Talent Associate

Jem HR; Cape Town; Hybrid; ZAR 200 000 - 300 000; Full time

Job summary

A growing recruitment agency in Cape Town is hiring a Talent Associate to help build high-performing teams. This role involves sourcing candidates, managing hiring records, and improving processes with automation. The ideal candidate will have 1-3 years of recruitment experience, excellent communication skills, and a strong curiosity for AI and automation. With a competitive salary and great benefits, this is an opportunity to join a mission-driven company focused on candidate experience.

Benefits

Lunch four times a week

Medical aid contribution

Retirement annuity contribution

22 days of annual leave

Qualifications

• 1-3 years experience in recruitment, HR, or related field.
• Comfortable with high-volume sourcing.
• Strong written and verbal communication skills.

Responsibilities

• Source candidates and build warm pipelines.
• Support interview scheduling and candidate coordination.
• Maintain hiring records and data accuracy.

Skills

Recruitment experience

Research skills

Strong communication

Curiosity about AI

Organizational skills

Tools

ATS

LinkedIn

Notion

Job description

Cape Town–Based | Scale-Up | 12-Month-Contract | People Machine | Hiring Manager: Danielle Lifschitz

We’re hiring a Talent Associate in Cape Town to help build the next generation of Jem.

At Jem, our team is our most important product. Every person we hire shapes our culture, our pace and the impact we have on more than 200,000 frontline workers across South Africa. As Jem enters its next phase of growth, building a high‑performing, principles‑aligned team isn’t just important. It’s mission‑critical.

This role sits at the heart of our growth. You’ll work closely with Dani (People Lead) to find exceptional people, build proactive talent pipelines and lay the foundations of how Jem hires at scale.

2026 will be a major hiring year for Jem, but we don’t hire fast for the sake of it. We hire intentionally, rigorously and with deep care for candidate experience. This role exists to help us raise the bar on who we bring in and how people experience Jem from their very first interaction.

This is a high‑learning, high‑ownership role for someone early in their career who is curious about people, excited by building systems with AI and automation and motivated by building truly great teams.

Your Mission

• Build and maintain always‑on, high‑quality talent pipelines across engineering, product, revenue, and operations.
• Support hiring delivery, improve systems and reduce manual work through automation.

What Success Looks Like

• Always‑on pipelines live across core functions
• Improved time‑to‑hire across priority roles
• Consistent strong candidate experience
• Clean, reliable hiring data and processes
• Automation and AI meaningfully reducing manual hiring work

What You’ll Do

• Proactively source candidates across current and future roles
• Build and manage warm pipelines per function
• Run outreach, talent mapping and market research
• Support interview scheduling and candidate coordination
• Maintain hiring records, data accuracy and process hygiene
• Support onboarding preparation and documentation
• Partner on AI, automation and workflow improvements

You’ll Thrive Here If You

• Are organised, curious and eager to learn
• Enjoy research, outreach and building relationships
• Thrive in fast‑moving, high‑ownership environments
• Care deeply about quality and candidate experience
• Think in systems and enjoy improving how things work.
• You are great judge of character and understand how to place people where they will thrive.

Requirements

• 1 - 3 years’ experience in recruitment, talent sourcing, HR, people ops or a related role (or a strong internship / graduate background with clear interest in hiring)
• Comfortable doing research, outreach and high‑volume sourcing
• Based in Cape Town
• Strong written and verbal communication skills
• Curious about AI, automation and using tools to work smarter
• Tech‑comfortable and quick to learn new tools (ATS, LinkedIn, Notion, etc.)

What You Can Expect from Us

• Hybrid work environment with a 3‑day office policy in our Cape Town office.
• Competitive salary (R20,000 - R25,000 monthly base salary depending on experience and fit)
• Great Benefits (lunch 4 times a week, medical aid contribution, retirement annuity contribution, etc.) & 22 days of annual Leave
• We respond to all applications, even if we have decided not to move forward with your application.

We’re serious about building one of the best places to work in the country. That starts with who we bring into Jem and how people experience us from their very first interaction. This role sits at the heart of that mission. If you want to help build an exceptional team and create a hiring experience people genuinely remember, we’re looking forward to your application.