Talent Lead, Europe

Milltown Partners Our clients operate at the frontiers of innovation - we advise technology companies driving change, global investors funding the future, the giants of sport and entertainment, and influential individuals on the communications and policy challenges that define their reputations. Our work spans corporate and financial communications, policy and public affairs to engage regulators and policymakers, policy communications and leadership communications. We underpin the full breadth of our capabilities with research-driven insights and campaigns. We're also pioneering AI-enhanced advisory work for both our clients and internal innovation, using technology to unlock insights from data at unprecedented scale and speed. The role This is a hands-on recruiting role, driving recruitment efforts across our European business, based in London and also supporting our growth in Brussels. You'll be responsible for ensuring we hire brilliant talent in real time and getting ahead of future needs, across a growing range of disciplines for our technology-centric client base including corporate communications, policy and public affairs, research, and operational support. You'll report to the Global Head of Talent and manage a Senior Talent Assistant, both of whom sit in the UK, as well as forming strong working relationships across the global People & Talent team. This is a role for someone who wants to be an expert recruiter in a high-performing, scaling, intellectually demanding professional services environment. You're motivated by the opportunity of managing a recruiting engine that drives quality and growth for our European business, able to sit with leaders and advise them on the right direction to take, will draw on your prior experience recruiting in the corporate comms and/or public affairs market in London and are excited to stretch into shaping high quality processes and reporting. Ideally, you’re already using LLMs to enhance and support your work and will bring an experimental mindset to how recruitment-tech tools and automation can be additive. You are excited at the prospect of joining an agency that has placed a huge bet on how AI is going to transform the advisory world of comms, policy and research. What you'll do Recruitment delivery: Oversee end-to-end European hiring, drawing on prior experience to manage a world-class candidate experience and be hands-on in all aspects of delivery. Manage and execute a world-class candidate experience from first contact to closing an offer. Work with European leadership, the Global Head of Talent, and the People team to ensure alignment on recruitment priorities across London and Brussels. Manage, and collaborate with, the Senior Talent Assistant in order to best divide and conquer live briefs; setting the standard of what high quality practical delivery looks like Run a comprehensive kick-off process to align on profile and process for each role, and prepare the interviewers accordingly. Deliver internal European interviewer training. Ensure interview processes are designed to be objective and reduce bias. Sourcing strategy and pipeline development: Take the long-term view to building a sustainable pipeline of brilliant communications and policy talent across Europe Develop a deep understanding of Milltown's work and talent strategy to inform sourcing strategy: where the best talent is, what they are looking for, and how Milltown competes. Deepen your existing network, and maintain strong relationships with candidates, market contacts, and peers across the European communications and policy advisory landscape. Ensure deliberate attention is paid to diversifying our candidate pipeline. Contribute insights on compensation, talent availability, and competitor activity internally to the Global People & Talent function. Insights and tools: Underpin all your work with an insight-led approach, drawing on both evidence and experience. Use data and insight to drive continuous improvement in recruitment (eg. efficacy of process, operational efficiency, internal reporting) Integrate the use of AI tools and workflows to improve the quality and efficiency of Talent team work and outputs Maintain clean and accurate records in Lever (or any future ATS platform) at all times, and coach interviewers to use the tool effectively. Internal collaboration: Build and maintain trusted relationships with leaders across the European business as well as the wider People & Talent team. Be a proactive and collaborative colleague across the People & Talent function to ensure seamless integration between recruitment activity and employee experience Deputise for and collaborate with the Global Head of Talent to continuously spot opportunities for improvement, refinement and creativity across recruitment activity Escalate risks, misalignments, or challenges to colleagues and leadership early and with a proposed solution Spot opportunities to innovate or improve a process, and take ownership of pushing forward progress while drawing on others where needed Manage the Senior Talent Assistant’s work day-to-day, acting as their first port of call for questions, feedback and collaboration Foster a culture within the People & Talent team, as well as across the business where exceptional advice, continuous learning and collaboration are the norm. What we're looking for We're looking for someone who combines recruitment expertise with the energy and vision to contribute to the continued growth and success of the European business. Essential: Minimum eight years' recruitment experience in the communications, PR, or public affairs space (e.g. in-house for a consultancy, or specialist recruitment agency). Strong track record of independently running end-to-end processes in a fast-paced, high-quality environment, including managing multiple live roles. Ideally, demonstrated experience managing relationships with senior candidates. Confident stakeholder manager: able to push back, set expectations, and build credibility quickly with senior people. Strong understanding of the UK and European communications, public relations and talent market, including an existing network. Proficient with LinkedIn Recruiter and an ATS (Lever experience advantageous). Experience using LLMs (Claude experience advantageous) effectively, safely and critically in a work setting. Strong written and verbal communication skills; persuasive external written materials, ability to lead meetings and build external relationships. Intellectual curiosity to develop subject matter expertise in new topics and share that knowledge with colleagues. Collaborative instincts and a genuine commitment to contributing to an inclusive culture. Desirable: Existing network in the Brussels policy and public affairs recruitment market. Experience contributing to workforce or headcount planning conversations with senior leadership. Ready to apply? If this sounds like the right place to progress your career, we'd love to hear from you - and please don’t hesitate if the role or salary expectations are a little different from your expectations.