Talent Acquisition Business Partner

JD Sports Head Office; Sydney; On-site; AUD 90,000 - 130,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Birthday leave

Parental leave

Discounts across JD Sports brand

Employee Assistance Program

Wellbeing initiatives

CBD offices in Sydney

Culture events

Job summary

JD Sports in Sydney is seeking an experienced Talent Acquisition Business Partner to lead end-to-end recruitment for a national retail portfolio, partnering with Area and Store Managers to attract and secure top talent while shaping workforce planning and pipelines.

You will drive scalable talent solutions, improve sourcing strategies, and ensure compliant recruitment practices across fast-paced, multi-site retail expansion.

Qualifications

• Demonstrated experience with high-volume recruitment.
• Strong stakeholder management and relationship-building.
• Commercial mindset and ability to align with business priorities.

Responsibilities

• Manage end-to-end recruitment across a diverse portfolio of retail leadership and store-based roles.
• Deliver high-quality hiring outcomes across large recruitment volumes while maintaining speed, quality and candidate experience.
• Build talent pipelines that support peak trading periods, new store openings and future growth plans.
• Develop innovative sourcing and attraction strategies to remain competitive in a challenging retail talent market.
• Continuously review and improve recruitment advertising, sourcing channels and candidate engagement approaches.
• Ensure recruitment activity is compliant, consistent and aligned with best-practice recruitment standards.
• Build trusted relationships with Area Managers, Store Managers and key business stakeholders.
• Act as a genuine talent advisor rather than simply taking recruitment briefs.
• Provide market insights, talent intelligence and workforce recommendations to leaders.
• Challenge thinking where appropriate and influence hiring decisions that strengthen business outcomes.
• Identify opportunities to improve hiring capability, recruitment effectiveness and workforce planning.
• Maintain visibility of current and future workforce requirements across your portfolio.
• Identify talent risks, capability gaps and succession opportunities before they impact the business.
• Support talent and succession discussions across key operational leadership roles.
• Build proactive talent pipelines for future Store Manager, Assistant Store Manager and emerging leadership opportunities.
• Partner with the broader People Team to identify and address retention risks and workforce challenges.
• Champion internal mobility and career progression across the business.
• Work closely with leaders to identify high-potential talent and future leaders.
• Support visible career pathways across retail leadership populations.
• Promote and celebrate internal development opportunities and succession success stories.
• Coach leaders on effective selection, assessment and interviewing techniques.
• Ensure recruitment processes, documentation and governance standards are consistently maintained.
• Use recruitment data and insights to identify trends, risks and improvement opportunities.
• Contribute to evolving JD Sports' Talent Acquisition function into a best-in-class, scalable talent operation.

Job description

Known best as the 'Undisputed King of Trainers', JD Sports reigns supreme as one of the biggest and best global Sports Fashion brands across footwear and apparel.

Founded in 1981 in Greater Manchester, UK, JD Group has achieved remarkable growth through global expansion and is now one of the world's leading sports fashion retailers. With over 3,400 stores worldwide and more than 70 stores across Australia and New Zealand, we continue to inspire the emerging generation through the universal culture of Sport, Music and Fashion.

At JD Sports, we're experiencing significant growth across Australia and New Zealand, and we're looking for an experienced Talent Acquisition Business Partner who thrives in a fast-paced, high-volume retail environment.

THE ROLE

This is more than a recruitment role. You'll be responsible for delivering exceptional hiring outcomes today while partnering with leaders to build the talent pipelines, succession plans and workforce capability needed for tomorrow.

Supporting a national portfolio of retail stores, you'll work closely with Area Managers and Store Managers to attract, identify and secure the best talent in the market while influencing broader workforce planning and talent decisions. You'll bring strong operational recruitment expertise, commercial thinking and a passion for building scalable talent solutions that support business growth.

If you're energised by high-volume hiring, solving talent challenges and driving continuous improvement, we'd love to hear from you.

WHAT YOU'LL BE DOING

Delivering Recruitment Excellence at Scale

Manage end-to-end recruitment across a diverse portfolio of retail leadership and store-based roles.

Deliver high-quality hiring outcomes across large recruitment volumes while maintaining speed, quality and candidate experience.

Build talent pipelines that support peak trading periods, new store openings and future growth plans.

Develop innovative sourcing and attraction strategies to ensure JD Sports remains competitive in a challenging retail talent market.

Continuously review and improve recruitment advertising, sourcing channels and candidate engagement approaches.

Ensure recruitment activity is compliant, consistent and aligned with best-practice recruitment standards.

Strategic Business Partnership

Build trusted relationships with Area Managers, Store Managers and key business stakeholders.

Act as a genuine talent advisor rather than simply taking recruitment briefs.

Provide market insights, talent intelligence and workforce recommendations to leaders.

Challenge thinking where appropriate and influence hiring decisions that strengthen business outcomes.

Identify opportunities to improve hiring capability, recruitment effectiveness and workforce planning.

Maintain visibility of current and future workforce requirements across your portfolio.

Identify talent risks, capability gaps and succession opportunities before they impact the business.

Support talent and succession discussions across key operational leadership roles.

Build proactive talent pipelines for future Store Manager, Assistant Store Manager and emerging leadership opportunities.

Partner with the broader People Team to identify and address retention risks and workforce challenges.

Internal Mobility & Talent Development

Champion internal mobility and career progression across the business.

Work closely with leaders to identify high-potential talent and future leaders.

Support visible career pathways across retail leadership populations.

Promote and celebrate internal development opportunities and succession success stories.

Driving Continuous Improvement

Coach leaders on effective selection, assessment and interviewing techniques.

Ensure recruitment processes, documentation and governance standards are consistently maintained.

Use recruitment data and insights to identify trends, risks and improvement opportunities.

Contribute to evolving JD Sports' Talent Acquisition function into a best-in-class, scalable talent operation.

WHAT WE'RE LOOKING FOR

Demonstrated experience managing high-volume recruitment within a fast-paced retail, hospitality, consumer or multi-site environment.

Proven capability partnering with operational leaders and influencing hiring decisions.

Strong experience managing multiple priorities while delivering recruitment outcomes at pace.

Commercial mindset and ability to understand broader business priorities.

Experience building talent pipelines and supporting workforce planning activities.

Strong stakeholder management and relationship-building skills.

Ability to identify talent risks and proactively develop solutions.

Passion for continuous improvement and delivering exceptional candidate experiences.

Experience working within growth businesses, scale-up environments or large multi-site organisations will be highly regarded.

WHY JOIN JD?

As part of one of the world's fastest-growing sports fashion retailers, you'll have the opportunity to play a critical role in shaping the future talent landscape of our business.

This role offers the chance to influence hiring at scale, partner with senior retail leaders, support national growth plans and contribute to building a best-in-class talent function that creates long-term business impact.

Additionally, you will have access to and enjoy:

• Birthday Leave and Paid Parental Leave benefits
• Generous discounts across JD Sports and our partner brands
• Employee Assistance Program and wellbeing initiatives
• Brand-new CBD offices in the heart of Sydney
• Monthly culture events, team celebrations and pre-payday lunches

JD values diversity and inclusion and champions a culture where everyone feels valued, included and celebrated. Please note, by applying for this role, you consent to us completing a Work Rights check to verify your working rights where required.