Scotty's - Talent Acquisition & Onboarding Manager

Remote-first. Applicants must live within two hours’ travel of Cambridge city centre.
Salary: £32,000 to £36,000 (Depending on Experience)
Type: Full-time, permanent.
Team: Operations
Directly Supported By: Head of People

The Charity and Our Vision

For more than 15 years, Scotty’s Little Soldiers has supported children and young people bereaved of a parent who served in the British Armed Forces. We are now on an exciting journey to expand our support to anyone affected by a military-connected bereavement, with the ultimate goal of empowering a community of more than 25,000 bereaved individuals and their families by 2035.

Nikki Scott founded the charity in 2010 following the death of her husband, Corporal Lee Scott. Today, Scotty’s provides a unique combination of emotional, practical and educational support to the bereaved military community. Lived experience remains central to our work: we listen continually to families so that we can understand their needs and strengthen our services.

Our vibrant, non-traditional culture puts the needs of the bereaved military community at the centre of everything we do. We champion innovative approaches and strive to recognise the strength of community, resilience, and connection.

Role Mission

This is a rare opportunity to help shape the next chapter of Scotty’s growth. Over the next three years, we aim to double the size of our team, and you will play a pivotal role in making that ambition a reality. You will lead recruitment and onboarding from first conversation to the end of probation, attracting brilliant people and creating an exceptional, consistent experience for candidates, new starters and hiring leads.

As Scotty’s grows, you will bring dedicated focus, care and consistency to a crucial part of our people experience. Building on strong foundations, you will create greater capacity for proactive recruitment and talent attraction while ensuring that our processes reflect who we are: values-led, people-centred and committed to building a team that can make the greatest possible difference to the bereaved military community.

What you’ll be responsible for:

This is a full-time, hands-on role with real ownership.

Around two-thirds of your time will focus on delivering an excellent end-to-end recruitment and onboarding service. The remaining third will be protected for proactive talent planning, building future pipelines and improving the systems and processes that help Scotty’s recruit well as we grow.

Shape and improve how we recruit:

Own and develop Scotty’s recruitment and onboarding approach, turning future plans into clear priorities, practical processes and measurable improvements.
Work ahead of demand by partnering with direct support leads to anticipate future recruitment needs, challenge assumptions, shape role requirements and agree effective recruitment plans.
Build and maintain talent pipelines before vacancies arise, proactively identifying, sourcing and engaging people who may not be actively applying, and developing relationships with relevant networks and communities.
Use recruitment data, candidate feedback and hiring-manager insight to identify what is working, address recurring issues and improve pace, quality and candidate experience.
Develop scalable recruitment packs, onboarding resources, templates and workflows that make it easier for hiring leads to recruit consistently and well.
Test new sourcing channels and approaches, evaluating their impact and recommending where Scotty’s should invest its time and resources.

Deliver excellent recruitment and onboarding:

Lead recruitment campaigns from brief to appointment, selecting the right sourcing channels for each role, creating engaging materials and adapting plans in response to evidence and results.
Promote vacancies across Scotty’s website, social media, job boards, specialist networks and other relevant channels, working with the Outreach Squad where needed.
Use sound judgement to assess candidates, leading shortlisting, making evidence-based recommendations and constructively influencing hiring decisions with relevant leads.
Design and deliver fair, effective interview and assessment stages, independently or alongside the appropriate team member.
Manage candidate communications, feedback, references, DBS checks, contracts, new-starter forms and associated administration, ensuring a professional and timely experience.
Liaise with Finance, IT, benefits providers and internal system owners so new starters are set up accurately and on time.
Design and deliver a standout onboarding experience that helps new team members feel welcomed, confident and fully up to speed in weeks rather than months.
Prepare new-starter materials, team kit and day-one arrangements, including in-person onboarding activity where appropriate.
Maintain accurate personnel records and ensure recruitment, onboarding and probation documentation is completed and stored appropriately.
Coordinate probation milestones and support a clear handover once new team members successfully complete probation.
Deputise for the Head of People on agreed operational people activities when required.

This isn’t an ordinary recruiting role. You won’t simply administer vacancies. You’ll spot what is needed next, take action without waiting to be asked and leave our recruitment and onboarding approach stronger than you found it.

What success will look like in your first 90 days

In your first 30 days, you will:

Build a strong understanding of Scotty’s mission, values, culture and current approach to recruitment and onboarding.

Develop effective working relationships with the Head of People, direct support leads and key internal teams.

Get to know the systems, processes and documentation that support recruitment, onboarding, new starter administration and probation.

Begin supporting recruitment administration, interview logistics and onboarding coordination with guidance.

Identify and share early recommendations to improve consistency, candidate experience and the overall new starter journey.

By 60 days, you will:

Take greater ownership of live recruitment and onboarding activity, coordinating campaigns from advert stage through to interview arrangements and new starter preparation.

Draft and update job descriptions, adverts and recruitment materials with support from the Head of People and relevant leads.

Manage candidate communications, interview scheduling and key recruitment administration.

Prepare shortlists and candidate recommendations for review.

Create clear, well-structured onboarding schedules in partnership with direct support leads, IT and other relevant teams.

Gather and summarise feedback from candidates, new starters and hiring leads, identifying what is working well and where the process could be strengthened.

By 90 days, you will:

Confidently manage agreed parts of the end-to-end recruitment and onboarding journey.

Deliver an organised, responsive and values-led experience for candidates, new starters and hiring leads.
Lead or support culture chats and contribute to second and final interview stages.

Strengthen recruitment packs, onboarding resources and supporting materials.

Present prioritised, practical recommendations to improve recruitment reach, onboarding consistency and the overall candidate and new starter experience.

Demonstrate clear ownership of the role, helping Scotty’s find and welcome brilliant people who can make a meaningful difference to the bereaved military community.

What You’ll Need to Succeed

Essential

Experience of supporting and coordinating recruitment processes, including advertising roles, managing applications, arranging interviews and communicating with candidates.
Strong organisational skills, with the ability to manage multiple tasks, deadlines and details accurately at the same time.
Excellent written and verbal communication skills, with the ability to create clear, engaging and professional recruitment materials.
Confidence working with managers or team leads to understand role requirements and translate them into practical recruitment and onboarding activity.
Good judgement and people awareness, with the ability to support values-led recruitment conversations and contribute to assessing candidate fit.
High attention to detail when handling contracts, references, DBS checks, personnel records, probation paperwork and other confidential people administration.
A warm, professional and candidate-focused approach, ensuring people have a positive experience from first contact through to onboarding.
Ability to work collaboratively across teams, including with People, Finance, IT, Outreach and direct support leads.
Confidence using digital systems and maintaining accurate records.
A proactive mindset, with the ability to take ownership, spot improvements and bring structure and consistency to processes.
Understanding of confidentiality, data protection and the importance of handling sensitive people information appropriately.
A strong connection to Scotty’s values and a commitment to helping build a brilliant team for the bereaved military community.

Desirable

Experience working in a charity, not-for-profit, military, veterans’ or purpose-led organisation.
Experience of onboarding new starters and creating structured induction plans or onboarding resources.
Experience of proactive candidate attraction, including talent pooling, networking, LinkedIn groups, specialist job boards or direct sourcing.
Experience creating recruitment packs, candidate information materials or employer brand content.
Understanding of safer recruitment, DBS processes or recruitment compliance.
Knowledge of employment law principles relating to recruitment, onboarding and candidate management.
Experience improving people processes, templates or candidate journeys to create greater consistency and impact.
Confidence facilitating or coordinating in-person onboarding activities, welcome sessions or new starter events.

Additional Information

The role may require occasional evening or weekend work
Enhanced DBS check required
Travel will be required to events and team training days

The Scotty’s Way

At Scotty’s, our personal performance is only 50% of what success looks like. Our culture is equally important. When you join our team, you sign up to The Scotty’s Way, rooted in our four core values:

Families Come First
Everyone a Supporter, Every Supporter a VIP
Love What You Do
Remember, Every Day

Our values are further supported by our four non-negotiable behaviours of Show Respect, Speak Up, Take Ownership and Actively Collaborate. We are looking for an individual who embodies these values and behaviours.

To Apply

Please send your CV and a covering letter explaining your relevant experience and what excites you about the role to recruitment@scottys,org.uk Use “Talent Acquisition and Onboarding Manager” as the email subject.

Closing date: 21 October 2026

Important Information

Feedback

We are unable to provide individual feedback on every application. We will contact candidates who are shortlisted for interviews by email.

Location

We will only consider applications from candidates located within 2 hours of central Cambridge.

We’re a remote-first organisation and our day-to-day work is extremely effective with our team based at home. However, some of the most important work we do, innovation, collaboration, problem-solving, and strategic thinking, benefits hugely from being in the same room, and those moments don’t always come with months of notice. That’s why we’re currently looking for team members who are within a 2-hour travel time of Cambridge.

Thank you for your interest in joining our team, we are an equal opportunities employer, we are committed to creating a diverse and inclusive workplace where all employees are treated with respect and given equal opportunities for employment and advancement.

We do not discriminate because of age, disability, gender reassignment, marriage or civil partnership, pregnancy or maternity, race, religion or belief, sex, sexual orientation, or any other characteristic protected by law.

We encourage all qualified individuals to apply for employment within our charity, and we provide a fair and inclusive recruitment process for all candidates.

Scotty’s – Talent Acquisition & Onboarding Manager