Talent Acquisition Partner

Role Overview: Are you an experienced Talent Acquisition professional who enjoys combining hands-on recruitment delivery with strategic partnership? As a Talent Acquisition Partner at Wynnstay, you'll take ownership of the end-to-end recruitment and pre-boarding journey for an assigned portfolio of business areas - from understanding the vacancy and developing the attraction strategy through to selection, offer and ensuring each successful candidate is ready for their first day. You'll build trusted relationships with hiring managers, providing informed advice and constructive challenge on recruitment priorities, market conditions, assessment methods and hiring decisions. Through proactive sourcing and talent-pipeline development, you'll help Wynnstay attract high-quality candidates, anticipate future workforce requirements and continue reducing its reliance on recruitment agencies. Working alongside the People & Culture team, you'll help create a responsive, consistent and commercially focused in-house recruitment service. You'll also coordinate the successful candidate's pre-boarding journey through to Day 1 readiness, before completing a clear handover to the hiring manager for local induction, training and integration. This is an excellent opportunity for an accountable and improvement-focused Talent Acquisition professional who wants to influence recruitment across a varied, nationwide organisation while delivering an inclusive and engaging candidate experience.

Responsibilities:

• Own and deliver end-to-end recruitment for assigned business areas, from vacancy intake, role scoping and attraction strategy through to selection, offer and pre-boarding.
• Act as the primary Talent Acquisition contact for your assigned portfolio, developing a strong understanding of its operations, workforce requirements and recruitment priorities.
• Advise and constructively challenge hiring managers on role requirements, recruitment strategy, market conditions, assessment methods, selection decisions and realistic recruitment timescales.
• Proactively source candidates through job boards, LinkedIn, direct approaches, talent pooling, networking, referrals and other appropriate channels.
• Build and maintain talent pipelines for recurring, business-critical and hard-to-fill roles, anticipating future demand rather than relying solely on reactive advertising.
• Lead job advertising and attraction activity, working with People & Culture and Communications colleagues on employer-branding content and targeted recruitment campaigns.
• Deliver an inclusive, professional and timely candidate experience, maintaining clear communication and feedback throughout the recruitment process.
• Retain ownership of the successful candidate relationship following offer acceptance and coordinate the pre-boarding journey through to Day 1 readiness.
• Prepare or coordinate offer documentation, contracts and required People First onboarding workflows using approved templates and controls.
• Coordinate pre-employment checks, including right-to-work, references, background checks and any role-specific screening requirements.
• Ensure complete and accurate new-starter information is provided to Payroll, IT, Facilities and other relevant teams within agreed timescales.
• Maintain regular contact with successful candidates before they start, responding to queries and reducing the risk of withdrawal or disengagement.
• Track readiness activities, follow up outstanding actions with hiring managers and support teams, and escalate risks that could affect a colleague's start date or experience.
• Confirm that the successful candidate and hiring manager are ready for Day 1 and complete a clear handover into manager-owned induction, training and team integration.
• Design, implement and continuously improve recruitment and pre-boarding processes, ensuring they remain consistent, compliant, efficient and scalable.
• Manage recruitment activity within agreed budgets, recommending cost-effective sourcing approaches and monitoring expenditure to reduce agency reliance and unplanned costs.
• Track and report meaningful recruitment and pre-boarding measures, including vacancy volumes, time-to-shortlist, time-to-hire, cost-per-hire, direct-hire rates, offer acceptance, Day 1 readiness and candidate experience.
• Use recruitment data, stakeholder feedback and early-tenure trends to identify risks, improve processes and inform workforce-planning discussions.
• Maintain accurate vacancy, candidate, offer and onboarding records in People First and associated systems, ensuring agreed approvals and controls are evidenced.
• Work collaboratively with the other Talent Acquisition Partner, sharing market insight and providing support or cover across portfolios during absences, peaks in demand and priority recruitment campaigns.
• Contribute to wider People & Culture priorities and projects where Talent Acquisition expertise or delivery support is required.

What we’re looking for:

Essential:

• Proven experience within an in-house Talent Acquisition or senior recruitment role, managing a varied portfolio of vacancies from initial briefing through to appointment.
• Strong experience of proactive sourcing, direct hiring and developing talent pipelines for recurring or hard-to-fill roles.
• Experience managing offers, pre-employment checks and pre-boarding activity through to a successful candidate's start date.
• Demonstrated ability to design, standardise or improve recruitment and onboarding processes.
• Excellent stakeholder-management skills, with the confidence to advise, constructively challenge and influence hiring managers.
• Strong understanding of fair and inclusive recruitment practices and relevant UK employment, equality and data-protection requirements.
• Strong organisational skills and attention to detail, with the ability to manage multiple live vacancies and pre-boarding cases without losing ownership.
• A data-driven approach, with experience using recruitment measures and insight to assess performance and improve outcomes.
• Strong commercial awareness, with the ability to balance candidate experience, quality, pace and cost.
• Confidence using applicant-tracking/HR systems.
• The ability to work autonomously while collaborating closely with another Talent Acquisition Partner and the wider People & Culture team.
• A proactive, responsive and accountable approach, with a commitment to following activity through to completion.

Desirable:

• Previous experience using People First or a comparable applicant-tracking and HR system.
• Experience recruiting across a varied organisation combining operational, retail, commercial, technical and professional environments.
• Experience managing recruitment suppliers, job boards, assessment providers or agency relationships.
• Experience monitoring recruitment expenditure and delivering initiatives that increase direct hiring or reduce agency reliance.
• Experience developing employer-branding content or targeted attraction campaigns.

Benefits:

• Competitive salary package
• Employee Assistance Programme with BUPA
• Company profit-related pay scheme.
• Life assurance of twice your salary following successful completion of probation.
• 25 days' annual leave plus UK bank holidays.
• Employee discount at Wynnstay Stores.
• Opportunity to join an established agricultural business and take ownership of a key area within Wynnstay's logistics operation.