Head, Recruitment - WWF International in Woking

LOCATION: Flexible with preferred locations WWF INT HUBS

1 MISSION OF THE DEPARTMENT

To build a thriving, future‑ready WWF workforce by ensuring that people at all levels have the skills, capabilities, and development pathways needed to deliver the WWF Strategy. Embed WWF’s core values and standards to strengthen the culture and create the right working environment across the Network. Develop and maintain People & Culture (P&C) standards, policies, systems, and platforms that attract, develop, and retain the right people for the organisation. Create the conditions for high performance, ensuring that staff can perform at their fullest potential and maximise their contribution to WWF’s conservation goals.

2 MAJOR FUNCTIONS

The role provides strategic and operational leadership for recruitment across WWF International. The role is accountable for designing, leading and continually strengthening a global, inclusive, and future‑focused recruitment strategy, ensuring the organisation attracts, selects and appoints talent aligned to WWF’s mission, values, diversity goals and long‑term workforce needs. Operating with a high level of autonomy, judgement and influence, the role partners closely with senior leaders, P&C colleagues and external partners to ensure recruitment enables organisational effectiveness, equity, and sustainability.

3 Major Duties and Responsibilities

• Strategic Leadership & Governance
• Define and lead WWF International’s global recruitment strategy, ensuring alignment with organisational strategy, workforce planning, DEI priorities and budgetary considerations.
• Act as the senior expert and thought partner on recruitment matters, advising Executive Leadership, Directors and senior stakeholders on complex hiring decisions, workforce risks and talent market dynamics.
• Establish, oversee and continuously improve recruitment policies, standards, governance frameworks and decision‑making processes across the Network.
• Ensure recruitment practices are ethical, transparent, bias‑aware and compliant with WWF policies and relevant employment legislation.
• Operational Oversight & Delivery
• Oversee and ensure the quality assurance end‑to‑end recruitment for roles across all levels, including senior leadership and executive appointments, in collaboration with the recruitment team and wider P&C colleagues & stakeholders.
• Develop an interview training programme for all hiring managers and coach them in recruiting techniques and best practices – i.e. LinkedIn profiles building, candidate pipeline building, talent spotting, interviewing and assessments.
• Provide escalation support and direct leadership on high‑risk, high‑impact or highly complex recruitments, including executive searches, critical roles and sensitive appointments.
• Manage relationships with executive search firms and strategic recruitment vendors, ensuring value for money and quality delivery.
• Partner with Finance and senior leaders to ensure recruitment decisions reflect sound cost management, organisational design considerations and long‑term workforce sustainability.
• People Leadership
• Lead, develop and coach the recruitment team, fostering a high‑performing, service‑oriented and values‑driven function.
• Build capability within the team around inclusive hiring practices, stakeholder management, data‑driven decision making and strategic workforce thinking.
• Set clear priorities, performance expectations and development pathways for direct reports.
• Own all hiring processes – setting high standards within the team for speed and quality hiring of talent and work with internal P&C colleagues and stakeholders in delivering a seamless onboarding process for all joiners regardless of location.
• Diversity, Equity & Inclusion
• Champion gender equity, diversity & inclusion throughout all recruitment processes, ensuring diverse candidate pipelines, panels and decision‑making.
• Monitor, analyse and report on recruitment‑related diversity data & KPIs, identifying risks and driving continuous improvement.
• Act as a credible challenger to leaders when bias, risk or misalignment with WWF values is observed.
• Stakeholder Partnership & Advisory
• Partner closely with senior leaders, Hiring Managers, Network P&C teams and P&C Department to align recruitment with organisational needs.
• Partner with the broader P&C community & stakeholders to create diverse candidate pools, launch innovative initiatives to attract and retain talent, and run recruitment campaigns that boost candidate engagement.
• Represent Recruitment as a strategic function within wider People & Culture and organisational initiatives.
• Systems, Data & Continuous Improvement
• Oversee Canopy recruitment module, guiding the development and enhancement of recruitment systems, processes, and workflows to improve the experience for both candidates and hiring managers, via (HRIS Canopy, ATS, and LinkedIn modules).
• Analyse recruitment metrics and use market insights, data, and analysis to improve WWF International’s recruitment process.
• Use labour market data to guide strategy, spot trends, and address talent gaps proactively.
• Drive innovation and continuous improvement in candidate experience, employer branding, onboarding and recruitment effectiveness.
• Contribute to broader People & Culture projects and initiatives as required.

4 PROFILE

Required Qualifications

• University degree in a relevant discipline OR Bachelor’s or Master’s degree in Human Resources, organisational Development, Psychology, Education, or a related field would be preferred. (For example: Associate Diploma in People Management CIPD Level 5)
• Minimum 7 years’ experience in People & Culture / Talent Acquisition, with substantial experience leading global, multi‑level recruitment functions, including executive‑level appointments.
• Strong understanding of organisational design, workforce planning, compensation frameworks and DEI principles.
• Proven experience in a complex international or INGO environment with multiple stakeholders and governance layers.
• Extensive experience using ATS platforms, LinkedIn and executive search partners.
• Experience in implementing & managing recruitment‑related data and reporting including via applicant tracking systems and direct sourcing tools.
• Good experience of recruitment‑related labour laws across multiple jurisdictions, compliance and GDPR.
• Proven experience of automating and improving all aspects of the end‑to‑end recruitment process.