Recruitment Manager

At Gist, we're proud to be part of the M&S Group, the logistics engine behind M&S Food.

From our distribution centres to our transport operations and support functions, we connect people, technology and expertise to ensure the right products reach the right stores at the right time.

As we continue to invest in our people, technology and network, there's never been a more exciting time to join Gist and help shape the future of food logistics.

We have an exciting opportunity for an experienced Recruitment Manager to join Gist on a 12-month fixed term contract, covering maternity leave.

Leading our operational recruitment team, you'll take ownership of recruitment delivery across our high-volume Driver and Warehouse populations throughout the UK, ensuring our sites have the people they need to keep our network moving.

This is a busy, varied role where you'll lead and develop a team of recruitment professionals, partner closely with operational and People teams across our network, and use recruitment data and market insight to identify challenges, shape attraction activity and keep hiring plans on track.

While volume recruitment will be your primary focus, you'll also personally manage a selection of graded and specialist vacancies. We're therefore looking for someone who is equally comfortable leading a recruitment team, managing operational recruitment delivery and getting hands‑on with recruitment themselves.

If you're an experienced recruitment leader who enjoys working at pace, solving recruitment challenges and seeing the tangible impact your team makes on an operation, we'd love to hear from you.

Contract:

12-month Fixed Term Contract – Maternity Cover
Salary:
Up to £60,000 (DOE)

Hours:

37.5 hours per week
Working pattern:
Monday to Friday

Location:

Basingstoke, RG24 8UB
(Hybrid)

As our Recruitment Manager, you'll be responsible for ensuring we have a responsive, commercially focused recruitment service supporting our operational network.

You'll:

• Lead, coach and develop a team of recruitment professionals responsible predominantly for high-volume Driver and Warehouse recruitment across our UK network
• Take ownership of recruitment delivery against operational headcount requirements, ensuring priorities, risks and recruitment gaps are understood and acted upon
• Partner closely with operational leaders and People teams to understand current and upcoming recruitment requirements and agree realistic recruitment plans
• Lead recruitment activity during periods of peak demand, ensuring attraction, assessment and onboarding activity is coordinated effectively
• Use recruitment data and MI to track performance, identify trends and provide clear updates on vacancies, headcount gaps, recruitment activity and overall delivery
• Identify recruitment pinch points and work with the team and operational stakeholders to put practical solutions in place
• Develop and continually review attraction strategies across key routes to market, ensuring we are reaching the right candidates in the right locations
• Oversee key recruitment channels and campaigns, including job boards, direct sourcing and targeted attraction activity
• Champion direct sourcing and support the team to proactively build candidate pipelines alongside inbound attraction
• Work collaboratively with our operational sites to continually improve the candidate journey, from application and screening through to assessment, offer and onboarding
• Build strong relationships with hiring managers and operational stakeholders, providing recruitment expertise, constructive challenge and market insight
• Personally manage a portfolio of graded and specialist vacancies alongside the volume recruitment remit
• Support the ongoing development and effective…