Talent Acquisition Lead

Collinson is the global, privately-owned company dedicated to helping the world to travel with ease and confidence. The group offers a unique blend of industry and sector specialists who together provide market-leading airport experiences, loyalty and customer engagement, and insurance solutions for over 400 million consumers.

Collinson is the operator of Priority Pass, the world's original and leading airport experiences programme. Travellers can access a network of 1,500+ lounges and travel experiences, including dining, retail, sleep and spa, in over 650 airports in 148 countries, helping to elevate the journey into something special. We work with the world's leading payment networks, over 1,400 banks, 90 airlines and 20 hotel groups worldwide.

We have been bringing innovation to the market since inception – from launching the first independent global VIP lounge access Programme, Priority Pass to being the first to sell direct travel insurance in the UK through Columbus Direct and creating the first loyalty agency of its kind in the travel sector with ICLP. Today we still invest heavily in innovation to ensure that we continue to deliver superior customer experiences.

Key clients include Mastercard, American Express, Cathay Pacific, British Airways, LATAM, Flying Blue, Accor, EasyJet, HSBC, Chase, HDFC.

Our mission is focused on doing good beyond profit, which for us means we seek out opportunities for our people to share in our success and that we give back to the communities and people within which we work.

Never short of ambition, the success of our business is delivered through the diverse and talented team of over 2,200 global colleagues.

Purpose of the job

The Talent Acquisition Lead plays a pivotal role in executing Collinson's global talent acquisition strategy, design, process and experience. This role is focused on designing forward-thinking, data-informed hiring practices that attract, engage, and secure top talent aligned and in partnership with our recruitment team. With an emphasis on proactive sourcing, focus on process excellence, strategic workforce planning, and exceptional candidate experience, the Talent Acquisition Lead partners closely with business leaders and partners to deliver scalable and inclusive hiring solutions that meet current and future workforce needs.

By embedding talent intelligence, elevating the employer brand, and empowering hiring managers, this role ensures the delivery of high-quality hires that drive Collinson's continued growth and innovation across global markets.

Key Responsibilities

Talent Strategy & Planning

• Partner with business leaders and HRBPs to understand workforce plans and translate them into talent acquisition priorities.

• Lead the development of agile, future-focused sourcing strategies for critical roles and capabilities.

• Utilise talent management strategies and data to attract & support retention

• Build and manage robust talent pools and pipelines for current and future hiring needs.

• Champion early careers programs, internships, and graduate recruitment initiatives.

• Introduce and manage psychometric assessments as part of the selection and development processes.

Candidate Experience

• Champion an inclusive, transparent, and engaging candidate experience that reflects Collinson's values and culture.

• Own and continuously improve the end-to-end candidate journey, ensuring a seamless, engaging, and inclusive process.

• Champion structured interviewing and fair selection practices that minimize bias and maximize quality of hire.

• Identify and remove friction points across the recruitment funnel, from application to offer

Process Innovation & Continuous Improvement

• Lead innovation and optimisation of talent acquisition and talent management processes globally.

• Identify and resolve process bottlenecks to improve speed, efficiency, and quality of hire.

• Ensure processes are equitable, inclusive, and aligned with best practices.

• Optimise use of ATS, sourcing tools and analytics to streamline hiring operations

Pipeline Development

• Build and maintain robust talent pipelines through proactive sourcing, networking, referrals, and community engagement.

• Leverage tools like LinkedIn Recruiter and CRM platforms to uncover and engage passive talent.

• Segment talent pools for priority and hard-to-fill roles, focusing on future talent readiness.

Operations & Administration

• Oversee day-to-day talent operations and administrative functions across the talent acquisition lifecycle.

• Ensure all documentation, systems, and candidate records are accurate and compliant.

• Ensure all recruitment practices comply with legal, regulatory, and internal policy requirements.

Onboarding & Offboarding

• Own and enhance the onboarding and offboarding experience, ensuring smooth transitions and early engagement for new hires.

• Develop feedback loops to continuously improve the onboarding and offboarding journey.

• Partner with key stakeholders to ensure seamless onboarding and offboarding experiences.

Data, Reporting & Insights

• Track, analyse, and report on talent-related KPIs and metrics (e.g. time to hire, retention, offer acceptance rate).

• Use data and trend analysis to drive evidence-based decisions and strategic improvements.

• Present insights and recommendations to senior stakeholders regularly.

Training

• Collaborate with the Talent Development team and other stakeholders in organising, developing and facilitating training in relation to the full talent life cycle for Hiring Managers

• Report on Hiring Manager training KPIs and analyse trends to upskill, develop and support Hiring Mangers deliver the best candidate experience.

Experience & Education

• Proven experience in talent acquisition with a track record of hiring across various functions and levels.

• Experience building and scaling recruitment processes in high-growth or complex environments.

• Previous experience mentoring or partnering with recruiters is preferred.

• Workday HRIS experience preferrable

• Familiarity with tools like LinkedIn Recruiter or similar platform preferrable

Collinson is an equal opportunity employer and welcomes differences in all their forms including: colour, race, ethnicity, gender identity, sexual orientation, neurodivergence, family status, age, individuals with disabilities and people from all backgrounds, cultures and experiences as we strongly believe this contributes to our on-going success.

We are focused on continually evolving our purpose driven, high performing culture, providing an environment where our people have the opportunity to achieve their full potential and do interesting and meaningful work.

Our company values are: Take Action, Do the right thing, One team and Be insight led. These help guide everything we do internally in terms of how we think, act and interact, right through to how we deliver value to our customers and clients.

In your application, please feel free to note which pronouns you use (For example - she/her/hers, he/him/his, they/them/theirs, etc).

If you need any extra support throughout the interview process, then please email us