Job Description

Retail Talent Acquisition Specialist

Department: People

Employment Type: Permanent - Full Time

Location: London

As a Talent Acquisition Specialist for Mountain Warehouse, you will be responsible for identifying, attracting, and securing top retail talent across multiple store locations, ensuring the business is equipped with high-performing teams that deliver exceptional customer experiences.

Partnering closely with Area Managers and other key stakeholders, you will lead end-to-end recruitment activities, driving strategic hiring initiatives through innovative sourcing strategies, proactive talent pipelining, and succession planning support.

With a strong focus on stakeholder management and employer branding, you will create engaging candidate experiences while promoting the business. The role will require you to build strong networks, social sourcing, headhunting, recruitment campaigns, and community engagement initiatives.
You will also play a key role in improving recruitment processes and ensuring all hiring activities align with business objectives and compliance standards. By building trusted relationships with hiring managers and candidates alike, you will contribute to the long-term growth, succession planning, and overall success of the the Talent function and wider business.

Key Responsibilities

• Own end-to-end recruitment for retail roles across stores and regions.
• Work closely with hiring managers, presenting them with high-calibre candidates and guiding them through the recruitment process.
• Build and execute creative multi-channel sourcing strategies (LinkedIn, job boards, local communities, social, events etc).
• Proactively map talent pools and build pipelines for hard-to-fill or high-turnover roles. Understand store-level and regional challenges, aligning hiring strategies with business needs.
• Act as a trusted advisor to Area Managers and retail leadership.
• Conduct regular reviews with retail partners to evaluate talent needs and succession gaps.
• Leverage Retail Recruitment Champions to support local hiring initiatives.
• Organise and support recruitment assessment days for new store openings and volume hiring needs.
• Deliver an exceptional candidate experience.
• Consistently promote the Mountain Warehouse and Animal brands to attract top talent.
• Monitor and strive to improve KPIs (time to hire, quality of hire, candidate satisfaction, diversity metrics).
• Use hiring data to inform decision-making and contribute to operational meetings.
• Champion internal mobility by connecting internal talent with opportunities before sourcing externally.

We would like to meet someone who is

• Experience managing a high-volume portfolio of roles independently.
• Strong background in either in-house or agency recruitment, with exposure to the Retail industry.
• Excellent communication and stakeholder engagement skills across all levels.
• Confident user of ATS platforms and reporting tools to track progress and outcomes (Pinpoint)
• Proactive and organised approach, with the ability to manage competing priorities.
• Awareness of inclusive hiring practices and employment legislation, with a willingness to support our wider Diversity & Inclusion strategy
• Strong negotiation skills
• Regular Head Office visits; ideally once a week
• Flexibility for occasional UK travel

Benefits

• Competitive salary and benefits package
• Hybrid working, 3 days in London based office & 2 working from home
• Holiday allowance
• 50% staff discount & 25% for family and friends
• Pension scheme