Talent Acquisition Manager in London

Location: London (with travel across Europe as required)

Salary: Competitive, depending on experience

Reporting to: HR Director

Contract: Full-time, permanent

About Intellego Education

Intellego Education is a values-led education group dedicated to curating, launching and operating exceptional independent schools across Europe and beyond. Rooted in British academic rigour and refined by local cultural intelligence, we build learning communities where pupils are known, challenged and supported in equal measure. Backed by leading institutional investors, we are entering an ambitious phase of growth — repositioning established schools and opening new ones across major European cities, from the UK and Spain to Italy and Portugal. Central to this growth is our flagship partnership with Brighton College — named “UK School of the Decade” by The Sunday Times and the top school in the UK for A-level results — through which we are launching new Brighton College schools in Madrid and Rome (opening from September 2027) and Lisbon (opening September 2028). As we scale, attracting and onboarding outstanding people is central to everything we do.

The Role

We are looking for a Talent Acquisition Manager to lead hiring across our growing portfolio of schools and our central team. This is a hands-on, end-to-end role: you will own the recruitment lifecycle from defining roles through to a smooth, welcoming onboarding experience, often working across multiple countries and jurisdictions at once. With new Brighton College schools opening in Madrid, Rome and Lisbon, you will play a pivotal part in building the teaching and operational teams that bring these flagship launches to life.

You will partner closely with Heads of School, central leadership and local HR colleagues to build pipelines of exceptional teaching and operational talent, while helping us establish recruitment processes that scale cleanly as we open new schools. You will work directly with an HR Director who brings experience from the highest echelons of blue-chip education — a rare opportunity to learn from and help build a people function alongside a true sector leader. The ideal candidate understands the particular rhythms and demands of a commercial schools group and has hired and onboarded staff across European markets.

Key Responsibilities

• Manage the full recruitment lifecycle across teaching, leadership, operational and central roles — from briefing and sourcing through to offer, contract and onboarding.
• Partner with Heads of School and hiring managers to scope roles, define candidate profiles and agree realistic timelines, particularly around new school openings and academic-year hiring cycles.
• Build and maintain proactive talent pipelines across multiple European markets, using direct sourcing, referrals, agencies and education-specific channels.
• Lead the onboarding experience for new joiners across countries, coordinating with local HR, payroll and compliance teams to ensure a consistent, high-quality start regardless of location.
• Own candidate experience end to end, acting as an ambassador for the Intellego ethos and ensuring every applicant — successful or not — has a positive impression of the group.
• Navigate the practicalities of cross-border hiring, including local employment norms, right-to-work and relocation considerations, working with internal and external specialists where needed.
• Support safer recruitment practices, ensuring safeguarding checks and pre-employment screening are completed thoroughly and to the standards expected in education.
• Track and report on recruitment metrics (time-to-hire, cost-per-hire, pipeline health) and use data to improve processes and inform workforce planning.
• Help build scalable, consistent recruitment and onboarding frameworks, tools and templates that work across a growing multi-site, multi-country group.
• Contribute to wider employer branding and attraction initiatives that position Intellego as an employer of choice in the European education sector.

About You

Essential:

• Demonstrable experience in talent acquisition, ideally within a commercial schools group or multi-site education organisation.
• Proven track record of hiring and onboarding staff across European markets, with an understanding of the practicalities of cross-border recruitment.
• Strong end-to-end recruitment skills, comfortable owning roles from brief to onboarding without heavy reliance on agencies.
• Confident stakeholder management, able to partner credibly with senior leaders, Heads of School and hiring managers.
• Excellent organisational skills and the ability to manage multiple live roles across different locations simultaneously.
• An understanding of safer recruitment and safeguarding expectations within an educational setting.
• Outstanding written and verbal communication, with a candidate-first mindset.

Desirable

• Experience supporting new school or new site openings in a high-growth environment.
• Working knowledge of a second European language (e.g. Spanish, Italian or Portuguese).
• Familiarity with applicant tracking systems and recruitment analytics.
• Experience building or improving recruitment processes in a scaling organisation.

What we offer

• The opportunity to shape talent acquisition for a fast-growing, purpose-driven education group at a formative stage.
• The chance to work alongside an incoming HR Director who brings experience from the highest echelons of blue-chip education, offering exceptional mentorship and the opportunity to help build a best-in-class people function from the ground up.
• A genuinely international remit, working across schools and teams in multiple European countries.
• A collaborative, values-led culture that takes education and people seriously.
• A competitive salary depending on experience, plus benefits.
• A London base with travel across our European school network as required.