Head of Talent in London

Aqua Restaurant Group is home to a unique collection of restaurants and bars in vibrant cities like London, Paris, Hong Kong, New York, Miami and Dubai. At Aqua, we offer passionate culinary and hospitality professionals the chance to grow their careers and explore new opportunities.

The Head of Talent is a senior, strategic leadership role responsible for designing and delivering the talent strategy, with a primary focus on executive and senior-level recruitment across all current and future regions, employer branding, partnerships and closely working alongside L&D on career paths and talent development. Based in London, the role partners with the Executive Team and regional leadership to ensure Aqua Restaurant Group attracts, develops and retains best-in-class talent that supports the Group’s growth, brand standards and long-term vision.

We are looking for a mid/end April 2026 start for this role. The position will be based in our Head Office located on Borough High Street, neighbouring the Shard and a stone’s throw away from the historic Borough Market. Our head office is conveniently next to Borough station, and a 5-minute walk away from London Bridge station, making it well connected to Central and Greater London. Part of the job also involves frequenting our incredible venues across Central and West London, with restaurants never over half an hour away from our Head Office.

What we bring to the table:

• Dine with us: Enjoy discounts at all Aqua venues
• Celebrate YOU: Take your birthday off and earn additional long service leave
• Grow with us: Ongoing training and development to support both your professional and personal development
• Financial well-being: Manage your pay with ease through Wagestream & enhance your financial knowledge
• Work out: Discounted gym membership
• Lunch & Learn: Head Office perk

Your day at Aqua:

• Talent strategy & attraction: You will design and deliver a comprehensive talent acquisition strategy, embedding strong recruitment procedures, employer branding and building talent pipelines across all senior and executive level roles in the restaurant group.
• Act as a trusted advisor to senior leadership on talent planning, succession planning and organisational design.
• Proactively build talent pipelines for critical leadership and culinary roles as well as execute confidential searches, when needed.
• Build scalable recruitment frameworks and initiatives to support growth into new international markets as the Group expands.
• Lead end-to-end recruitment for executive and senior roles, including General Managers, Executive Chefs, regional leaders and HQ leadership positions.

People development & retention:

• You will collaborate with senior leaders, operations, HR and L&D to drive engagement, succession planning, career paths and mentor the recruitment coordinator while reporting progress to leadership.

Industry insight & talent sourcing:

• You will stay up to date with recruitment trends and best practices, build relationships with communities, universities, partners and manage external sourcing channels to keep the restaurant group competitive in attracting and developing top talent.

Role characteristics:

• Operates with a high degree of autonomy and discretion, as the role is reporting into the COO and working closely with the owner.
• Culturally aware and commercially focused.
• Key contributor to the Group’s long-term leadership capability and succession planning.

Aqua Restaurant Group welcomes individuals from all backgrounds and is committed to creating an inclusive work environment. If you require reasonable adjustments to make your experience more accessible, please let us know. Apply today and be part of Aqua’s global culinary adventure!