This is a senior individual contributor role sitting within the International Consumer Bank Talent Acquisition function (HR), accountable for end-to-end hiring across commercial, product strategy and revenue/ P&L domains.
As a Recruiting Lead in the International Consumer Banking team, you will bring deep market knowledge of the UK and European retail and consumer banking landscape, enabling the organisation to identify, attract and secure high-calibre talent. The role demands a genuine search mindset — someone who operates proactively in the market and who can credibly engage senior commercial and product professionals.
Job responsibilities
- Own end-to-end recruitment for commercial and product strategy roles across the UK and European markets
- Develop and execute direct sourcing strategies, with a focus on engaging passive candidates
- Manage multiple concurrent requisitions across business lines while maintaining pace, quality, and a strong candidate experience
- Partner with hiring managers and senior stakeholders to define role requirements, calibrate profiles, and align on market expectations
- Build and maintain talent maps across key competitor sets (incumbent banks, digital challengers, payments platforms, and fintech scale-ups)
- Stay current on organisational moves, hiring trends, and strategic priorities shaping commercial talent demand in the UK and Europe
- Provide market intelligence to TA strategy and workforce planning, acting as an in-house SME for commercial and product hiring
- Conduct structured candidate assessments using consistent evaluation frameworks to improve quality of hire and reduce bias
- Build and nurture future-talent pipelines by maintaining warm relationships with high-potential candidates not yet actively searching
- Act as a trusted advisor to business leaders on role design, candidate availability, and trade-offs in competitive markets
- Ensure clear, consistent communication and compliant delivery across the hiring lifecycle, representing TA credibly in senior forums and driving process/tooling improvements
Required qualifications, capabilities, and skills
- Substantial in-house or search-side recruiting experience with a specialism in commercial, product or strategy functions within financial services
- Deep knowledge of the UK and European retail / consumer banking talent market — able to name relevant organisations, understand their structures and identify key talent communities
- Demonstrated ability to deliver at pace in complex, matrix environments with multiple senior stakeholders and concurrent priorities
- Track record of direct sourcing and passive candidate engagement at senior levels
- Strong commercial acumen; able to engage credibly with product and strategy leaders on their domain and the talent landscape that underpins it
- Experience managing end-to-end recruitment processes from brief through to offer, with a structured approach to assessment and selection
Preferred qualifications, capabilities, and skills
- Experience recruiting within or for a digital challenger bank, fintech or consumer-facing financial services platform
- Exposure to executive or near-executive hiring (Director / MD equivalent) within commercial or product functions
- Familiarity with compensation structures for senior commercial and product roles, including deferred pay, long-term incentives and equity structures
- Working knowledge of TA governance requirements in regulated financial services environments
- Experience across multiple European markets, with an understanding of local hiring norms, labour market dynamics and candidate expectations