Job Description

Senior Early Talent Manager

Here at Pinsent Masons we bring together the best people to get the job done. We’re naturally curious, constantly learning, listening, and growing. We’ll truly value your ideas. You’ll be joining an award-winning, hardworking and commercially minded team, where you’ll have the opportunity to work with leading experts and form meaningful relationships, while making a difference. You’ll get the opportunity to be involved in varied and challenging work. Working in an open and supportive environment, to deliver outstanding results.

Our people are our success, and we work as one team.

We are looking for an accomplished Senior Early Talent Manager to lead and evolve our early talent strategy, overseeing both recruitment and development from attraction through to successful programme completion. Reporting to the Head of Talent Acquisition, this is a high-impact role that combines strategic leadership with hands-on delivery.

We are seeking an accomplished Senior Early Talent Manager to lead the delivery of the early talent agenda across the firm, overseeing both recruitment and development from attraction through to successful programme completion.

This is a high-impact role where you’ll blend hands-on delivery with strategic leadership, helping us attract, develop and retain top-tier talent in a fast-evolving legal landscape. It is a great opportunity to join us at a key moment for both the legal industry and the firm, delivering the capability we need for the future.

Our standard working hours are 9.30am-5.30pm, however, we are happy to consider flexible working requests. We work in an agile way – spending a minimum of three days per week with our colleagues in the office. This role will require national travel to meet operational needs.

What You’ll Be Doing

Attraction & Recruitment

• Deliver a market-leading early talent attraction strategy for trainee and apprentice roles, aligned to the firm’s EVP
• Strengthen and prioritise key university and school relationships, adopting a targeted, insight-led approach to channel investment and engagement
• Develop a clear strategy for third-party partnerships, ensuring measurable return on investment and alignment to diversity and hiring objectives
• Continuously enhance assessment and selection methods to reflect future capability needs
• Ensure a consistent, high-quality recruitment process with an excellent candidate experience
  Act as a subject matter expert on the early talent market

Development & Talent Management

• Shape and evolve early careers programmes to build long-term capability
• Deliver consistent graduate and apprentice programmes across locations
• Partner with the Early Talent Development Manager to ensure a seamless end-to-end experience
• Optimise training provider relationships for quality and value
• Embed strong performance, progression and retention frameworks
• Use data and feedback to continuously improve programme effectiveness

Team Leadership & Culture

• Lead and develop a high-performing Early Talent team aligned to business priorities
• Foster a culture of innovation, collaboration and continuous improvement
• Provide coaching, feedback and development to support team growth
• Promote strong collaboration across Talent, DEI, HR and L&D teams

Stakeholder Management & Collaboration

• Build credible relationships with senior stakeholders and Partners
• Act as a trusted advisor on early talent strategy and market insights
• Drive stakeholder engagement in recruitment and programme delivery
• Collaborate across TA, DEI, Global Mobility and HR Shared Services to ensure seamless delivery

Change Management

• Streamline and automate processes to improve efficiency and scalability
• Optimise recruitment systems, CRM and assessment tools
• Ensure robust governance, compliance and risk management
• Lead continuous improvement and change initiatives aligned to market trends
• Contribute to wider Talent, DEI and firm-wide strategic projects

Data, Insights & Reporting

• Define and track KPIs across the early talent lifecycle
• Use data to drive decisions, identify risks and improve performance
• Deliver clear, insight-led reporting to senior stakeholders
• Benchmark against the external market to maintain competitiveness

What we're looking for

We’re seeking a strategic, commercially aware leader who can balance big-picture thinking with operational excellence.

• Significant experience in early talent recruitment and development, ideally within a law firm or professional services environment
• Strong understanding of the legal early careers landscape, including international considerations
• Proven ability to operate at both strategic and operational levels
• Experience leading and developing high-performing teams
• Excellent stakeholder management skills, with the ability to influence and challenge senior leaders
• A data-driven mindset, with the ability to translate insight into action
• Strong commercial awareness and understanding of how early talent contributes to long-term business performance

You will also bring a collaborative and forward-thinking approach, with a passion for delivering exceptional outcomes and creating meaningful opportunities for future talent.

What happens next?

Once your application has been submitted and reviewed, our Recruitment team will share the outcome with you by email. Due to the high volume of applications we receive, we are only able to provide individual feedback to candidates who progress to interview stage.

We typically hold two interview stages per vacancy providing the opportunity to meet two members of the hiring team at each stage. The first stage is typically conducted virtually and the second stage typically in person at the office in which the role would be based. However, we strive to remain flexible depending on the requirements of the role or the candidate.

Our strength lies in our differences.

We are a top Stonewall employer, a Valuable 500 member, a signatory of the Race at Work Charter and a proud partner of Neurodiversity in Law. We encourage and value different ideas and styles of thinking. It’s with different perspectives that we’ll find solutions to our clients’ most complex challenges. It’s how we’ll deliver outstanding results today, and tomorrow. We want everybody attending an interview to be comfortable and able to fully demonstrate their experience and talents.

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