Talent Research Associate

Join us at the Ellison Institute of Technology (EIT), where we are on a mission to translate scientific discovery into real-world impact. We bring together visionary scientists, technologists, engineers, researchers, educators, and innovators to tackle humanity's greatest challenges in four transformative areas:

• Health, Medical Science & Generative Biology
• Food Security & Sustainable Agriculture
• Climate Change & Managing CO₂
• Artificial Intelligence & Robotics

This is ambitious 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.
• Conduct 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 (e.g. life sciences, plant sciences, biotech, etc).
• 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.

Desirable Skills & Experience:

• Bachelor's degree (or equivalent experience), ideally within a scientific, research, or people-related discipline.
• Familiarity with recruitment compliance and basic UK employment principles.

Benefits:

• 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.
• Perk Box.
• Electric Car Scheme.
• Childcare benefit.

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.