People & Talent Manager

Caravan Support Team; Southall; On-site; GBP 55,000 - 75,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Meals on shift across locations

Dining discount for family and friends

Coffee discounts at Caravan Coffee Roa

Wellbeing and mentoring

Job summary

Caravan Restaurants & Coffee Roasters is seeking a passionate People & Talent Manager to lead recruitment, talent planning and people development across our London hubs and roastery. You’ll partner with the People & Culture Director and Ops teams to build strong pipelines, manage performance cycles and embed sustained career progression.

You’ll own onboarding for managers and frontline teams, drive succession planning, and ensure data-driven HR processes, reporting and continuous improvement

Qualifications

• Experience in recruitment, talent management or a People/HR generalist role within hospitality or multi-site environments.
• Hands-on recruitment process management and collaboration with hiring managers.
• Knowledge of talent development, succession planning and performance management.
• Strong organisational skills with ability to manage multiple priorities.
• Ability to build relationships with operational leaders and deliver great people practices.
• Solutions-focused, independent worker with data-driven mindset.
• Interest in developing people and career progression.

Responsibilities

• Oversee external recruitment across Caravan, maintaining a positive candidate experience.
• Collaborate with General Managers and Ops to prioritise hiring needs.
• Manage campaigns, pipelines and selection processes; support interviewing.
• Monitor recruitment performance and improve quality and efficiency.
• Lead 80/20 talent approach and sustain internal progression pipelines.
• Coordinate talent reviews and succession planning across restaurants and support teams.
• Maintain talent plans, identify gaps and drive development actions.
• Track internal promotions and pipeline effectiveness; report progress.
• Coordinate performance management cycles and development plans.
• Support managers with meaningful performance conversations and follow-up.
• Oversee onboarding for new managers and starters; ensure consistency.
• Improve onboarding experience and align with wider People team initiatives.
• Maintain accurate People data across systems and calendar milestones.
• Use data to monitor progress, identify trends and support improvements.
• Champion inclusive people practices and Caravan values.

Skills

Recruitment & talent management

HR generalist

Stakeholder management

HR analytics & data

People development

Education

CIPD qualification (desirable)

Job description

People & Talent Manager

Caravan Restaurants & Coffee Roasters

Location: Lambworks, North London, N7 9DP

Salary: competitive

Reporting to: People & Culture Director

At Caravan, we believe great hospitality starts with great people.

Since opening our first restaurant in Exmouth Market in 2010, we've grown into a collection of restaurants across London and Manchester, alongside our specialty coffee roastery.

We’re proudly B Corp Certified, and our four values,All Welcome, Well-Travelled, No Boundaries and Caravan of Love, are at the heart of everything we do. They shape how we welcome our guests, support each other and create opportunities for our people to thrive.

As we continue to grow, we’re looking for a passionate and experiencedPeople & Talent Managerto join our People & Culture team and help us bring our people priorities to life.

The opportunity

This is a brilliant opportunity for someone who loves hospitality, is passionate about developing people and enjoys making things happen.

Working closely with our People & Culture Director and Operations teams, you’ll take ownership of managing our external recruitment and delivering our talent management and people development processes across Caravan.

A key part of our people strategy is our80/20 approach to talent, with the ambition of filling 80% of opportunities through internal progression and 20% through external recruitment.

You’ll play a central role in making this happen, ensuring we have strong talent pipelines, effective recruitment processes, meaningful development opportunities and clear succession plans.

This is a hands‑on role where organisation, ownership, relationships and follow‑through really matter.

What you'll be doing

Recruitment & Talent Acquisition

• Manage external recruitment activity across Caravan, ensuring a consistent, engaging and efficient candidate experience.

• Partner with General Managers, Heads of Department and Operations to understand recruitment needs and priorities.

• Manage recruitment campaigns, advertising, candidate pipelines and selection processes.

• Support hiring managers with interviews, assessments and hiring decisions.

• Monitor recruitment performance and identify opportunities to improve quality, efficiency and candidate experience.

Talent Planning & Succession

• Manage the delivery of our 80/20 talent approach, supporting internal progression and maintaining strong external talent pipelines.

• Coordinate talent reviews and succession planning across our restaurants, roastery and support teams.

• Maintain accurate talent plans, identify gaps and ensure development actions are followed through.

• Work closely with operational leaders to identify emerging talent and future leadership needs.

• Track internal promotions and talent pipeline effectiveness, reporting on progress against agreed priorities.

Performance & Development

• Coordinate and deliver our performance management cycles, including reviews, development plans and performance improvement processes.

• Support managers to have meaningful performance and development conversations.

• Monitor completion, quality and follow‑through of performance reviews.

• Help identify development needs and ensure agreed actions are implemented.

• Support career pathways and internal mobility opportunities across the business.

Onboarding & Employee Experience

• Own the onboarding process for new managers and support team starters.

• Support site leaders to deliver a consistent, engaging and effective onboarding experience for their teams.

• Monitor onboarding completion and standards, identifying areas for improvement.

• Work with the wider People team to continuously improve the employee experience.

People Processes & Reporting

• Maintain accurate recruitment, talent and performance information across our people systems.

• Coordinate people activities and key milestones across our annual People calendar.

• Use data and insights to monitor progress, identify trends and support continuous improvement.

• Ensure agreed people initiatives are delivered consistently and on time across the business.

• Champion our values and inclusive people practices in everything you do.

About you

We’re looking for someone who combines a genuine passion for people with strong organisational skills, a proactive mindset and the confidence to take ownership.

You’ll bring:

• Experience in recruitment, talent management or a People/HR generalist role, ideally within hospitality or a fast‑paced, multi‑site environment.

• Hands‑on experience managing recruitment processes and working with hiring managers.

• A good understanding of talent development, succession planning and performance management.

• Strong organisational skills and the ability to manage multiple priorities without losing attention to detail.

• Confidence building relationships with operational leaders and supporting them to deliver great people practices.

• A practical, solutions‑focused approach and the ability to work independently.

• Confidence using HR systems and people data to track progress and improve processes.

• A genuine interest in developing people and creating opportunities for career progression.

• CIPD qualification or working towards a qualification, at any level, desirable but not essential.

Most importantly, you’ll be someone who takes ownership, follows through and enjoys making things happen.

What we offer

• Competitive salary
• The opportunity to make a meaningful impact within a growing hospitality business
• Leadership development and career progression opportunities
• Meals and drinks on shift across our locations
• Dining discount for family and friends
• Coffee discounts at Caravan Coffee Roasters
• Financial wellbeing, mental health support and professional mentoring

If you love people, enjoy bringing plans to life and want to help create great opportunities for others, we’d love to hear from you.

Compensation: Competitive salary