Talent Acquisition Partner

About the Role

Tenure -  4 month contractual role

Introduction

Oxford University Press is looking for a Talent Acquisition Partner to act as a trusted advisor to hiring managers and business leaders, helping to shape workforce decisions through market insight, recruitment expertise, and a deep understanding of the organisations talent needs. This is an exciting opportunity for an experienced recruitment professional who enjoys influencing stakeholders, building talent strategies, and delivering exceptional candidate experiences.

As part of the Group HR function, you will play a critical role in attracting and securing high-quality talent that supports OUPs mission of advancing knowledge and learning. You will build strong partnerships across the business, proactively develop talent pipelines, and create innovative attraction strategies that support both immediate and long-term hiring requirements.

This role provides broad exposure across all aspects of talent acquisition, including sourcing strategy, stakeholder partnering, recruitment operations, employer branding, diversity and inclusion, recruitment process improvement, and market intelligence. It offers the opportunity to make a meaningful impact on organisational growth while working in a collaborative and globally connected HR environment.

Opportunity

As a Talent Acquisition Partner, you will be responsible for managing the full recruitment lifecycle while partnering closely with hiring managers, HR colleagues, suppliers, and candidates to deliver a high-quality recruitment experience.

Key responsibilities include:

• Partnering with hiring managers and HR business partners to source and attract outstanding talent in line with organisational design and reward principles.
• Developing recruitment plans for hiring managers using data, market intelligence, sourcing insights, and cost considerations to support informed hiring decisions.
• Building long-term relationships with business stakeholders to understand immediate and future workforce requirements.
• Creating and implementing attraction strategies and talent pipelines to support business objectives and workforce planning.
• Proactively seeking market intelligence and candidate insights to build high-quality talent pools.
• Engaging with potential candidates through direct sourcing, networking, recruitment events, social media platforms, and talent communities.
• Working towards direct hiring objectives and reducing dependency on external agencies wherever appropriate.
• Coaching hiring managers through every stage of the end-to-end recruitment process.
• Advising managers on effective assessment and selection methods to identify the best candidates.
• Championing diversity and inclusion throughout the recruitment process and supporting diverse shortlists.
• Promoting awareness of unconscious bias and inclusive hiring practices among hiring managers.
• Keeping up to date with recruitment legislation and communicating relevant updates to hiring managers and HR stakeholders.
• Delivering coaching sessions, briefings, and guidance on recruitment policies, legal requirements, and best practices.
• Managing recruitment operations to ensure candidates are assessed, selected, offered, vetted, and onboarded in accordance with OUP policies and procedures.
• Managing preferred supplier relationships and ensuring agencies remain compliant, effective, and aligned with OUPs values and requirements.
• Collaborating with HR Operations and wider HR teams to ensure recruitment processes and systems are efficient and effective.
• Driving continuous improvement within recruitment processes through training, feedback, process enhancement, and knowledge sharing initiatives.
• Delivering recruitment system and process training to hiring managers and stakeholders.
• Ensuring Information Security and Data Privacy requirements are maintained throughout the recruitment lifecycle.
• Implementing appropriate controls to mitigate data privacy risks and ensure responsible handling of candidate information.
• Working cross-functionally with colleagues across HR services, operations, projects, and change initiatives to support business objectives and organisational alignment.
• Supporting additional projects and duties that contribute to OUPs wider mission and operational goals.

Impact

This role is central to OUPs ability to attract, engage, and retain outstanding talent. By providing expert recruitment guidance, building strong talent pipelines, supporting inclusive hiring practices, and delivering an excellent candidate experience, you will directly contribute to the organisations success and future growth. Your work will strengthen workforce capability, support business performance, and enhance OUPs reputation as an employer of choice.

About You

Essential Criteria

• Previous agency and/or in-house recruitment experience.
• Experience managing high-volume end-to-end recruitment processes.
• Proven ability to directly source candidates through a variety of channels.
• Strong stakeholder management and influencing skills.
• Experience using multiple sourcing, screening, and assessment tools.
• Strong organisational skills with the ability to prioritise effectively and manage a varied workload.
• Experience working collaboratively within team environments.
• Good working knowledge of Microsoft Office applications.
• Ability to analyse market information and use data to inform recruitment decisions.
• Excellent communication, relationship-building, and consulting skills.
• Commitment to delivering an outstanding candidate experience.
• Strong understanding of diversity and inclusion principles within hiring practices.

Desirable Criteria

• Industry-recognised recruitment qualification.
• MBA or PGDM in Human Resources.
• Advanced social media recruiting skills.
• Experience leading selection interviews.
• Experience designing and delivering recruitment training programmes.
• Knowledge of recruitment legislation and compliance requirements.

Queries

Please contact shariq.anwar@oup.com with any queries relating to this role. To ensure a smooth application process, please submit your CV through this link than via email.

We are committed to supporting diversity in our workforce, and ensuring an inclusive environment where all individuals can thrive. We seek to employ a workforce representative of the markets that we serve and encourage applications from all.