Talent Lead; Maternity Cover

Position: Talent Lead (Maternity Cover)
Dnata is one of the world’s largest air and travel services providers. We provide a comprehensive range of inflight catering, onboard retail, supply chain and logistics services at all major and regional airports across the UK. Dnata Catering provide expertly crafted inflight catering services, delivering fresh and high-quality meals at major and regional airports across the UK. As the leading Halal caterer in the UK, we also provide tailored experiences to meet each customer’s unique needs.

We’re a leader in VIP catering, offering bespoke inflight to private and charter clients.
We are looking for a Talent Lead (Maternity Cover) to lead recruitment activity across dnata Catering UK, ensuring we attract, recruit, and retain the talent needed to support operational excellence and future business growth.
This role combines strategic talent management with hands-on recruitment leadership. You will be responsible for delivering salaried and permanent recruitment across Head Office and specialist functions, while leading the Hourly Recruitment Team to ensure frontline and operational recruitment needs are met across the business.
Working closely with operational leaders, hiring managers, HR colleagues, and external recruitment partners, you will develop talent pipelines, support workforce planning and succession initiatives, strengthen our employer brand, and ensure recruitment processes are efficient, compliant, and aligned to business priorities.
This is a maternity cover position and represents an excellent opportunity for an experienced recruitment or talent professional to make a significant impact across a dynamic, fast-paced national business.

Key Responsibilities
Recruitment Leadership
 
* Lead the end-to-end recruitment process for salaried, permanent, and specialist vacancies across Head Office and support functions.
 
* Manage, coach, and develop the Hourly Recruitment Team, ensuring operational recruitment requirements are delivered effectively across all UK locations.
 
* Partner with hiring managers to define recruitment strategies, role requirements, and hiring plans.
 
* Ensure an excellent candidate experience throughout the recruitment lifecycle.
 
* Support managers in making consistent and effective hiring decisions.
Agency & Supplier Management
 
* Manage relationships with recruitment agencies and external suppliers.
 
* Monitor supplier performance, recruitment costs, service levels, and candidate quality.
 
* Identify opportunities to increase direct hiring and reduce agency spend.
 
* Manage relationships and spend with advertising providers.
Talent Management Workforce & Hiring Planning
 
* Partner with business leaders to identify current and future workforce requirements.
 
* Develop and maintain talent pipelines for critical and hard-to-fill roles.
 
* Support succession planning and internal mobility initiatives across the business.
 
* Identify opportunities to attract, develop, and retain key talent.
 
* Contribute to workforce planning activities that support business growth and operational performance.
Recruitment Technology & Reporting
 
* Oversee the effective use of recruitment systems, including the ATS platform.
 
* Monitor recruitment metrics, including time-to-hire, quality-of-hire, agency spend, and vacancy fulfilment.
 
* Produce recruitment and talent insights to support business decision-making.
 
* Drive continuous improvement through effective use of recruitment data and technology.
Stakeholder Partnership & Employer Branding
 
* Act as a trusted advisor to operational leaders, hiring managers, and HR colleagues on recruitment and talent matters.
 
* Promote dnata Catering UK as an employer of choice through proactive attraction strategies and talent initiatives.
 
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