Talent Acquisition Manager in Nottingham

Reporting to: Group Head of Talent Acquisition

Hours: Full-time Mon-Fri 9am-5.30pm (37.5 hours per week)

Location - Nottingham / Manchester - covering Midland and North of England with Hybrid working - must be willing to travel to current & future Affinia office locations.

Affinia is the UK's largest purpose-led, purpose-built Accountancy firm, focused on building stronger, more valuable relationships. With over 1600 colleagues across the East, South East, London and the Midlands, we are dedicated to supporting our clients, colleagues and communities.

We advise businesses, public sector organisations, charities and individuals throughout the UK and internationally across six Service Lines - Accountancy & Advisory, Tax and Planning, Audit & Assurance, Corporate Finance, Payroll and Corporate Recovery. Our team also offer in-depth sector expertise across a number of sectors, ensuring our clients receive the best short to medium and long-term advice, tailored to them. We are committed to delivering excellence in every aspect of our work, adapting to the evolving technology and regulatory landscape while consistently exceeding client expectations.

Our people are our most valuable asset. We are therefore committed to supporting our colleagues throughout their professional development, providing guidance and training at whatever stage of their career they join us.

Purpose Of The Role

We are looking for an experienced and commercially minded Talent Acquisition Manager to support recruitment across our growing accountancy practice.

This is a hands-on role, responsible for managing the full recruitment lifecycle across Accounts Advisory, Audit, Tax, Payroll, Corporate Finance and Enabling functions. You will work closely with Heads of Departments, Directors and hiring managers to understand their recruitment requirements, develop effective sourcing strategies and ensure we attract and secure high-quality talent in a competitive market.

The successful candidate will have a strong understanding of recruitment, ideally within an accountancy setting with the ability to identify and engage candidates at all levels, from entry-level and part-qualified professionals through to qualified accountants, managers and senior hires.

You will play a key role in strengthening our employer brand, improving candidate experience and reducing our reliance on external recruitment agencies through proactive direct sourcing.

Accountabilities

• Manage the end-to-end recruitment process, from vacancy briefing through to offer.
• Partner with Directors and hiring managers to understand current and future hiring requirements.
• Develop targeted recruitment strategies for hard-to-fill roles across all departments.
• Proactively source candidates through LinkedIn, job boards, networking, referrals, talent mapping and direct approaches.
• Build and maintain strong talent pipelines for recurring and business-critical positions.
• Identify passive candidates and engage them effectively through a consultative approach.
• Conduct telephone/video screening and competency-based interviews where appropriate.
• Manage candidate progression, feedback and offer negotiations through to acceptance.
• Ensure a high-quality and consistent candidate experience throughout the recruitment process.

Accountancy Practice Recruitment

• Develop a strong understanding of the accountancy practice market and the skills required across different service lines.
• Recruit across a range of levels, including Trainee, AAT, Semi Senior, Senior, Assistant Manager, Manager, Senior Manager and Director-level appointments.
• Build market knowledge around salary levels, candidate availability, competitor activity and recruitment trends.
• Understand professional qualifications including AAT, ACA, ACCA, CTA and ATT, and how these relate to different career paths within practice.
• Develop talent pools of qualified and part-qualified accountants within the local and wider regional market.
• Identify transferable candidates from other accountancy practices and assess their suitability for our culture and service lines.

Stakeholder Management

• Build trusted relationships with Partners, Directors and hiring managers.
• Act as a recruitment adviser, providing market insight and realistic guidance on salary, availability and recruitment timelines.
• Challenge recruitment briefs where appropriate and ensure hiring managers are aligned on candidate requirements.
• Provide regular recruitment updates, pipeline reports and market intelligence.
• Manage expectations around recruitment timelines and candidate availability.
• Manage relationships with a small, preferred panel of recruitment agencies where external support is required. (Approx 5% of roles recruited via agency)
• Negotiate and maintain appropriate agency terms and ensure agreed processes are followed.
• Brief agencies effectively and hold them accountable for the quality of candidates submitted.
• Reduce unnecessary agency spend through effective direct sourcing and internal talent pipelines.
• Ensure speculative CVs and unsolicited candidate approaches are managed in line with company policy.

Employer Brand & Candidate Attraction

• Help develop and strengthen our employer brand within the accountancy market.
• Promote our culture, career opportunities, development programmes and employee proposition to prospective candidates.
• Work with Marketing/People team to develop recruitment campaigns and candidate attraction initiatives.
• Build relationships with universities, colleges, accountancy training providers and professional networks where appropriate.
• Support graduate, trainee and early-career recruitment campaigns.

Recruitment Data & Process Improvement

• Maintain accurate recruitment records and ensure ATS data is kept up to date.
• Monitor recruitment KPIs including time-to-hire, source of hire, agency spend, offer acceptance and candidate conversion.
• Identify opportunities to improve recruitment processes, systems and candidate experience.
• Ensure recruitment activity complies with relevant employment legislation, company policies and data protection requirements.

Skills/Qualifications

You will be an experienced inhouse recruiter who understands the accountancy practice and professional services market and is comfortable operating in a fast-paced, commercially driven environment.

You Will Ideally Have

• Proven experience in Talent Acquisition / Recruitment, preferably within an accountancy practice or professional services firm.
• Strong knowledge of the UK accountancy recruitment market.
• Experience recruiting across Accounts, Audit, Tax, Corporate Finance or Payroll
• A strong understanding of accountancy qualifications such as ACA, ACCA, AAT, CTA and ATT.
• Demonstrable experience of direct sourcing and headhunting through LinkedIn and other channels.
• Excellent stakeholder management skills and the confidence to work with Partners and senior leadership.
• Strong interviewing and candidate assessment skills.
• Commercial awareness and an understanding of salary benchmarking.
• Excellent communication, influencing and negotiation skills.
• The ability to manage multiple vacancies and competing priorities.
• A proactive, hands-on approach rather than relying solely on external agencies.
• Strong attention to detail and the ability to manage recruitment data and processes effectively.

This is an opportunity to work within a growing accountancy practice and have a genuine impact on how we attract, assess and retain our people. You will have the opportunity to build long-term talent pipelines and work closely with senior stakeholders across the firm.

If you are passionate about recruitment, understand the accountancy market and enjoy finding exceptional people who can contribute to a growing professional services business, we would like to hear from you.

Core Benefits

At Affinia, our culture is driven by ambition and a commitment to positively impact all the communities we serve. We are dedicated to the success, development, and wellbeing of our colleagues, helping them achieve their goals and seize the opportunities that come with our growth. Alongside a flexible and inclusive work environment, we offer the following core benefits:

• Opportunity to purchase 3 extra days holiday per year.
• Auto enrolment Pension Scheme with True Potential.
• Death in Service.
• Professional membership support.
• Paycare - claim money back for Dental / Optical / Professional Therapies
• Dress for your Diary Policy.

Please note that this job profile is not an exhaustive list of duties but merely an outline of the key components of the role. You may be required by your line manager to take on additional responsibilities when requested.

Affinia is committed to being an Equal Opportunity Employer. Our policy is unequivocal: we do not tolerate discrimination based on age, disability, sex, race, religion, or belief, gender reassignment, marriage or civil partnership, pregnancy, or maternity, or sexual orientation. We pride ourselves on being an inclusive organisation that actively promotes equality of opportunity for all, valuing the right mix of talent, skills, and potential. We welcome applications from a diverse range of candidates, and selection for roles is based solely on individual merit.

Recruitment Privacy Notice

Affinia will use the personal data you provide for recruitment purposes, including assessing suitability, communicating with you, arranging interviews, and completing pre-employment checks. Our lawful bases include contractual necessity, legal obligations, and our legitimate interests in managing recruitment.

For full details on how we handle personal data, please see our Privacy Policy: https://www.affinia.co.uk/privacy-policy/