Group Talent Acquisition Manager in Wigan

Group Talent Acquisition Manager

Location: Wigan (Orrell)
Salary: £50,000 per annum plus benefits

Hours: Monday to Friday, 37.5 hours per week.

Horizon is an entrepreneurial Group of companies (Horizon Parking Ltd, AEJ Management Ltd, Gleneagles Project Services Ltd and PW Architectural Consultants Ltd) with around 450 colleagues and ambitious plans for the next five years and beyond.

We're looking for a Group Talent Acquisition Manager to take ownership of recruitment across the Group. Whilst you will form part of a larger HR team, this is a genuine stand-alone role, combining hands-on delivery of around 20-30 live vacancies at any one time, across roles ranging from security officers and cleaners through to managers, professional appointments and senior leadership, with responsibility for our wider talent acquisition strategy.

A key annual project is our Christmas Marshalling Programme, where from the 1^st November through to Christmas Eve, you'll lead the recruitment of up to 450 direct temporary colleagues for our retail clients' car parks. The programme requires significant planning and coordination, including you working additional contractual hours across the weekend of go-live as a minimum, and is a high-volume, time-critical campaign requiring exceptional organisation, pace, resilience, flexibility, and strong candidate management.

Outside of the seasonal programme, you'll focus on attracting the talent needed to deliver our growth ambitions. We are targeting at least a tripling of operating profit over the next five years, with our people fundamental to achieving this. You'll develop talent pipelines, strengthen attraction channels and our employer brand, support workforce planning and continually improve how we recruit.

Recruiting quicker and smarter without compromising quality will be key. You'll be expected to challenge existing processes and identify where automation, AI and technology can improve the speed, efficiency, and candidate experience of recruitment.

Although employed by Horizon Parking Ltd, you'll work across all four Group businesses, partnering directly with Board Directors, senior leaders and hiring managers and operating with a high degree of autonomy.

Whilst our Group Head Office is in Chelmsford, most of the HR team works from our Wigan (Orrell) office in a dedicated office setting with a more relaxed and personal feel than a traditional corporate environment. Six HR colleagues work together from this location, alongside three small-to-medium dogs and several cats, and you'll therefore need to be comfortable with this environment.

You'll also spend approximately three days/two nights each month in Chelmsford, with occasional travel to other Group locations. A pool vehicle is available for business travel, and a full driving licence is required.

Your responsibilities will include:

Talent Acquisition Strategy & Workforce Planning

• Developing and delivering a Group-wide talent acquisition strategy aligned to business objectives.
• Working with Directors, Heads of Department, senior leaders, and hiring managers to understand current and future recruitment requirements.
• Developing proactive talent pipelines for critical, specialist, hard-to-fill, and future growth roles.
• Identifying recruitment challenges, market trends and skills gaps and using this information to inform hiring plans.
• Providing professional recruitment advice and guidance to managers on attraction, assessment, and selection approaches.

Recruitment Delivery & Candidate Management

• Owning the end-to-end recruitment lifecycle from vacancy approval and role briefing through to advertising, sourcing, selection, offer, and handover to other HR colleagues and line management for onboarding.
• Managing recruitment campaigns across a range of operational, professional, technical, support and senior roles.
• Ensuring job descriptions, adverts and recruitment materials are accurate, engaging, and inclusive.
• Managing candidate communication to ensure a professional, timely and positive candidate experience.
• Supporting managers with interview planning, structured assessment, scoring, feedback, and fair selection decisions.
• Managing recruitment for high-volume, specialist, senior and confidential appointments as required.

Employer Brand, Attraction & Partnerships

• Developing and promoting Horizon's employer brand and colleague value proposition.
• Reviewing and improving our recruitment advertising and attraction strategies.
• Identifying and managing appropriate recruitment channels, including job boards, social media, referrals, agencies, and direct sourcing.
• Building and managing relationships with recruitment agencies and other external recruitment partners.
• Developing appropriate relationships with education providers, community groups, and industry networks were beneficial.
• Ensuring recruitment activity supports fair access to opportunities and an inclusive approach to attraction and selection.

Systems, Reporting & Compliance

• Ensuring recruitment systems and processes are used consistently across the Group.
• Maintaining accurate recruitment records and management information.
• Ensuring recruitment activity complies with relevant legislation, right to work requirements, GDPR and Group policies.
• Producing and analysing recruitment metrics, including time to hire, cost per hire, vacancy volumes, source of hire and offer acceptance.
• Using recruitment data and insight to identify trends, risks, and opportunities for improvement.
• Ensuring recruitment records and candidate information are handled appropriately and confidentially.

Leadership, Stakeholder Management & Continuous Improvement

• Acting as the Group's subject matter expert for recruitment and talent acquisition.
• Building strong relationships with senior leaders and hiring managers and providing credible recruitment advice.
• Coaching and supporting managers to improve recruitment capability and consistency.
• Leading recruitment-related projects and continuous improvement activity.
• Reviewing recruitment supplier performance and ensuring external recruitment spend is controlled and commercially appropriate.
• Identifying opportunities to improve recruitment processes, technology, candidate experience, and hiring outcomes.
• Working closely with the wider HR team to ensure a smooth transition from recruitment through to onboarding and induction.

We're looking for an experienced recruitment or talent acquisition professional who can operate confidently across both strategy and delivery. You'll need to be commercially aware, highly organised, and comfortable working with senior stakeholders, whilst also being prepared to roll up your sleeves and personally deliver recruitment activity.

We're looking for someone who:

• Has strong experience in recruitment, resourcing, or talent acquisition, including end-to-end recruitment delivery - ideally inhouse.
• Has experience developing or implementing recruitment strategies and hiring plans.
• Can confidently advise and, where appropriate, challenge hiring managers on recruitment and selection approaches.
• Has strong stakeholder management skills and can build trusted relationships across an organisation.
• Is commercially aware and understands the importance of managing recruitment costs and supplier relationships.
• Has experience using applicant tracking systems, recruitment systems, job boards, social media, and direct sourcing methods.
• Is comfortable using recruitment data and reporting to inform decisions and improve performance.
• Has a strong understanding of recruitment compliance, including right to work, GDPR and fair selection practices.
• Has excellent communication, organisation, and planning skills.
• Can manage multiple recruitment priorities and competing deadlines.
• Is proactive, self-motivated, and comfortable working with a high degree of autonomy.
• Is confident presenting information, recommendations, and recruitment insight to senior stakeholders.
• Has strong judgement and discretion when managing confidential recruitment activity.
• Is system savvy and interested in using technology to improve recruitment processes.
• Can adapt to changing priorities and operate effectively in a fast-moving business.
• Works collaboratively as part of a small Group HR team.
• Full driving licence.

We're a fun, dynamic, supportive, person-led, and informal business, whilst always maintaining a professional approach to our work. We're a small HR team supporting a multi-business Group, so everyone has an important role to play. We value people who are organised, collaborative, willing to learn, willing to develop, flexible and comfortable taking ownership of their work.

We also make extensive use of technology and automate what we can. We want our recruitment processes to be efficient, data-led, and easy for managers and candidates to navigate, so you'll need to be comfortable with technology and interested in finding practical ways to improve how we work.

Why join Horizon?

• This is an opportunity to join a fast-growing business with big ambitions for the next five years and beyond, with the opportunity to shape and develop how we attract talent across the Group.
• You'll have genuine ownership of Group talent acquisition rather than being responsible for recruitment within just one business or function.
• You'll work directly with Directors, senior leaders and hiring managers across four businesses.
• You'll have the opportunity to influence workforce planning, employer brand, recruitment strategy, and candidate experience.
• You'll have scope to introduce new approaches, improve processes, and make a visible difference to recruitment performance.
• You'll be part of a small HR team where your contribution will be visible and where there is scope to develop your career as the Group continues to evolve.

What we offer

• £50,000.00 salary per annum.
• 25 days' annual leave plus statutory/public holidays
• An additional day off for your birthday
• The opportunity to buy and sell annual leave in line with our policy
• Company pension scheme - auto enrolment
• Annual bonus scheme
• Health Shield after 6 months' service
• Company Sick Pay after 12 months' service
• A genuine Group-wide role with exposure to four businesses
• The opportunity to shape and influence Group recruitment strategy
• A supportive and collaborative working environment
• Pool vehicle available for business travel to Chelmsford and other sites, as necessary.

If you're an experienced recruitment or talent acquisition professional who enjoys combining strategic thinking with hands-on delivery, is confident working with senior stakeholders and wants to play a key role in supporting an ambitious Group's growth, we'd love to hear from you.

Apply online now to join us, or email - Group HR & Corporate Services Director should you require any further information. We are committed to providing an inclusive working environment and to ensuring that recruitment decisions are based on skills, experience, qualifications, and the requirements of the role. As such, we welcome applications from candidates with different backgrounds, experiences, and perspectives.