Recruitment Manager *maternity cover*

South East Coast Ambulance Service NHS Foundation Trust; Crawley; On-site; GBP 45,000 - 55,000; Full time

Job summary

A regional ambulance service is seeking an experienced Recruitment Manager for a leadership role in Crawley. You will oversee the recruitment team, ensuring compliance with NHS standards while driving improvements and developing recruitment strategies. The ideal candidate will have significant experience in NHS recruitment and a passion for inclusive practices. This position offers a 7-month maternity cover with competitive benefits, including a minimum of 27 days of holiday and access to occupational health services.

Benefits

NHS pension scheme

Minimum 27 days' holiday

Professional development opportunities

Salary Sacrifice schemes

Access to occupational health services

Discounts for NHS employees

Qualifications

• Proven experience in managing a recruitment team.
• Expert knowledge of NHS employment standards and recruitment practices.
• Strong ability to build relationships with stakeholders.

Responsibilities

• Lead the recruitment team and oversee hiring processes.
• Ensure compliance with NHS standards and employment legislation.
• Manage recruitment budgets and implement improvements.

Skills

Leadership

Communication

Expertise in recruitment legislation

Stakeholder management

Education

Experience in NHS recruitment

Relevant degree or equivalent experience

Tools

TRAC recruitment system

Job description

We're looking for an experienced and dynamic Recruitment Manager (Band 8a) to join South East Coast Ambulance NHS Foundation Trust (SECAmb) for a 7-month maternity cover. This is a vital leadership role, responsible for delivering a high-quality, efficient, and responsive recruitment and onboarding service across the Trust. Working from our headquarters in Crawley, you'll lead a committed team supporting recruitment for a diverse range of roles, including urgent care services, specialist, corporate, and senior leadership hiring. This is an exciting opportunity to shape recruitment strategy, build strong stakeholder partnerships, and drive service improvements within a fast-paced, high-volume healthcare environment., As Recruitment Manager, you'll oversee the operational management of the Recruitment Team, providing expert advice on recruitment practices and employment legislation. You'll lead the delivery of hiring targets, ensuring compliance with NHS standards and legal frameworks, and act as the Trust's subject matter expert in recruitment and selection. The role requires driving improvements in recruitment systems, managing budgets, and supporting international and senior-level hiring. You'll also deliver recruitment training and coaching for hiring managers and lead on initiatives to reduce agency reliance and support workforce sustainability., In this leadership role, you will:
+ Manage Recruitment Team Leaders and the wider recruitment service.
+ Provide expert advice on policy, legislation, and best practice in recruitment.
+ Ensure compliance with NHS Employment Standards and Right to Work requirements.
+ Lead high-volume, specialist, and executive recruitment campaigns.
+ Oversee delivery of workforce numbers in line with operational and strategic plans.
+ Maintain and develop the Trust's recruitment systems (TRAC).
+ Coach and support hiring managers, embedding inclusive, effective recruitment practices.
+ Build influential relationships with internal and external stakeholders.
+ Manage recruitment budgets and contribute to cost improvement initiatives.
+ Support international recruitment programmes and act as UKVI Level 1 user.
+ Champion equality, diversity, and inclusion in all recruitment activity.
Please note that the salary range noted on the vacancy is in line with agenda for change (AFC) pay scales. All successful applicants would be placed automatically at the bottom of the banding, unless proven, relevant NHS or equivalent experience can be demonstrated.
Following the revision of current national legislation (Vaccine as a Condition of Deployment), the Trust has reviewed our requirements relating to staff uptake of the SARS-COV-2 (COVID-19) vaccination.
Going forward, for patient facing positions, we strongly recommend that new starters will be appropriately vaccinated unless medically exempt in order to offer greater protection against exposure to the virus for front line staff.
In line with this recommendation, if you are successful in your application for a front line post, we will seek information from you in relation to your vaccine status, including exemption status, as applicable.
Please note, all positions come with a Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) check relevant to the post. This will either be a basic, standard, or enhanced check depending on the role. The level of check will be outlined in the conditional offer letter sent to successful applicants.
As part of the application process, you will be asked to declare any unspent/unfiltered convictions. If you are shortlisted you will then be sent a self declaration form, which must be completed prior to attending interview. for any queries relating to declarations, please contact the Recruitment Advisor listed on the vacancy.
The Trust is passionately committed to being an inclusive employer - a place where we can all be ourselves and succeed. As an employer we offer a range of family friendly, inclusive employment policies, flexible working arrangements, staff engagement networks, facilities and services to support staff from different backgrounds.
We actively support equality of opportunity for all our staff and welcome applications from individuals regardless of age, any disability, sex, gender reassignment, sexual orientation, pregnancy and maternity, race, religion or belief. The Trust is making progress towards its aim of becoming more reflective of the diversity of our community in our workforce and guarantees an interview to candidates with disability who meet the essential criteria specified. We particularly encourage applications from Black, Asian, Minority Ethnic and disabled applicants and those from other under-represented groups.
The Equality Act 2010 protects disabled people - including those with long term health conditions, learning disabilities and hidden disabilities such as dyslexia. If you tell us that you have a disability we can make reasonable adjustments to ensure that any selection processes - including the interview - are fair and equitable.
We are a committed to offering opportunities to individuals with disabilities and offer on-going support, should you be successful, with any adjustments you may need when performing your role.
When completing the application please use your name as it appears on your passport and please ensure you include email addresses and contact numbers for your referees to avoid delay in the recruitment process.
Please note that under our Trust policies, we're unable to employ anyone under the age of 18 years old.
The majority of our roles will include some travel between sites for business purposes. If the vacancy you're applying for includes work related travel, you will be required to ensure that you hold and have covered the cost of suitable car insurance to support this.
Should you require an application form in an alternative format including large print or braille, please contact [email protected] stating the vacancy reference number and we will be happy to provide this.
When completing the reference section, please include details to cover the last three years' history.
Due to the high volume of applications at SECAmb, we regret that we will only be able to contact those applicants who are shortlisted for interview. If you have not heard from us within 10 working days of the closing date, then please assume you have not been shortlisted for interview on this particular occasion.
Please note that we contact all applicants via Trac Jobs and would advise you check your Trac Jobs account regularly.
Please be aware that the Trust reserves the right to close this vacancy early if sufficient applications are received. For this reason we recommend completing your application as early as possible.
Follow our recruitment on Twitter @SECAmbRecruit and check out our Facebook page - SECAmb NHS Recruitment. You can also find us on Linkedin under South East Coast Ambulance Service NHS Foundation Trust.
We understand that AI tools can be useful for generating ideas or structuring your application. However, any content submitted must reflect your own experiences, skills, and understanding. Applications that are generated wholly or in large part by AI, without personalisation or accuracy, may be excluded from consideration. We value honesty, authenticity, and integrity in the recruitment process and expect all applicants to uphold these principles.
If you are a current SECAmb employee, by applying for this position, if successful you will move to the terms and conditions associated with the post. Any unsocial hours payments will be paid under the Section 2 agreement of agenda for change. Section 2 unsocial hours will need to be claimed via your monthly timesheet. More information regarding section 2 can be found in the Agenda for Change handbook and on the our dedicated Section 2 page on The Zone.

South East Coast Ambulance Service NHS Foundation Trust (SECAmb) has a vision to 'support our staff to provide a caring, high quality and efficient urgent and emergency care service to our communities'. We are rated 'Good' for care by the Care Quality Commission and while the other areas under their most recent report require improvement, our aim is to continually improve and to reach outstanding across all areas of the Trust.
Our 4,000+ workforce provide services to 4.9m people across Kent, Surrey, Sussex and North East Hampshire. We handle over 1 million calls to 999 and 1 million calls to NHS 111 every year. More information regarding our services and locations can be found on our website.

+ Option to join NHS pension scheme
+ A minimum 27 days' holiday each year, increasing after 5 years' service.
+ Personal and professional development and training opportunities.
+ Salary Sacrifice schemes for cars or push bikes.
+ Access to occupational health and counselling services.
+ Award winning wellbeing hub
+ Back up buddy App
+ Access to NHS discounts, offering NHS employees a range of money-saving deals.
Other than in exceptional circumstances, the starting salary for staff new to the NHS will be the bottom point of the band to which they have been appointed.