Talent Acquisition Lead

Cambridge Design Partnership; Cambridge; On-site; GBP 40,000 - 60,000; Full time

Job summary

A leading company in the innovation space seeks a Talent Acquisition Partner who will strategize recruitment efforts, ensuring compliance and effective stakeholder communication. The role includes full-cycle recruitment responsibilities across both permanent and contingent workforces, offering a competitive salary and excellent benefits in a collaborative environment.

Benefits

Flexible working

Discretionary bonus

Learning and development opportunities

12% non-contributory pension

Private healthcare

Electric vehicle lease salary sacrifice scheme

Share incentive plan

33 days holiday inclusive of bank holidays

Qualifications

• Strong demonstrable recruitment experience in professional services or technology.
• Proven experience in contractor/vendor management relevant to UK IR35 regulations.
• Certifications such as AIRS, SHRM-SP, SCP, CIPD are a plus.

Responsibilities

• Partner with Leaders to define headcount plans and identify skill gaps.
• Guide Hiring Managers through the entire hiring process.
• Monitor contractor spend and forecast budgets.

Skills

Excellent presentation skills

Communication skills

Interpersonal skills

Attention to detail

Data-driven mindset

Education

Bachelor’s degree in HR, Business or related discipline

Tools

Eploy

LinkedIn Recruiter

Job description

About The Role

You will partner with leaders across CDP to define and implement our Talent Acquisition strategic direction and development, own full-cycle recruitment and manage our contractor resourcing requirements. You will design and execute proactive sourcing strategies – especially for hard-to-fill and leadership roles – whilst ensuring we maintain compliance, cost efficiency and an outstanding candidate experience across both directly employed (permanent and fixed term) and contingent workforces.

Strategic Collaboration

Job Duties and Responsibilities

• Collaborate with Leaders and Hiring Managers to define headcount plans, identify skill gaps, and determine the mix of employed versus contractor roles.
• Develop annual Talent Acquisition (TA) roadmaps covering campus recruitment, direct sourcing, agency partnerships, and internal mobility.
• Act as a trusted advisor to Leaders on talent and resourcing strategies, compensation benchmarking, and interview best practices.
• As recruitment volumes grow, design and recommend a scalable TA operating model, team headcount plan, and budget, ensuring alignment with organisational goals and growth projections.
  
  

End-to-End Hiring Support

• Guide Hiring Managers through the entire hiring process, from approvals and role profiles to sourcing, screening, interviewing, selection, and offer negotiation.
• Partner with Hiring Managers to establish interview guides, debriefs, and decision-making criteria
• Document processes, playbooks, and regular status updates. Work with the wider People Experience team to ensure cross-team learning and a seamless experience during high peaks or absences.
  
  

Contractor & Vendor Management

• Oversee the full contractor lifecycle, including SOW drafting, vendor/contractor selection, rate negotiation, compliance (UK IR35/US contracting rules), timesheet and invoicing approval, renewals, and offboarding.
• Act as the primary liaison to recruitment agencies/partners, and independent contractors, tracking performance, cost, and utilisation.
• Monitor contractor spend, forecast budgets, and mitigate off-payroll risks.
  
  

Targeted Sourcing & Talent Pipelining

• Execute data-driven sourcing campaigns using platforms like LinkedIn Recruiter and niche forums to build talent pipelines, especially in hard-to-fill areas.
• Build communities of active and passive candidates in the UK and US markets, leveraging market mapping and competitive intelligence.
• Use talent-market insights to refine role requirements, compensation benchmarks, and employer-brand messaging.
  
  

Process Implementation, Analytics & Reporting

• Configure and optimise ATS workflows, interview scheduling tools, and candidate-relationship touchpoints.
• Support the development and maintenance of SLAs and KPIs, reporting monthly to the Leadership Team with key trends, analysis, and recommendations.
• Identify process bottlenecks and introduce continuous improvements like automation or standardised playbooks.
  
  

Employer Brand

• Promote CDP’s brand at virtual/in-person events, university partnerships, and through social channels.
• Manage and optimise the Careers website to ensure it effectively attracts and engages potential candidates.
  
  

About You

Skills and Attributes

• Creating and improving effective business processes.
• Excellent presentation, communication, and interpersonal skills.
• Attention to detail.
• Confident working in a fast-paced environment.
• Self-starter, ability to work autonomously and drive improvement initiatives forward across multiple time zones.
• Knowledge of MS Tools, and other creative packages.
  
  

Experience and Education

• Bachelor’s degree in HR, Business or related discipline (or equivalent experience)
• Strong demonstrable recruitment experience, ideally in high-growth professional services, engineering or technology environments.
• Proven experience in contractor/vendor management, ideally with hands-on knowledge of UK IR35 regulations and US contracting frameworks.
• Demonstrable success in targeted sourcing for niche technical and leadership roles across UK and US.
• Proficiency with ATS and sourcing tools i.e. Eploy, LinkedIn Recruiter
• Data-driven mindset, experienced in defining and reporting recruitment metrics
• Certifications such as AIRS, SHRM-SP, SCP, CIPD or LinkedIn Certified Professional – Recruiter are a plus.
  
  

About Us

Cambridge Design Partnership (CDP) is an end-to-end innovation partner, propelling global brands and ambitious start-ups to success. We build breakthrough products and services – from insight to ideas, prototypes to production – bringing innovation to life. Our teams are multi-disciplinary, uniting scientific rigor, design ingenuity, and engineering excellence for consumer and healthcare clients. People-centred, deeply collaborative, and – above all – expert, we’re uniquely positioned to shape the future for consumers, patients, and industry. Even our ownership model is innovative: We’re 100% owned by our employees, ensuring an open culture and a total commitment to our projects’ success. As part of our benefits package we offer:

• flexible working (ideally a minimum of 3 days per week on-site)
• a discretionary bonus
• excellent learning and development opportunities
• a 12% non-contributory pension
• private healthcare
• electric vehicle lease salary sacrifice scheme
• share incentive plan
• 33 days holiday inclusive of bank holidays