Recruitment Specialist

Cognita Asia Holdings Pte Ltd; España; On-site; EUR 36,000 - 48,000; Full time

Job summary

Cognita is seeking a Recruitment Specialist to support the Madrid cluster in Spain. The role covers sourcing, interviewing, offers, pre-employment checks and onboarding coordination for multiple schools, with a strong emphasis on candidate experience and stakeholder collaboration.

You will manage urgent hiring needs, build pipelines and utilise ATS and LinkedIn Recruiter to attract high-quality talent, including international candidates, while fluent English and Spanish are essential.

Qualifications

• Experience managing end-to-end recruitment processes, ideally within education or a multi-site organisation.
• Fluent in English and Spanish.
• Experience using Applicant Tracking Systems, LinkedIn Recruiter and direct sourcing to attract top talent, including international candidates.

Responsibilities

• Deliver end-to-end recruitment across the Madrid cluster, from vacancy approval to onboarding.
• Source, interview, offer manage and conduct pre-employment checks for candidates.
• Build and maintain talent pipelines and respond to urgent hiring needs with quality hires.
• Partner with school leaders, HR teams and candidates to ensure a positive experience.

Skills

End-to-end recruitment

Stakeholder management

Sourcing techniques

English fluency

Spanish fluency

ATS experience

LinkedIn Recruiter

Tools

LinkedIn Recruiter

TES

Job description

About Cognita

Cognita is a global leader in independent education. Founded in 2004, we are a growing community of 90 schools in 20 countries - in Europe, North America, Latin America, Asia and the Middle East - serving more than 100,000 students. Each of our schools are proudly unique, however our collective purpose is to create an environment where everyone can, "Thrive in a rapidly evolving world".

We now have an exciting opportunity for an experienced Recruitment Specialist to join our fantastic team to support the schools in our Madrid cluster in Spain.

About the Role

As a Recruitment Specialist, you will play a key role in delivering end-to-end recruitment across our Madrid cluster schools, ensuring a seamless and high-quality hiring experience from vacancy approval through to a successful first day. Working closely with HR Business Partners, school leaders and central teams, you will manage the full recruitment lifecycle, including sourcing, interviewing, offer management, pre-employment checks and onboarding coordination. You will take ownership of urgent hiring requirements, building and maintaining talent pipelines to support both planned and last-minute staffing needs, while driving proactive sourcing strategies for hard-to-fill teaching and specialist positions. With a strong focus on candidate experience, stakeholder partnership and continuous improvement, you will ensure schools are staffed with exceptional talent at the right time, adapting recruitment approaches to meet the unique needs and culture of each school while identifying opportunities to improve efficiency and consistency across the recruitment process.

This is a permanent, full-time role with an immediate start date.

Who We Are Looking For

We are looking for a proactive and highly organised recruitment professional with proven experience managing end-to-end recruitment processes, ideally within education or a multi-site organisation. You will be confident managing multiple vacancies simultaneously, balancing competing priorities and responding quickly to urgent hiring needs without compromising quality. With strong stakeholder management skills, you will be comfortable partnering with school leaders, HR teams and candidates in a fast-paced environment. You will have experience using Applicant Tracking Systems, LinkedIn Recruiter and direct sourcing techniques to attract top talent, including international candidates, and will be fluent in both English and Spanish. A keen eye for detail, a strong sense of ownership and a commitment to delivering an exceptional candidate experience are essential. Experience within international schools, knowledge of safeguarding requirements and familiarity with platforms such as TES would be advantageous.

Cognita Schools are committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children and young people and expects all staff, volunteers and other third parties to share this commitment. Safer recruitment practice and pre-employment background checks will be undertaken before any appointment is confirmed.

We are an equal opportunities employer committed to diversity and treating all employees with dignity and respect regardless of background.

Early applications are encouraged, we reserve the right to interview and appoint prior to closing date for the right applicant.