Recruitment Partner - South

Dnata is one of the world’s largest air and travel services providers. We provide a comprehensive range of inflight catering, onboard retail, supply chain and logistics services at all major and regional airports across the UK. Dnata Catering provides expertly crafted inflight catering services, delivering fresh and high-quality meals at major and regional airports across the UK. As the leading Halal caterer in the UK, we also provide tailored experiences to meet each customer’s unique needs. We’re a leader in VIP catering, offering bespoke inflight to private and charter clients.

About the role and its purpose: At dnata Catering UK, our people are critical to delivering safe, high-quality catering and logistics services to the aviation industry. We’re looking for a Recruitment Partner to support hiring across a portfolio of operational units. This role combines hands-on recruitment delivery with strategic partnership, helping ensure we attract and hire the right talent to support operational performance. You’ll manage direct hiring for specialist and mid-volume roles for hourly and seasonal workers while also working closely with agency recruitment partners who support high-volume frontline hiring, ensuring resources are adequate and appropriate to operational needs through seasonal peaks and troughs. Aligned to a defined group of units and/or geographic region, you will partner closely with operational leaders and colleagues to understand workforce needs, provide recruitment insight and ensure hiring processes are efficient, compliant, and aligned with business priorities. The role also plays an important part in strengthening recruitment capability across the business, including effective use of recruitment technology and data to improve hiring outcomes.

Key Responsibilities

• Recruitment Delivery
  • Manage end-to-end recruitment for specialist and mid-volume roles across assigned dnata Catering UK units.
  • Partner with hiring managers to define role requirements, sourcing strategies and timelines.
  • Proactively source candidates through a range of channels including direct sourcing and marketing channels, job boards, talent networks, and internal pipelines.
  • Ensure a strong candidate experience throughout the recruitment lifecycle.
  • Support hiring managers in conducting structured interviews and making effective hiring decisions.
  • Act as primary contact for recruitment agency partners supporting frontline, high-volume hiring.
  • Manage agency performance against agreed service levels, quality expectations and compliance.
  • Monitor recruitment metrics such as fulfilment rates, candidate quality, and time-to-hire.
  • Provide guidance to hiring managers on when to utilise agency support versus direct hiring.
  • Identify opportunities to improve supplier effectiveness and optimise recruitment spend.
• Workforce & Hiring Planning
  • Partner with operational leaders to understand workforce demand and hiring forecasts across your assigned units or region.
  • Provide insight into local labour market conditions and talent availability.
  • Develop proactive sourcing approaches and pipelines for key or hard-to-fill roles.
  • Support recruitment planning for seasonal or operational demand fluctuations.
• Recruitment Technology & Data
  • Utilise recruitment technology, including the organisations Applicant Tracking System (ATS) to manage recruitment processes efficiently.
  • Maintain accurate recruitment data and reporting within systems.
  • Support the adoption and effective use of recruitment tools by hiring managers.
  • Use recruitment metrics and insights to identify opportunities for improvement.
  • Contribute to the ongoing development and optimisation of the Pinpoint ATS platform (experience with Pinpoint is desirable).
• Stakeholder Partnership
  • Build strong relationships with operational leaders, HR colleagues, and hiring managers.
  • Provide guidance on recruitment best practice, process, and compliance requirements.
  • Act as a trusted advisor to managers on effective hiring approaches.
  • Identify opportunities to improve recruitment processes, candidate experience, and operational efficiency.
  • Support the implementation of recruitment initiatives, tools, and best practices.
  • Contribute to building a consistent and scalable talent acquisition approach across dnata Catering UK.

What we’re looking for:

• Experience
  • Experience in recruitment, talent acquisition, or agency recruitment, ideally in operational, logistics, hospitality, aviation, or similar fast-paced environments.
  • Proven experience managing end-to-end recruitment processes.
  • Experience working with or managing external recruitment agencies.
  • Experience supporting recruitment across multi-site or operational environments is desirable.
  • Experience operating where workforce demands fluctuate such as seasonal or temp workforce hiring, hourly and FTC contracts also desirable.
• Skills & Capability
  • Strong stakeholder management and relationship-building skills.
  • Ability to balance hands-on recruitment delivery with broader recruitment planning.
  • Strong organisational skills with the ability to manage multiple hiring priorities.
  • Commercial awareness when managing recruitment suppliers and hiring approaches.
  • Strong communication and influencing skills when working with operational leaders.
  • Comfortable using recruitment technology and digital tools to manage hiring processes.
  • Experience working with Applicant Tracking Systems (ATS) and recruitment platforms.
  • Ability to maintain accurate recruitment data and use insights to improve hiring outcomes.
  • Experience with Pinpoint ATS or similar recruitment systems is highly desirable.
• Personal Attributes
  • Proactive and solutions-focused approach.
  • Comfortable working in a fast-paced operational environment.
  • Collaborative mindset and strong customer focus when supporting hiring managers.
  • Commitment to delivering an efficient and positive recruitment experience.

What’s in it for you?

• An opportunity to be part of the Emirates global family.
• Free breakfast, lunch and dinner on site.
• Free tea and coffee.
• Simply health Plan.
• Refer a Friend Scheme.
• Discounted gym membership at over 2000 gyms nationwide.
• Cycle to Work Scheme.
• Opportunity to enhance your learning through our inhouse apprenticeship programme.