we serve.

Due to the high volumes of applications we receive, we reserve the right to close any adverts before the published closing date once we have received a sufficient number of applications. We advise you to submit your application as early as possible to prevent disappointment. Please ensure your information is accurate to avoid errors with processing your application.

All applicants will be contacted by email to the address supplied on your application. Applicants are advised to check their email accounts regularly and to ensure that email filters are set to allow our emails.

Flu Vaccination - What We Expect of our Staff

At The Royal Marsden we have an immune compromised patient population who we must protect as much as we can against the flu virus. Each year, seasonal flu affects thousands of people in the UK. Occurring mainly in winter, it is an infectious respiratory disease capable of producing symptoms ranging from those similar to a common cold, through to very severe or even fatal disease.

The wellbeing of our staff and patients is of the upmost importance to us, and it is the expectation of The Royal Marsden that all patient-facing staff have an annual flu vaccination, provided free of charge by the Trust.