Job Description

Role: Talent Acquisition Administrator

Grade and Salary: Grade 4 (£24,546 - £26,707)

FTE and working pattern: Full-time (35hrs per week), Fixed term for 6 months

Holiday Entitlement: 28 days annual leave plus 9 buildings closed days (and Christmas Eve when it falls on a weekday)

Fantastic opportunity to join an internal recruitment team for at least 6 months. You will be the forefront of our casual recruitment processes and provide administrative support to the Talent Acquisition Consultants.

Purpose of Role

As part of the Talent Acquisition team, the role provides administrative support for both the standard and casual recruitment processes. The role holder will report into our Talent Acquisition partner. This is a great opportunity for an individual looking to develop their HR and recruitment experience in a supportive team.

The Talent Acquisition Administrator will be the first point of contact for the University's casual recruitment activity, providing an efficient, professional, and customer-focused service to hiring managers and candidates. The role will be responsible for coordinating the end-to-end recruitment process for casual, temporary, and ad-hoc vacancies, ensuring an excellent candidate experience while maintaining compliance with university policies, employment legislation, and right-to-work requirements.

This role plays a key part in supporting the University's workforce needs by building strong relationships with stakeholders, managing recruitment administration, and ensuring vacancies are filled in a timely and effective manner.

It would be ideal for an organised and proactive individual who enjoys working in a fast-paced environment and is passionate about delivering an excellent recruitment experience for both candidates and hiring managers.

About our Team

The Human Resources Directorate supports Heriot-Watt University's global community across our campuses in Edinburgh, Dubai and Malaysia. Our team delivers a wide range of people-focused services including HR Operations, Talent Acquisition, Learning and Organisational Development, Reward and Wellbeing, Employee Relations and Strategic Workforce Planning.

The Talent Acquisition team plays a key role in attracting, engaging and appointing outstanding talent to support the University's strategic ambitions. Working in partnership with hiring managers and colleagues across the University, the team delivers professional, inclusive and efficient recruitment services that enable a positive experience for candidates and stakeholders alike.

Summary of Key Duties and Responsibilities

Casual Worker and Temporary Recruitment Administration

• Provide full administrative support for the engagement of casual workers and temporary appointments end to end.
• Process casual worker requests and create new or additional assignments within university systems.
• Maintain accurate casual and assignment records, ensuring data quality and compliance with payroll requirements.
• Complete right to work checks in line with UKVI regulations
• Update and validate personal, payroll and assignment information
• Monitor assignment and visa expiry dates and provide timely reminders to relevant stakeholders.
• Liaise with hiring managers to confirm the completion of pre-employment requirements and readiness to commence work.
• Support the administration of timesheets and payment information where required, working collaboratively with Payroll colleagues.
• Produce regular reports to support workforce planning, compliance monitoring and operational activity.

Recruitment Administration and Candidate Management

• Support the wider Talent Acquisition team with administrative tasks across the recruitment lifecycle
• Support the delivery of a high-quality candidate experience by responding promptly and professionally to recruitment enquiries when required
• Supporting TopDesk Queue Management for general queries.
• Assist the Talent Acquisition team in monitoring diversity and inclusion initiatives, including guaranteed interview schemes and positive action commitments where applicable.

Operational Excellence

• Contribute to continuous improvement initiatives by identifying opportunities to enhance recruitment processes, systems and candidate experience.
• Work collaboratively with colleagues across Human Resources to ensure a consistent and customer-focused approach to service delivery.
• Maintain a strong understanding of relevant employment legislation, recruitment best practice and University policies.

Education, Qualifications & Experience

Essential Criteria

• Experience of providing high-quality administrative support within a busy customer-focused environment.
• Strong organisational skills with the ability to prioritise workloads and manage competing deadlines.
• Excellent attention to detail and a commitment to maintaining accurate records.
• Experience of using HR, recruitment or other business systems and Microsoft Office applications.
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills with the ability to build positive working relationships with a range of stakeholders.
• Understanding of GDPR principles and the importance of handling confidential information appropriately.
• Ability to work proactively, collaboratively and flexibly within a fast-paced environment.

Desirable Criteria

• Experience of working within recruitment, talent acquisition, human resources or higher education environments.
• Knowledge of UKVI processes and immigration-related recruitment requirements.
• Demonstrable commitment to delivering excellent customer and candidate experience.
• Understanding of right to work requirements and recruitment compliance processes.

If you don’t meet all the requirements, but think you have other applicable experience that would make you a good fit for the role, we would still love to hear from you.

How to Apply

Applications can be submitted up to midnight (UK time) on Sunday 20th of September 2026.

Please submit your CV via the Heriot-Watt on-line recruitment system.

Heriot-Watt University is committed to securing equality of opportunity in employment and to the creation of an environment in which individuals are selected, trained, promoted, appraised, and otherwise treated on the sole basis of their relevant merits and abilities. Equality and diversity are all about maximising potential and creating a culture of inclusion for all.

Heriot-Watt University values diversity across our university community and welcomes applications from all sectors of society, particularly from underrepresented groups. For more information, please see our website https://www.hw.ac.uk/uk/services/equality-diversity.htm and also our award-winning work in Disability Inclusive Science Careers https://disc.hw.ac.uk/ .

Use our total rewards calculator: https://www.hw.ac.uk/about/work/total-rewards-calculator.htm to see the value of benefits provided by Heriot-Watt University.

About Heriot-Watt University

At Heriot-Watt we are passionate about our values and look to them to connect our people globally and to help us collaborate and celebrate our success through working together. Our research programmes can deliver real world impact which is achieved through the diversity of our international community and the recognition of creative talent that connects our global team.

Our flourishing community will give you the freedom to challenge and to bring your enterprising mind and to help our partners with solutions that can be applied now and in the future. Join us and Heriot Watt will provide you with a platform to thrive and work in a way that also helps you live your life in balance with well-being and inclusiveness at the heart of our global community.