Senior Manager - Early Careers

Irwin Mitchell; Sheffield; On-site; GBP 46,000 - 60,000; Full time

Job summary

A leading national law firm seeks a Senior Manager for Early Careers to define and execute a vision for graduate, intern, and apprenticeship programmes. This role emphasizes strategic leadership, team development, compliance, and aligns with the firm's goals while fostering an inclusive work environment.

Benefits

25 days holidays plus bank holidays

Generous pension schemes

Two days of paid volunteering

Westfield Health membership

Qualifications

• Proven experience in leading teams and delivering impactful talent programmes.
• Strong background in Early Careers preferably in legal.
• Confident communicator that can influence at all levels.

Responsibilities

• Leading and developing a high-performing Early Careers team.
• Designing and delivering early careers strategy across UK offices.
• Ensuring compliance with SRA and Skills Funding Agency requirements.

Skills

Leadership

Strategic Thinking

Communication

Collaboration

Education

Experience in Early Careers within legal or professional services

Job description

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Senior Manager, Recruitment and Onboarding - Irwin Mitchell

We’re a national law firm with a local reach. Our philosophy is ‘we're legal and financial experts that care’ – something you’ll find in the way we work with our clients and how we support our teams. But we’re more than just a law firm – we’re a team of people working together to help individuals and businesses navigate life’s ups and downs. Working here you’ll feel a part of our friendly and inclusive environment.

We’ll value you for who you are and what you bring. We support each other and push boundaries to achieve incredible things and make a real difference to our clients and communities.

We're always looking to support our colleagues to work in a way that works best for them and everyone else, including our clients, the business and the regulators. Please speak to a member of our Recruitment and Onboarding team for more information.

Your Role and What You'll Be Doing

Are you ready to shape the future of Early Careers at Irwin Mitchell?

We’re looking for an experienced Early Careers leader, with the skills and influence to shape and delivery a vision to evolve our national graduate, intern, and apprenticeship programmes. This is your chance to make a real impact—designing and delivering a forward-thinking strategy that supports the next generation of legal and professional talent.

As our Senior Manager – Early Careers, you’ll lead a dedicated team of professionals and work closely with senior leaders, HR colleagues, and external partners to create a world-class early careers experience. You’ll be the driving force behind our strategy, ensuring it aligns with our firm’s goals and values while meeting regulatory requirements from the SRA and Government apprenticeship frameworks.

The role can be based in one of the following offices Manchester, Sheffield, Leeds or Birmingham

What you’ll be doing:

• Leading and developing a high-performing Early Careers team.
• Designing and delivering our early careers strategy across all UK offices.
• Simplifying and streamlining processes to ensure everything we do supports excellent service delivery and drives profitability.
• Aligning our early careers approach with wider business goals to support long-term growth and success.
• Building strong relationships with senior stakeholders to shape and evolve our programmes.
• Ensuring compliance with SRA and Skills Funding Agency requirements.
• Managing the Apprenticeship Levy to maximise its impact.
• Supporting colleagues in developing the careers of the future—creating opportunities that are inclusive, inspiring, and aligned to business needs.
• Championing innovation and continuous improvement in how we attract, develop, and retain early talent.

About You

• A strategic thinker with a strong background in Early Careers, ideally within the legal or professional services sector.
• Proven experience in leading teams and delivering impactful talent programmes.
• A confident communicator who can influence at all levels.
• Someone who thrives on collaboration and is excited by the opportunity to shape the future.

This is more than a job—it’s a chance to lead change, inspire others, and help build a pipeline of exceptional talent for years to come.

Our Benefits - What We Can Offer You

• 25 days holidays as standard plus bank holidays - You can ‘buy’ up to 35hrs of extra holiday too.
• Generous and flexible pension schemes.
• Volunteering days – Two days of volunteering every year for a cause of your choice (fully paid)
• Westfield Health membership, offering refunds on medical services alongside our Aviva Digital GP services.

We also offer a wide range of well-being initiatives to encourage positive mental health both in and out of the workplace and to make sure you’re fully supported. This includes our Flexible by Choice programme which gives our colleagues more choice over a hybrid way of working subject to role, team and client requirements.

We have been ranked in the Best Workplaces for Wellbeing for Large Organisations for 2024!

Our responsible business programmes are fundamental to who we are and our purpose. We’re committed to being a diverse and inclusive workplace where our colleagues can flourish, and we have established a number of inclusion network groups across our business to support this aim.

Our commitment to Social Responsibility, community investment activity and tackling climate change is a fundamental part of who we are. It’s made up of four strands: Our People, Our Community, Our Environment and Our Pro Bono.

Additional Information

As part of the Irwin Mitchell Group’s on-boarding process all successful applicants are required to complete the group’s employment screening process. This process helps to ensure that all new employees meet our standards in relation to honesty and integrity therefore protecting the interests of the Group, colleagues, clients, partners and other stakeholders.

We carry out pre employment screening to establish your eligibility to work in the UK, criminal record and financial checks with our trusted 3rd parties.

The employment screening process will fully comply with Data Protection and other applicable laws.

Irwin Mitchell LLP is an equal opportunity employer.

Seniority level

• Seniority level

  Mid-Senior level

Employment type

• Employment type

  Full-time

Job function

• Job function

  Legal

• Industries

  Law Practice

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