Head of Talent Acquisition

Posted 9 July by Nigel Wright Group
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About the opportunity;
Based Newcastle or Castleford.

The Head of Talent Acquisition is a key hire and will be one of the more senior roles within the People and Change Leadership team and will report to the executive director for People and Change, responsible for leading the Talent Acquisition function, developing the right resourcing strategies and establishing workforce plans in partnership with the wider leadership teams.  The Head of Talent Acquisition and their team will be responsible for attracting top talent while promoting diverse & inclusive hiring practices.

Key Responsibilities include:
  • Setting strong strategic vision that aligns to business objectives, creating and implementing talent acquisition strategies for leadership, mid-career, and graduate and entry level hiring.
  • Leading on employer branding initiatives and promoting the organisation as an employer of choice.
  • Leading the resourcing team to drive all attraction, recruiting and selection and near term workforce planning activities.
  • Partnering with leaders within the organisation to track their ongoing and forecasted hiring needs based on business growth plans.
  • Build talent pipelines and running innovative campaigns for current and future job openings.
  • Designing and driving high quality recruitment practices that support a strong candidate experience.
  • Develop a strategy for senior and executive hiring. 
  • Utilising data and insights to drive decision making.
  • Prepare and review the annual recruitment budget.


The ideal candidate with be able to demonstrate;
  • Significant experience of working in talent acquisition at a senior level within a large, complex organisation.
  • Highly effective communication skills with the ability to influence key business partners. 
  • Innovative and creative when it comes to problem solving and strategic thinking. 
  • Data-driven decision-making skills, with the ability to analyse recruitment metrics and optimise recruitment processes.
  • Excellent attention to detail and organisational skills with the ability to plan and prioritise effectively. 
  • Experience of Applicant Tracking systems and digital recruitment tools.

About Northern Powergrid;

Northern Powergrid owns and operates the network that distributes electricity to homes and businesses across the North East, Yorkshire and northern Lincolnshire. Employing over 2,500 people, the business has 8 million customers and supplies 3.9 million properties via 60,000 miles of overhead powerlines and underground cables.

As part of Berkshire Hathaway Energy (BHE), the energy division of a US owned multinational conglomerate, Northern Powergrid is now embarking on a Digital Transformation which will modernise their systems and processes and enable them to satisfy the needs of customers and stakeholders whilst streamlining the employee experience. Creating a modern workplace which enables employees through the use of systems will be a key outcome of the programme. As a result, they are looking to recruit a number of roles that will be integral to delivering this programme of work over the coming years.  The Head of Talent Acquisition will play a key part in their future growth and talent strategy.

Introducing Jodie Coe: People and Change Director;

I joined the business in May 2022 in my time so far it is clear that the organisation is built on a bedrock of having a strong ownership culture, setting ourselves high standards and having an unwavering focus on delivering quality for our customers. In People and Change, we are successful at all of that by working as a team and this role will be the final piece of the puzzle as I complete the formation of my senior team. This means that our priorities shift and flex to deliver our long-term plans whilst being agile to the opportunities a diverse business like ours creates.

This role will be at the front and centre of delivering high quality plans for talent acquisition, bring creative insight into how to recruit effectively across a diverse talent profile and set the standard for being the best at what we do.

The successful person in this role will need to be tenacious, naturally want to take personal ownership, have the courage to challenge and offer an opinion whilst building and maintaining positive relationships.

We are building something great in People and Change but we have loads of work to do to get us to where we want to be so you will need to be comfortable in getting into the detail as well as feeling challenging the status quo and pushing the boundaries on how we do things.

Reference: 53052944

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