About this role
Job summary
We are seeking an experienced and proactive HR Manager with a strong recruitment background to join our team during a pivotal period of organisational transition. This is an exciting opportunity to lead recruitment and workforce initiatives, supporting the establishment of the new organisation and the delivery of closure and/or transitional activities across NHS England.
This is an excellent opportunity to contribute to a high-profile transformation programme, supporting the successful transition, closure and future delivery of critical recruitment services.
Main duties of the job
The successful candidate will provide expert advice on recruitment and workforce resourcing, managing complex end-to-end recruitment activity while ensuring an excellent candidate experience. You will support and develop colleagues, oversee the recruitment and onboarding of senior stakeholders, and deliver a consistent, compliant and professional service. The role also includes line management responsibilities, providing leadership and support to team members.
A key focus of the role will be supporting recruitment service transition and closure activity, working closely with stakeholders, colleagues and external providers to implement changes to systems, processes and shared service arrangements while ensuring operational readiness and business continuity.
The ideal candidate will have significant NHS recruitment experience and a strong working knowledge of the TRAC recruitment system, including vacancy management, system administration, reporting and workforce analytics. You will be confident interpreting complex data, producing meaningful insights and recommending improvements to systems and processes.
Working in a fast-paced environment, you will manage competing priorities, navigate uncertainty and provide pragmatic solutions that balance governance, compliance and operational requirements. Strong stakeholder management skills and knowledge of NHS Employment Check Standards and recruitment best practice are essential.
About us
NHS England has a wide range of statutory functions, responsibilities and regulatory powers. These are focused on supporting the wider NHS to deliver high quality care, as well as doing those things that are best done once for the whole NHS.
Our staff bring expertise across clinical, operational, commissioning, technology, data science, cyber security, software engineering, education, and commercial specialisms -- enabling us to design and deliver high-quality NHS services.
In March 2025, the Government announced that NHS England and the Department of Health and Social Care will increasingly merge functions, ultimately leading to NHS England being fully integrated into the department.
If you currently work within the NHS and if successful at interview, we will initiate an Inter Authority Transfer (IAT) via the Electronic Staff Record (ESR).This retrieves key data from your current or previous NHS employer to support onboarding, including competency status, Continuous Service Dates (CSD), and annual leave entitlement. You may opt out at any stage of the process.
Colleagues with a contractual office base are expected to spend, on average, at least 40% of their time working in our offices.
Staff recruited from outside the NHS will usually be appointed at the bottom of the pay band.
We cannot offer visa sponsorship for any vacancies.
Job description
Job responsibilities
The successful candidate must have an extensive working and technical knowledge of Trac, (the application tracking system used within the NHS), with particular emphasis on reporting, data analysis, KPI monitoring and the production of management information to support recruitment and workforce planning decisions.
Candidates invited to interview will be asked to prepare and deliver a 10-minute presentation. Full details of the presentation topic and requirements will be shared at a later stage.
Candidates should note that interviews will be conducted in person on 19th November at our Leeds office, Wellington Place.
You can find further details about the role, including key responsibilities and accountabilities, alongside the organisational structure and person specification in the attached Job Description and other supporting documents.
Secondments
Applicants from within the NHS will be offered on a secondment basis only, agreement should be obtained from their employer prior to submitting the application.
Person Specification
Qualifications
Essential
- Educated to degree level or equivalent experience in Human Resources, Recruitment or a related field
- CIPD Level 5 qualification (or equivalent experience) and/or willingness to work towards professional accreditation
Desirable
- Project management or service improvement qualification/training.
Experience
Essential
- Demonstrable experience managing end-to-end recruitment processes within a large and complex organisation
- Experience of leading, supporting and delivering recruitment projects, service improvement initiatives and process redesign
- Experience of producing, analysing and presenting recruitment and workforce data to inform decision-making
- Experience of developing and maintaining effective relationships with a wide range of stakeholders, including senior managers
- Experience of working within a shared service provider arrangement
- Previous NHS recruitment experience
Knowledge
Essential
- An exceptionally strong working and technical knowledge of the TRAC Recruitment System, including vacancy creation, approval workflows, advert management, candidate tracking, onboarding functionality and user administration
- Proven ability to produce, analyse and interpret TRAC reports and dashboards, including recruitment KPIs, vacancy data, time-to-hire metrics and workforce trends
- Knowledge of equality, diversity and inclusion principles and their application within recruitment processes
- Good understanding of employment legislation and its application to recruitment and selection activities
Skills and Abilities
Essential
- Advanced Microsoft Office skills and experience producing management reports and recruitment performance data. With the ability to present recruitment data and reporting information clearly to a range of audiences
- Excellent organisational skills with the ability to manage multiple priorities and competing deadlines
- Strong communication and influencing skills, with the confidence to challenge and advise stakeholders at all levels
- Highly proficient with a particular focus on quality, reporting, compliance and process improvement
Disclosure and Barring Service Check
This post is subject to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act (Exceptions Order) 1975 and as such it will be necessary for a submission for Disclosure to be made to the Disclosure and Barring Service (formerly known as CRB) to check for any previous criminal convictions.
Employer details
Employer name
NHS England
Address
Wellington Place
Leeds
LS1 4AP
United Kingdom
Employer's website
https://www.england.nhs.uk/about/working-for/ (Opens in a new tab)