Talent Acquisition Lead - Graduate Recruitment

INSTANT IMPACT; Greater London; Hybrid; GBP 45,000 - 55,000; Full time

Job summary

A dynamic recruitment firm is seeking a Talent Acquisition Lead for Graduate Recruitment to oversee the graduate recruitment strategy and execution. This hybrid role involves robust stakeholder management and delivering high-quality recruitment processes. The ideal candidate will have proven experience in graduate recruitment and a passion for innovative talent acquisition practices. Offers a competitive salary of £45,000 - £55,000 and generous benefits including remote work options and personal development funding.

Benefits

Work from anywhere for up to 4 weeks each year

£200 home office setup allowance

£500 annual personal development allowance

25 days holiday plus additional days

Transparent progression structure

Socials and team lunches

Self-development time

Qualifications

• Proven experience delivering graduate or early careers recruitment at scale.
• Exceptional stakeholder management and relationship-building.
• Confidence using data to tell a clear story and drive continuous improvement.

Responsibilities

• Lead delivery for graduate recruitment partnership.
• Define and execute TA strategy for graduate recruitment.
• Own screening, online testing, and assessment centres.

Skills

Graduate recruitment experience

Attraction campaigns

Stakeholder management

Data analysis

Planning and prioritisation

Curiosity for new technology

Job description

Talent Acquisition Lead - Graduate Recruitment

Department: Delivery Team (Talent Acquisition)

Employment Type: Full Time

Location: London (Hybrid)

Compensation: £45,000 - £55,000 / year

Description

\Talent Acquisition Lead — Graduate Recruitment Partnership

• Salary: up to £55k basic, 10% bonus, plus share options
• Hybrid role: Up to 3 days a week onsite in London

Instant Impact helps organisations turn talent into a competitive advantage. We do this through three core solutions:

• Impact Talent: our embedded recruitment solution that blends expert in‑house with a modular, AI‑powered tech stack to build high‑performing TA functions and deliver consistent hiring outcomes.
• Impact X: our Executive Search solution, designed to connect organisations with exceptional senior leaders who drive transformation and growth.
• Impact Transformation: our embedded AI transformation solution. We place specialists inside our clients’ businesses to design the strategy, implement the right tools, upskill teams, and unlock material productivity gains, leaving lasting capability, not just a slide deck.

How We Work

At Instant Impact, our approach is shaped by three core ways of working:

• Growth Mindset: We believe in continuous improvement, for ourselves, our teams, and our clients. Every challenge is a chance to learn, innovate, and raise the bar.
• Accountability: We own our commitments. From hitting SLAs to developing our people, we do what we say we'll do and we measure what matters.
• Pace & Collaboration: Speed wins, but not at the expense of quality. We work closely together across teams, with clients, and with candidates to move faster and smarter.

What does it mean to be a Talent Acquisition Lead?

You’ll lead delivery for a flagship graduate recruitment partnership, owning strategy and end‑to‑end execution across attraction, selection, and offer management. You’ll optimise each stage of the early careers funnel, meet SLAs, and run improvement projects that elevate candidate and stakeholder experience through the peak grad cycle.

Key Responsibilities

• Service delivery: Define and execute the TA strategy for graduate recruitment, building fast, fair, and engaging processes.
• Attraction & branding: Design campus and digital attraction plans, partner on careers fairs and society events, and create content for channels such as TikTok to reach diverse and non‑traditional research candidates.
• Assessment & selection: Own screening, online testing, video interviews, assessment centres, and hiring manager calibration.
• DEI & innovation: Lead DEI initiatives and continuous improvement, maintaining award‑winning standards and pushing best practice across tooling and candidate experience.
• Data & optimisation: Use dashboards to track funnel health, conversion, time to hire, DEI outcomes, and candidate experience. Run experiments to improve throughput and quality.
• Partnership management: Provide a world‑class experience to hiring managers and senior stakeholders, influencing with insights.

Skills, Knowledge and Expertise

• Proven experience delivering graduate or early careers recruitment at scale
• Track record running attraction campaigns and assessment centres through cyclical peak periods with strong conversion.
• Exceptional stakeholder management and relationship‑building, acting as a calm, safe pair of hands.
• End‑to‑end recruitment excellence with a focus on speed, quality, fairness, and a world‑class candidate experience.
• Outstanding planning and prioritisation with impeccable follow‑through during peaks and troughs.
• Curiosity for new technology and innovative assessment and attraction methods, including AI‑enabled tooling.
• Confidence using data to tell a clear story and drive continuous improvement.
• Nice to have: university partnerships experience, employer brand or campus marketing, and familiarity with psychometrics.

Benefits

• Work from Anywhere: Work from anywhere in the world for up to 4 weeks each year.
• Home Office Boost: £200 allowance to set up your home office.
• Invest in You: £500 annual allowance dedicated to your personal development and growth.
• Generous Time Off: 25 days holiday, plus Bank Holidays, an Employee Enrichment Day, and a Recharge Day each year.
• Clear Career Path: Transparent progression structure.
• Flexible Working: Balance client‑site collaboration with focused remote work.
• Team Fun: Incentives like weekend getaways, socials, and team lunches.
• Self‑Development Time: 10% of your working week for developing yourself, your client, and Instant Impact.