Talent Acquisition Manager

This is a great opportunity for an experienced, hands-on recruiter who enjoys finding brilliant people but is also passionate about helping to build a stronger recruitment model. We’re a fun, vibrant hospitality business with a small and friendly recruitment team, so you’ll be close to the detail, trusted to get stuck in, and part of a team that that genuinely cares about giving candidates and hiring teams a great experience.

As Talent Acquisition Manager, firstly you’ll be accountable for the end-to-end management of priority vacancies across our sites and HQ, managing them from first approach through to interview and offer. You’ll be directly sourcing candidates, building useful pipelines, screening applicants, coordinating interviews, and keeping momentum moving throughout the process, while making sure candidates get the welcoming experience we’re known for.

But direct sourcing is only part of the job, because in addition, you’ll help us build a stronger recruitment model for the future focused on enabling our 300+ sites to become more effective at generating their own organic applications and to make effective hiring decisions. You will support the Recruitment Partners, Operations Managers and sites, by building quality insight to enable real understanding of why roles are difficult to fill and communicate this effectively - whilst helping to test different attraction approaches. In addition, you’ll help to ensure the recruitment function runs smoothly day-to-day in support of our sites, this could be through supporting daily ATS queries, managing license allocation and search budget spend or reviewing and responding to candidate online reviews.

Getting into the detail

Key Responsibilities

Direct Sourcing, Screening, & Interviewing

• Be the specialist when it comes to directly approaching and engaging candidates for priority management vacancies across our Lounges
• Own direct approaching as a core sourcing method — and share that best practice knowledge with our operations team
• Support HQ Recruitment Partner with the hiring of key head office vacancies. Including proactive sourcing, sifting, and screening
• Conduct screening interviews for priority vacancies and make sure every candidate gets a positive, friendly, and professional experience
• Assess candidates against role requirements and cultural fit, and give clear and timely feedback to hiring managers
• Schedule and coordinate interviews, — keeping everything moving smoothly from first contact to offer
• Keep an up-to-date pool of hospitality talent for roles that come up regularly or at pace. Always keeping our pipeline of new openings in mind

Creative Attraction

• Use Meta, LinkedIn, job boards, industry networks, referrals, and other platforms creatively to reach passive talent and build strong pipelines
• A passion for local hiring with creative ideas to how we empower our sites and operations teams to appeal to and attract their local talent
• Help plan and attend recruitment open days, hiring events, and careers fairs in support of key hiring needs and new site openings
• Play your part in building our employer brand presence within the hospitality talent market
• Own the referral scheme end-to-end — tracking submissions, checking eligibility, and submitting to payroll each month

ATS Management & Administration

• Be the first port of call for ATS queries from hiring managers and operations teams, and escalate technical issues where needed
• Work with regional colleagues to improve how the ATS is used day-to-day, supporting training where there are gaps
• Own the recruitment inbox, making sure candidates and hiring managers always get a prompt and professional response

Reporting & Insight

• Prepare regular recruitment reports for the wider recruitment team and operations team, covering pipeline activity, pending applications, time-to-hire, and source of hire.
• Be curious about why certain roles are hard to fill — dig into the data, look over time, pull your observations together, and share practical suggestions with the Recruitment Partners
• Keep an eye on external platforms like Glassdoor and Indeed, flagging relevant trends in how we're perceived as an employer.
• Carry out periodic reviews of priority vacancies, looking at advertising activity, sourcing efforts, candidate response levels and where momentum may be slowing, then share clear, useful insight with Recruitment Partners to help them spot regional patterns, understand what is working, and shape more effective attraction and hiring decisions

What you’ll bring

• Get stuck in - You’ll be happy to roll your sleeves up every day – Everything from speaking to a General Manager to resolve an issue with a candidate in the ATS, through to directly headhunting candidates for a key vacancy
• Hiring experience - You know recruitment inside out and enjoy owning vacancies end-to-end, from finding great people and making first contact through to screening, interviewing, feedback, offer, and keeping everyone moving
• Headhunting - You’re a natural sourcer who is confident approaching passive candidates, sparking interest, and building warm, useful pipelines for both site and HQ roles
• Candidate experience matters - You care about people, not just process — you’ll make sure every candidate gets a friendly, honest, and professional experience that feels like us
• Good judgement - You can spot brilliant hospitality talent and make sound hiring judgements, balancing experience, potential, cultural fit, and the high standards our teams and customers expect
• Creative - You bring energy and creativity to attraction, whether that’s using LinkedIn, Meta, job boards, referrals, local networks, events, or trying something new to get the right people interested
• Adaptable - You’re organised, pacey, and happy spinning a few plates, keeping vacancies, interviews, inboxes, ATS activity, licenses, candidate reviews, and stakeholders on track day to day
• Curious - You’re curious about what makes some roles harder to fill and confident using data, feedback, and market insight to explain what’s happening and suggest practical solutions
• Collaborative - You’re collaborative and able to build trust with Recruitment Partners, Regional Operations Managers, site teams, HQ hiring managers, and anyone else involved in finding great people
• Hospitality recruitment experience would be a bonus, but what matters most is that you’re friendly, resilient, and excited by the chance to help a fast-growing hospitality business hire brilliantly

What’s in it for you?

• 25 days holiday (plus bank holidays)
• Up to 10% bonus
• A culture that appreciates ideas and celebrates individuality
• Founder-led business - we might have c300 sites, but we still maintain an entrepreneurial spirit through everything we do
• 50% off food at all Lounges, Cosy Clubs and Brightsides
• Pension contribution
• 24/7 mental health support
• Amazing events including LoungeFest – our annual company festival - Christmas parties and more
• We want to work with kind people so if you want to work hard, have fun and be part of the Loungers ride, we’d love to have you.

About us

Loungers is a substantial and growing operator in the UK hospitality sector, operating over 300 sites in England and Wales across three distinct but complementary brands, Lounges, Cosy Club, and Brightside. Founded in 2002 by three friends who wanted to create a neighbourhood café-bar that they would want to go to, the Group is now the only growing all-day operator of scale in the UK and has consistently outperformed the wider UK hospitality sector over the past three years. Despite being the fastest growing café/restaurant group in the Country, Loungers has retained its entrepreneurial spirit and quirky ‘Loungey’ local community atmosphere.