Talent Research Associate in Oxford

At the Ellison Institute of Technology (EIT), we’re on a mission to translate scientific discovery into real world impact. We bring together visionary scientists, technologists, policy makers, and entrepreneurs to tackle humanity’s greatest challenges in four transformative areas:

• Health, Medical Science & Generative Biology
• Food Security & Sustainable Agriculture
• Artificial Intelligence & Robotics

This is ambitious work - work that demands curiosity, courage, and a relentless drive to make a difference. At EIT, you’ll join a community built on excellence, innovation, tenacity, trust, and collaboration, where bold ideas become real-world breakthroughs. Together, we push boundaries, embrace complexity, and create solutions to scale ideas from lab to society.

Your Role:

We are expanding our Central Talent Team and are seeking a Talent Research Associate to support recruitment activity across EIT Oxford, with a particular focus on academic, scientific and research-led roles. This is a hands-on role centred on talent pipelining, sourcing, candidate screening and recruitment coordination. You will work closely with Talent Partners, hiring managers and HR colleagues to ensure efficient, well-organised hiring processes and a high-quality candidate experience. This role is ideal for someone who enjoys detail, research, and building strong talent pools within complex scientific environments.

Your Responsibilities:

• Build and maintain long term talent pipelines for academic, scientific and research-focused roles aligned to strategic research areas
• Identify potential candidates through publications, grants, research group listings, LinkedIn, Google Scholar etc.
• Talent mapping and market research for specific research groups, labs and institutions
• Conduct in-depth candidate research and proactive sourcing using LinkedIn, databases, networks and referrals
• Screen candidates against role requirements and provide structured shortlists
• Support Talent Partners and hiring managers across the recruitment lifecycle
• Coordinate complex interview scheduling, including multi-panel interviews
• Manage diary coordination across multiple stakeholders
• Book meeting rooms, virtual interviews and assessment sessions
• Prepare candidates for interviews, including briefing packs and process guidance
• Act as a key point of contact for candidates, ensuring clear and timely communication
• Maintain accurate records within the ATS and recruitment trackers
• Support recruitment administration, reporting and process improvements
• Collaborate with the wider HR and Talent Team on ongoing and future projects

Requirements:

Essential Skills, Qualifications & Experience:

• Demonstrated experience in talent research, sourcing or resourcing, ideally within executive search, in-house TA or research-led environment
• Proven experience researching and pipelining candidates for academic, scientific or technical roles
• Strong familiarity with academic and scientific career pathways, including PhD, postdoctoral and research-led roles
• Experience reviewing and interpreting academic CVs
• Ability to conduct structured candidate screenings and produce high quality longlists and shortlists
• Experience using LinkedIn Recruiter and/or other research tools
• Strong organisational skills with experience managing high volumes of scheduling and coordination
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills
• High attention to detail and a candidate-focused approach
• Ability to manage multiple priorities in a fast-paced environment
• Experience using ATS, CRM systems and Microsoft Office
• Knowledge of the Oxford local talent market or similar academic/scientific hubs
• Bachelor’s degree (or equivalent experience), ideally within a scientific, research or people-related discipline
• Familiarity with recruitment compliance and basic UK employment principles

Salary: Depending on Experience + travel allowance + bonus

Enhanced holiday + options to buy additional days

Pension

Life Assurance

Income Protection

Private Medical Insurance

Hospital Cash Plan

Therapy Services

Electric Car Scheme

Working Together – What It Involves:

You must have the right to work permanently in the UK with a willingness to travel as necessary. In certain cases, we can consider sponsorship, and this will be assessed on a case-by-case basis. You will live in, or within easy commuting distance of, Oxford (or be willing to relocate). This is a hybrid role, minimum 3 days per week in Oxford.