WaterAid UK Talent Acquisition Advisor

About the team

• The Talent Acquisition team is a central specialist function supporting recruitment across WaterAid UK Directorates, Country Programmes and Federation Member Countries, including Global Policy and Campaigns, International Programmes, Finance & IT, People, the CEO Office, WAi, Canada and India. The team leads the delivery of strategic talent acquisition, ensuring WaterAid attracts, identifies and appoints the right skills, in the right place, at the right time to achieve our mission.

About the role

• Working in partnership with hiring managers, People colleagues, and stakeholders across the wider federation, the Talent Acquisition Advisor oversees the end-to-end recruitment journey for UK-based hiring, including attraction, advertising, candidate management, pre-employment screening, and onboarding. The role also provides expert advice and guidance on recruitment best practice, inclusive hiring, and capability building, supporting managers to make confident and informed hiring decisions.
• Alongside UK recruitment delivery, the role acts as a key Talent Acquisition partner to Country Programmes, leading sourcing activity for specialist and hard-to-fill roles, developing sustainable talent pipelines, providing expert support on recruitment processes and systems and building capability within country, in line with local regulations. As a Workable super-user and trusted adviser, the postholder champions continuous improvement, drives adoption of best practice, and supports hiring managers across WaterAid UK and the wider federation to deliver an outstanding candidate experience and successful hiring outcomes.

In this role, you will;

WaterAid UK Operational Recruitment Support

• Provide high-quality Talent Acquisition support to deliver a consistent, positive candidate and hiring manager experience across WaterAid UK.
• Guide and support hiring managers through the recruitment process, including role profiles, advertising, candidate management and selection approaches.
• Own the end-to-end candidate journey for UK recruitment, from attraction and advertising through to onboarding.
• Maintain recruitment trackers, databases, reporting information and recruitment records, ensuring accuracy and compliance.
• Manage the job description library, ensuring role profiles are current and accessible.
• Prepare and issue offers, contracts and recruitment documentation.
• Conduct and oversee all pre-employment and safer recruitment checks, including references, DBS/criminal record checks, right-to-work verification and other required clearances.

Country Programme Talent Acquisition Advisory & Sourcing Support

• Act as a key Talent Acquisition contact for Country Programmes, Regional Hubs and People Teams.
• Proactively support the Talent Acquisition Partner to source for niche, specialist and hard-to-fill Country Programme roles using direct sourcing, talent mapping and networking approaches.
• Build and maintain internal and external talent pools for Country Programme and fixed-term project roles.
• Maintain accurate talent-pool records, including skills, experience, availability, employment history and pre-employment screening status.
• Partner with Regional and Local People Teams to understand workforce requirements and develop talent pipelines for current and future vacancies.
• Act as a Workable super-user, supporting system configuration, automation, optimisation, troubleshooting and adoption across Country Programmes and WaterAid UK.
• Support the rollout, implementation and continuous improvement of Workable functionality, including AI-enabled features.

Requirements

To be successful, you will need:

Essential skills and experience

• Proven experience of owning the end-to-end recruitment process from job briefing through to onboarding of new starters.
• Experience of using data for accurate tracking, reporting, and management information.
• Knowledge and experience of inclusive hiring practices.
• Experience using LinkedIn Recruiter to source for hard to fill/niche talent, especially in Africa and/or South Asia.
• Understanding of HR legislation, GDPR, and Talent Acquisition best practice.
• Experience of providing recruitment advice and guidance to hiring managers, supporting effective and informed hiring decisions.
• Ability to work at pace, managing a high volume of work while maintaining attention to detail.
• Experience of managing the candidate journey and delivering a positive experience from candidate to colleague.
• Excellent use of recruitment systems and Applicant Tracking Systems (ATS).

Behavioural Qualities

• Builds credible stakeholder relationships that inspire trust and confidence.
• Confident in engaging proactively and professionally with internal stakeholders and external candidates.
• Demonstrates the ability to connect with others and build trust through effective verbal and written communication.
• Proactive completer-finisher who takes ownership and acts on their initiative.

Although not essential, we’d prefer you to have:

• French language skills are desirable and would be beneficial in supporting collaboration across our global network. We would be particularly interested in candidates with French language proficiency.
• Experience of supporting or participating in the implementation, configuration, or optimisation of recruitment systems or Applicant Tracking Systems (ATS).
• Experience of working with, supporting, or living in a Country Programme or international development context.