Senior Manager - Recruitment & Onboarding

We’re a national law firm with a local reach. Our legal experts are here for you. Whether it’s personal or business, we understand that everyone’s situation is different. But we’re more than just a law firm – we’re a team of people working together to help individuals and businesses navigate life’s ups and downs. Working here you’ll feel a part of our friendly and inclusive environment.

We’ll value you for who you are and what you bring. We support each other and push boundaries to achieve incredible things and make a real difference to our clients and communities.

We’re always looking to support our colleagues to work in a way that works best for them and everyone else, including our clients, the business and the regulators. Please speak to a member of our Recruitment and Onboarding team for more information.

Are you an influential and solution-focused leader with deep experience in the legal or professional services sector and a proven track record of leading strategic hiring solutions? We’re looking for someone who has successfully managed a high-performing recruitment function, including an RPO model. You should thrive on stakeholder influence, understand the importance of working effectively beyond HR, and bring data-driven thinking to every decision.

You must also be in tune with the market to anticipate and respond to changing business needs.

This is a critical leadership role – the most senior recruitment specialist in our team – responsible for shaping and delivering inclusive, efficient, and future-focused recruitment and onboarding strategies.

• Leading a team of recruitment experts across the full recruitment lifecycle – from partner-level hiring to administrative support – and managing an extended RPO team to deliver a robust sourcing model.
• Partnering with HR Operations and HRBPs to ensure recruitment processes, role profiles, and interview planning are timely, accurate, and aligned.
• Owning the onboarding experience for all new colleagues, ensuring it is seamless, inclusive, and creates moments that matter from day one.
• Designing and delivering recruitment strategies that attract top talent, maximize profitability, and flex with business needs.
• Committing to continuous improvement and service excellence.
• Managing and developing strong relationships with third-party recruitment agencies and suppliers, ensuring contract adherence, value for money, and alignment with our values and D&I strategy.
• Championing technology and data to create efficiencies, improve hiring outcomes, and enhance the candidate journey.
• Driving diversity and inclusion through innovative sourcing and onboarding practices.
• Building and influencing relationships across the business – beyond HR – with the ability to negotiate and influence at all levels.
• Collaborating with internal communications and engagement teams to strengthen our employer brand and candidate value proposition.
• Ensuring strong future talent pipelines aligned with strategic workforce plans and D&I goals.
• Effectively leading a dynamic function, enabling the team to manage multiple priorities.
• Acting as the escalation point for all recruitment-related issues, providing expert guidance and resolution across the function.

• Proven experience managing an RPO solution and leading high-performing recruitment teams.
• Strong stakeholder management, negotiation, and influencing skills.
• A commercial mindset with deep knowledge of market trends and recruitment legislation.
• Experience in the legal sector is essential.
• A passion for coaching, mentoring, and developing others.
• Resilience, creativity, and the ability to thrive in a changing environment.
• A commitment to continuous improvement and service excellence.

You’ll be based in or near Manchester, Sheffield, Leeds, or Birmingham, with the flexibility to travel as needed.

• 25 days holidays as standard plus bank holidays - You can ‘buy’ up to 35hrs of extra holiday too.
• Generous and flexible pension schemes.
• Volunteering days – Two days of volunteering every year for a cause of your choice (fully paid)
• Westfield Health…