Senior People / Recruitment & Retention Lead

Compass Associates; Greater London; On-site; GBP 50,000 - 60,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Performance-related bonus

OTE £50k–£60k

Senior-level ownership

Job summary

Compass Associates in West London is seeking a Senior People / Recruitment & Retention Lead to take ownership of recruitment, onboarding and retention for a high-volume frontline workforce.

This hands-on leadership role involves coaching a recruiter, driving structured processes, improving candidate quality and early-stage retention, and working with senior leadership to shape an effective people operation.

Qualifications

• Proven experience in high-volume recruitment or people operations.
• Experience mentoring or developing recruitment/people teams.
• Strong candidate screening, onboarding and recruitment conversion skills.
• Experience with frontline or dispersed workforces.
• Excellent stakeholder management and communication.

Responsibilities

• Lead recruitment delivery across a high-volume frontline workforce.
• Coach and develop an existing recruiter.
• Improve candidate quality, screening and conversion.
• Strengthen onboarding processes and structure.
• Implement initiatives to improve early-stage retention.
• Own the wider recruitment and people operation.
• Collaborate with senior leadership on strategy.
• Identify process improvements and candidate experience.
• Operate in a fast-paced, people-led environment.

Skills

High-volume recruitment

Talent acquisition

People operations

Leadership/people management

Stakeholder management

Job description

Are you an experienced recruitment or people leader looking for a role where you can genuinely take ownership of recruitment, retention and the wider people operation?

We're partnering with a confidential, established care provider in West London to appoint a Senior People / Recruitment & Retention Lead.

This is a hands‑on leadership position for someone who can take ownership, improve recruitment delivery and help build a stronger people operation across a high‑volume frontline workforce.

The Opportunity

You’ll take responsibility for recruitment, onboarding and retention, while managing and developing an existing recruiter.

The business is looking for someone who can bring structure, improve candidate quality and conversion, strengthen onboarding and have a tangible impact on early‑stage retention.

This isn’t a purely administrative HR or recruitment position. You’ll have genuine ownership and work closely with senior leadership to identify and implement improvements across the people function.

Key Responsibilities

• Lead recruitment delivery across a high-volume frontline workforce.
• Manage, coach and develop an existing recruiter.
• Improve candidate quality, screening and recruitment conversion.
• Introduce greater structure and consistency to onboarding.
• Develop initiatives to improve early‑stage retention.
• Take ownership of the wider recruitment and people operation.
• Work closely with senior leadership on recruitment and people strategy.
• Identify opportunities to improve processes, performance and candidate experience.
• Operate confidently within a fast‑paced, people‑led environment.

The Ideal Candidate

We’re looking for someone with strong high‑volume recruitment, talent acquisition or people operations experience.

Social care or healthcare experience would be highly advantageous, but the business is open to transferable backgrounds where candidates have recruited and retained large frontline or dispersed workforces.

Relevant backgrounds could include:

• Hospitality
• Retail
• Recruitment / Staffing
• Education
• Logistics
• Multi‑site services
• Talent Acquisition
• HR / Recruitment Operations

Most importantly, you’ll need to be someone who can lead rather than simply support recruitment, manage and develop others, work with senior stakeholders and take genuine ownership of improving recruitment and retention.

Requirements

• Proven experience in high-volume recruitment, talent acquisition or people operations.
• Experience managing, mentoring or developing recruitment/people team members.
• Strong understanding of candidate screening, recruitment conversion and onboarding.
• Experience working with frontline, high-volume or dispersed workforces.
• Strong stakeholder management and communication skills.
• Commercial and operational mindset with a focus on measurable improvement.
• Ability to work predominantly from an office, West London.
• Right to work in the UK – sponsorship is not available.

Package

• Performance‑related bonus
• Indicative OTE of £50,000–£60,000
• Senior‑level scope and genuine ownership of the recruitment and people function

Location

West London – predominantly office based with some local/community activity.