Attraction & Resourcing Manager

Bristol

£56,209 - £58,820

Plus generous Civil Service Defined Benefit Pension

The opportunity

This is a rare opportunity to shape and lead the organisation wide resourcing strategy for a national regulator with a clear public purpose.

As Attraction and Resourcing Manager, you’ll set the direction for how we attract, recruit and retain the talent we need to deliver for students across England. This is a new, high impact role with real scope to influence, innovate and embed best practice resourcing that supports our people strategy and organisational ambition.

Who we are

The Office for Students (OfS) is the independent regulator of higher education in England. We regulate higher education on behalf of all students.

Our mission is to ensure that every student, whatever their background, has a fulfilling experience of higher education that enriches their lives and careers. Everything we do is driven by this purpose — and our people play a critical role in delivering it.

The role

The Attraction and Resourcing Manager is a pivotal leadership role, responsible for ensuring we attract, resource and retain the capability we need to deliver our regulatory agenda and organisational strategy.

Reporting to the Head of HR, you will have strategic oversight of resourcing across the OfS, leading the resourcing team and driving the development of our recruitment and attraction approach. You will design and embed effective policies, processes, systems and tools, equipping hiring managers with clear, consistent and high‑quality support to recruit exceptional people.

Working closely with HR Business Partners, senior leaders and stakeholders across the organisation, you’ll translate workforce needs into effective resourcing plans, provide trusted professional advice, and ensure our recruitment activity reflects our values, supports inclusion, and delivers an excellent candidate experience. All of which will call for a clear understanding of the business and its workforce needs.

This role calls for confident leadership, strong influencing skills and the ability to operate at both strategic and operational levels, shaping how resourcing supports the organisation now and into the future.

About you

You’ll be an experienced and credible resourcing professional, confident leading and developing a team while setting a clear strategic direction for attraction and recruitment.

You’ll bring expertise in employer branding and best practice resourcing, alongside the ability to build strong, productive relationships and influence at senior levels. You’ll enjoy working in an agile environment, balancing competing priorities while driving continuous improvement.

We’re looking for someone who is collaborative, forward thinking and solutions focused, with excellent communication skills and the confidence to lead change and innovation in how we attract talent to the OfS.

Essential criteria

• Experience of leading and delivering attraction and resourcing strategies, ensuring the effective recruitment and retention of talent to meet current and future workforce needs.
• Experience of designing and delivering best practice recruitment and attraction activity, including employer branding, candidate engagement and the effective use of digital and social media channels.
• Experience of leading, managing and developing a resourcing team, providing clear direction, role modelling inclusive leadership and building capability in a fast paced, changing environment.
• Experience of working closely with senior leaders and stakeholders, influencing at senior levels and providing trusted professional advice to support workforce and resourcing decisions.
• Experience of workforce planning, translating organisational strategy into robust, evidence  based resourcing plans.
• Experience of developing, reviewing and embedding recruitment policies, processes and selection methodologies, ensuring they are fair, inclusive, legally compliant and aligned to organisational values.
• Experience of overseeing and improving end to end recruitment processes and systems, using management information, metrics and insight to drive continuous improvement, efficiency and value for money.
• Ability to operate as part of a wider HR and OD leadership function, contributing to cross‑cutting people priorities and delivering organisational change collaboratively.

Desirable

• Experience of resourcing and recruitment within the public sector and/or Civil Service

Working for us

The OfS regulates the higher education sector on behalf of all students. We value diversity and the wealth of perspectives, experience and ideas that it brings to our work, and we strive to embed equality of opportunity in everything we do.

We recruit based on fair and open competition and welcome applications from candidates regardless of age, disability, race and ethnicity, gender reassignment, marriage and civil partnership, pregnancy and maternity, religion or belief, sex and sexual orientation.

We recognise that flexibility enables people to work more effectively. Our organisation wide principles support flexible and hybrid working, typically involving office attendance for around two days per week.

To attract the widest possible range of candidates, flexible working and part‑time working arrangements are available for this role.

Our Total Reward Framework includes a comprehensive learning and development offer, annual leave starting at 25 days per year (plus public holidays), access to the highly regarded Civil Service pension scheme and a range of health and wellbeing benefits.

Closing date for applications: Wednesday 18 February at 12:00 noon

Interviews will be held from 2 March