Head of Recruitment and Retention

At EMJ, people are at the heart of everything we do - our culture, our performance, and our mission to elevate healthcare globally. As we continue to grow, we’re looking for a Head of Recruitment & Retention who is passionate about attracting, developing and retaining exceptional people who drive the success of EMJ and AMJ. This role leads our talent acquisition strategy while remaining hands-on in securing outstanding talent, partnering with leaders to build high-performing teams, and shaping an exceptional employee experience. You’ll play a pivotal role in strengthening our high-performance culture, championing our Gold Medal philosophy, and ensuring we continue to attract, develop and retain Gold Medal Winners across the business.

What You’ll Do

• Lead the recruitment strategy across EMJ and AMJ, ensuring we consistently attract, assess and hire exceptional people who align with our values, culture and long-term business objectives.
• Lead, coach and develop the Recruitment Team and People Assistant, building a high-performing, service-led people function that delivers an outstanding experience for both candidates and employees.
• Maintain a hands-on approach to recruitment by owning key hires, proactively sourcing and engaging high-calibre talent through direct outreach, networking, referrals, talent mapping and other innovative sourcing strategies.
• Act as a trusted partner to senior leaders, providing expert advice on recruitment and day-to-day people matters, alongside market insights that support informed hiring decisions.
• Own the end-to-end candidate and employee experience, continuously improving every stage of the employee lifecycle - from attraction and onboarding through to development, engagement and retention.
• Monitor recruitment, retention and employee experience metrics, using data and insights to evaluate performance, identify opportunities and drive continuous improvement.
• Shape and deliver people initiatives that strengthen employee engagement and retention, fostering a high-performance culture where people can thrive.
• Ensure all recruitment and people practices across EMJ and AMJ are compliant with employment legislation, GDPR and internal policies, while continuously reviewing processes to improve efficiency, consistency and best practice.
• Champion the employer brands of EMJ and AMJ through creative attraction campaigns, talent marketing initiatives and sourcing strategies that position both businesses as employers of choice.
• Partner with leaders across the business to identify talent needs, succession opportunities and development pathways that support individual growth and long-term organisational success.
• Gather and analyse employee feedback to identify trends, strengthen engagement initiatives and implement meaningful improvements that enhance retention and overall employee experience.
• Own and continually evolve the Gold Medal Training Programme across EMJ and AMJ, ensuring employees have access to meaningful learning and development opportunities throughout their careers.

Who You Are

• Minimum of 3 years' experience leading an in-house Talent Acquisition or Recruitment function within a fast-paced, high-growth organisation.
• Proven ability to lead, coach and develop a high-performing recruitment or people team, fostering a culture of accountability, collaboration and continuous improvement.
• A proven track record of proactively identifying, attracting and securing exceptional talent through direct sourcing, networking, talent mapping, referrals and other innovative sourcing techniques.
• Strong commercial acumen, with the ability to balance business priorities, hiring needs and candidate experience to achieve the best outcomes.
• Demonstrated success partnering with senior leaders to influence hiring decisions, provide trusted people advice and shape talent strategies through market insight.
• Experience providing HR support to managers, with a sound understanding of UK employment law, HR best practice and employee retention initiatives.
• Experience developing and delivering recruitment strategies that support organisational growth, improve quality of hire and align with wider business objectives.
• Confidence managing multiple recruitment and people projects simultaneously, with excellent organisational skills and the ability to adapt to changing business priorities.
• Working knowledge of the full employee lifecycle, with experience supporting managers on day-to-day people matters from onboarding through to performance and retention.
• Strong analytical skills, with experience using recruitment and people data to evaluate performance, identify trends and drive continuous improvement.
• Exceptional communication, relationship-building and influencing skills, with the confidence to challenge constructively and build credibility at all levels of the organisation.

Key Information

• Hours: 8.30am – 5pm, Monday - Friday
• Reporting to: Finance Director
• Salary: £70,000- £75,000
• Location: London/Moorgate office
• Working pattern: Hybrid, 3 days in the office (5 days in the office during probation)

To support your training and development during your initial three-month probation, this period will be fully office-based, five days a week. Following this, we anticipate a regular office presence of at least three days a week to maintain collaboration and team connection.

What’s in it for you:

• Enjoy Bupa medical cashback after passing probation and Aviva private medical insurance after one year, keeping you covered when it matters most.
• Start with 25 days of holiday, plus an extra day for each year of service (up to 30 days!).
• From our legendary Summer Ball to festive Christmas celebrations, we love bringing everyone together.
• Enjoy free breakfast and fresh fruit to keep you energised.
• Get the chance to attend amazing events in the Wembley box.
• Take advantage of a 1.5-hour gym lunch and join company clubs, including running, football, board games, and chess.
• Our buddy program for new starters ensures you feel at home from day one.

About EMJ

EMJ's purpose is to elevate the quality of healthcare globally, by supporting all healthcare professionals with free and easy access to medical journals and lifelong learning opportunities. We do this to create Gold Medal Winners, enabling healthcare professionals to become the best versions of themselves. Similarly, we equip our employees with all the skills, tools and knowledge they need to be in the top 10% of what they do and create Gold Medal Winners in the company. At EMJ, we believe we can train raw skills, but we can't change your values. EMJ's values are focused on:

• Entire buy-in: Everyone has loyalty to our vision, values, culture, and the long-term goals of EMJ. We are committed to doing so in a positive and passionate way.
• Manage your own stuff: We all need to be proactive and responsible for our own actions. This will lead to an inspiring place to work that we are all proud of.
• Going the extra mile: Always give your best performance, this will create a team that is different to anything else, full of hard working, gold medal winners.