Head of Talent Acquisition - Maternity Cover 12 Month FTC in London

Dr. Martens is more than a brand - it’s a global icon with over 60 years of attitude, heritage, and cultural impact. We're a thriving, values‑driven business powered by diverse thinkers, bold doers, and people who bring their whole selves to work. If you're ready to make your mark, you're in the right place. At DM, our values guide everything we do: Be Yourself, Act Courageously, Show You Care. They're not just words - they're how we turn passion into progress.

As our Head of Talent Acquisition, you'll be part of the People team working closely with brilliant people across the business and reporting into Global Head of Talent, Learning & Performance. You'll be right at the heart of fast-moving projects that shape how we show up for our consumers - today and tomorrow.

The Head of Talent Acquisition (TA) owns the global strategy to attract, engage and hire top talent that enables our growth ambitions. The role aligns hiring plans to our market and function priorities, strengthens our leadership pipelines, and ensures our workforce reflects the diverse consumers we serve. By elevating candidate and hiring manager experience, and by building scalable TA capabilities across markets and functions, this role is a key enabler of organisational excellence and consumer centric execution.

CORE ACCOUNTABILITIES

• Defining and delivering the global Talent Acquisition strategy, aligning workforce planning, hiring priorities and global standards with enterprise objectives, while partnering with Finance and People teams to support evolving business needs.
• Building world-class talent attraction and hiring capability, strengthening employer brand, candidate experience, diverse hiring practices and proactive talent pipelines across executive, specialist and frontline roles, while personally leading executive search activity.
• Leading global Talent Acquisition operations and governance, overseeing TA processes, technology, vendor partnerships, hiring manager capability, data quality and reporting to drive consistent, efficient and high-quality hiring outcomes worldwide.
• Driving talent development and internal mobility, partnering with Learning & Development to establish early careers programmes, internal mobility pathways and sustainable talent pipelines that reduce external hiring dependency.
• Building and developing a high-performing global Talent Acquisition team, fostering a culture of collaboration, accountability and continuous improvement while providing strategic insight and progress reporting to executive leadership.

KEY SKILLS & CAPABILITIES

• Strong strategic Talent Acquisition leadership, with a proven track record of developing global hiring strategies, workforce plans and talent solutions that support business growth and organisational priorities.
• Expertise in talent attraction, employer branding and inclusive hiring, with the ability to build proactive talent pipelines, deliver exceptional candidate experiences and embed fair, equitable and accessible recruitment practices.
• Strong analytical and operational capability, using workforce planning, recruitment metrics and data-driven insights to optimise hiring performance, improve decision-making and drive continuous improvement across Talent Acquisition processes and technology.
• Excellent stakeholder management and change leadership skills, able to influence senior leaders, build alignment across global functions and markets, and successfully embed consistent Talent Acquisition standards and ways of working.
• Exceptional communication, leadership and commercial awareness, with the ability to inspire teams, manage external partners effectively and translate talent strategy into practical, high-quality hiring outcomes.

WHAT'S IN IT FOR YOU?

• Hybrid working
• Welcome free pair of Docs
• 65% off all Docs
• 50% off Accessories
• Pension Scheme through Aviva
• Life Assurance
• 25 Days Annual Leave + Bank Holidays
• Private healthcare
• 2 paid volunteer days per year

At Dr. Martens, we are committed to creating an environment in which we can all be our best and bring our authentic selves to work. We encourage applications, regardless of race, colour, religion, gender, gender identity or expression, sexual orientation, national origin, genetics, age, veteran status, or disability. Diverse and inclusive teams have a positive impact on our brand; helping us to speak authentically to our consumers. We strive to develop a business where our people can thrive and feel empowered to express themselves. Because we believe everyone should feel supported and included whatever their role in the Dr. Martens community.