HR Administrator in Exeter

Location: Exeter-based, with travel across Devon & Dorset

Contract: Full-time, 40 hours per week (5 days)

Working pattern: Hybrid – restaurants / home / office

This is an exciting opportunity to join an award-winning restaurant group, recognised as one of the UK’s Top 100 Best Companies to Work For. You’ll also work closely with our prestigious sister restaurant, The Seahorse in Dartmouth, widely regarded as one of the best restaurants in the UK.

At Rockfish, we believe the best seafood should be enjoyed by everyone — whether dining by the sea in one of our restaurants or ordering online to cook at home. We’re a business built on a passion for the sea, seafood, sustainability, and hospitality — and we’re growing.

We’re looking for a hospitality-focused Recruitment & People Coordinator, ideally with experience in recruitment and hospitality who understands the pace, energy, and personality of our industry. Rockfish has 12 coastal restaurant locations, alongside The Seahorse and a growing seafood business based on the quayside in Brixham, supplying both our restaurants and customers at home.

This is a varied and rewarding role where you’ll have a real impact on the employee experience across all areas of the business. You’ll support management teams across Devon and Dorset, helping to attract brilliant people and deliver a seamless journey from first conversation to first shift — and beyond.

If you love recruitment and thrive in a people-first environment, this could be the perfect fit.

What You’ll Be Doing

• Talent Acquisition (Core Focus)
• Manage end-to-end recruitment for key roles, including management and chefs.
• Support and guide hiring managers across sites with hourly recruitment.
• Develop local and seasonal recruitment strategies tailored to each restaurant.
• Create engaging job adverts and manage campaigns across job boards, LinkedIn, and social channels.
• Develop new and innovative ways of recruitment advertising.
• Build and nurture talent pipelines to ensure year-round hiring readiness.
• Establish partnerships with schools, colleges, universities, and local communities.
• Lead recruitment for new openings and seasonal peaks (open days, experience days).
• Track and analyse recruitment performance (time-to-hire, source effectiveness, cost-per-hire).
• Contribute to employer branding and attraction strategies with the People & Operations teams.
• Onboarding & People Administration
• Coordinate all onboarding processes, including contracts, compliance, and starter packs.
• Ensure Right to Work checks and employee records are 100% accurate and audit-ready.
• Deliver a welcoming onboarding experience, including first-day induction and first-week integration.
• Conduct new starter check-ins to support engagement and retention.
• Maintain and update ATS and HR systems in line with GDPR and company standards.
• Learning & Development
• Coordinate and deliver training across the business, including onboarding and compliance.
• Support the development of structured learning programmes and career pathways.
• Manage the Learning Management System (LMS), tracking training completion and engagement.
• Create and update training materials (menus, operations, core skills).
• Work with Operations and site teams to ensure training is practical, relevant, and consistent.
• Support apprenticeship programmes and ongoing development initiatives.
• Monitor training performance and continuously improve learning delivery.
• Engagement & Internal Communications
• Support wellbeing, engagement, and recognition initiatives.
• Assist with employee surveys and feedback analysis.
• Share internal updates, success stories, and recognition across communication channels.
• People Support
• Provide administrative and note-taking support for employee relations meetings.
• Ensure all documentation is accurate, professional, and confidential.

What You’ll Bring

• Experience in recruitment
• Strong understanding of the hospitality environment and operational pace.
• Excellent organisational skills with high attention to detail.
• Confident communicator with strong written and verbal skills.
• Experience using HR systems, ATS platforms, and learning systems.
• A proactive, solutions-focused approach with the ability to manage multiple priorities.
• Trustworthiness, discretion, and professionalism.
• Flexibility to travel across Devon and Dorset.

Who You Are

• Talent-focused – you love finding and developing great people.
• Detail-driven – accuracy is second nature to you.
• Collaborative – you work seamlessly across People, Payroll, and Operations.
• Curious & ambitious – you’re eager to grow your People and L&D career.
• Cultural champion – you bring Rockfish values to life every day.

What Success Looks Like

• Recruitment timelines consistently achieved for key roles.
• High-quality hires and improved retention across sites.
• 100% accuracy in onboarding, compliance, and people data.
• Strong engagement with training programmes and learning initiatives.
• Insightful recruitment and people reporting.
• Consistent, high-quality training delivery across all locations.

Why Join Rockfish?

• Be part of a people-first, values-driven hospitality business.
• Work in a dynamic, growing company with real career development opportunities.
• Play a key role in shaping the future of our teams and culture.
• Experience the energy of coastal restaurants across Devon & Dorset.

Job Types: Full-time, Permanent

Benefits:

• Company pension
• Employee discount
• Sabbatical
• Work from home

Work Location: Hybrid remote in Exeter (Devon)