Principal Talent Partner - Public Sector

Job description

About Us
Location: Belfast or UK remote

Contract: Permanent

Global, inclusive and innovative - welcome to AMS, where talent connects across cultures and backgrounds to shape the future of work.

We work with leading organisations to design and deliver talent strategies that bring together people, process, data and technology, helping millions of people find meaningful work every year. Our diverse, connected community collaborates to create results for clients and opportunities for our people to learn, grow and make an impact.

At AMS, we look for people who bring more than experience, and we welcome different perspectives and ways of thinking.

https://www.weareams.com/
The Role
We're looking for an experienced Principal Talent Partner to join our Public Sector Resourcing team, supporting permanent hiring for the Ministry of Defence.

This is a senior-level opportunity for someone with strong 360 recruitment and proactive sourcing capability, who can operate as a trusted adviser to senior stakeholders and take ownership of complex, specialist and hard-to-fill recruitment requirements. You will be responsible for delivering an end to end recruitment service to MOD to include managing vacancy briefings, marketing of campaigns, and the sourcing, screening, presentation, provisional offer of employment and engagement of candidates through to their start-dates, whilst maintaining service level agreements.

You'll use market intelligence and talent insights to challenge and influence hiring strategies, while proactively identifying and engaging passive talent through a true search-led approach.

You'll be comfortable providing recommendations to senior stakeholders and adapting recruitment strategies based on market conditions and candidate insight.
Key Accountabilities
Act as a Trusted Adviser

• Develop strong partnerships and working relationships that deliver an excellent candidate and hiring manager experience.
• Lead recruiting discussions and act as a trusted adviser and thought leader, partnering confidently with Hiring Managers and HR teams.
• Use meaningful market insight, historic hiring trends, and talent intelligence to inform and influence recruitment strategy and hiring outcomes.
• Proactively bring insight and recommendations to recruitment discussions at the outset of the process.
• Demonstrate tact and confidence when engaging with client stakeholders, proposing solutions to complex or niche hiring challenges.
• Be accountable for delivering high‑quality, candidate longlists / shortlists with accurate and complete information to support informed hiring decisions.
• Share candidate feedback, challenges, and successes, making recommendations to adapt sourcing and recruitment strategies.
• Deliver end to end recruitment services compliant with Civil Service Commission Recruitment Principles
• Support, coach, and mentor junior colleagues and act as a lead contributor in problem‑solving discussions.

Attract, Source & Engage High‑Calibre Talent

• Demonstrate extensive permanent sourcing experience, using a full range of proactive sourcing tools and techniques, adopting a true search methodology to identify and engage passive talent.
• Develop bespoke sourcing strategies for specialist, niche, and hard‑to‑fill roles.
• Create and post compelling job adverts that accurately represent the client brand and attract suitable candidates.
• Leverage LinkedIn, social media, direct search, and other channels to build strong, diverse candidate pipelines.
• Proactively take steps to increase the diversity of applicants
• Manage high volumes of activity while maintaining quality, accuracy, and pace.
• Measure and refine sourcing effectiveness using data and MI, adapting approach where required and sharing insights with stakeholders.
• Engage candidates through professional, consultative conversations, qualifying suitability for current and future roles.

Candidate Experience & Talent Pooling

• Deliver excellent candidate management throughout the recruitment lifecycle.
• Maintain regular, clear communication with candidates, keeping them informed and engaged.
• Build long‑term talent pools and nurture relationships for future hiring needs.
• Champion candidate experience, ensuring candidates feel valued regardless of outcome.
• Ensure fair and consistent scoring of applicants in line with Civil Service principles.

Enable Success in Others

• Act as a senior point of contact for sourcing SME advice.
• Mentor and support colleagues to build capability across the team.
• Contribute to team strategy, continuous improvement, and broader sourcing objectives.

Skills & Requirements
Must-Have Skills

• Defence recruitment experience or strong knowledge of the Defence talent market
• Extensive recruitment experience with strong 360 and end-to-end recruitment capability.

• Advanced proactive sourcing/headhunting skills, with experience identifying and engaging passive talent for specialist and hard-to-fill roles.
• Strong customer-facing and stakeholder management experience, with the credibility to operate as a trusted adviser to senior Hiring Managers and HR stakeholders.
• Ability to use, market intelligence, talent mapping and recruitment data to inform, influence and adapt hiring strategies.
• Strong consultative capability, including the confidence to challenge, influence and recommend alternative solutions where appropriate.
• Proven experience building strategic talent pipelines and talent pools.
• Strong candidate assessment, engagement and relationship management skills.
• Ability to manage multiple complex recruitment priorities while maintaining quality, pace and candidate experience.
• Must be eligible for security clearance

Nice to Haves

• Experience recruiting within Public Sector, Government or similarly regulated environments.
• Experience operating within a large, complex or matrixed organisation/RPO environment.
• Experience using, Oracle, Avature and LinkedIn Recruiter.
• Previous experience coaching or mentoring recruiters/sourcers and sharing sourcing best practice.
• Experience supporting continuous improvement and developing sourcing capability across a wider team.

Why AMS?
At AMS, we come from every walk of life - and that's what makes us unique. Our culture is open, inclusive and built on trust. We empower our people with the flexibility and autonomy to work in ways that bring out their best. We offer career opportunities in every direction you want to explore.

We offer

• Growth and development focused on your strengths
• The opportunity to develop a career within one of the world's leading organisations specialising in talent and workforce solutions.
• A team that values being Passionate, Bold, and Authentic
• Supportive communities such as our Employee Resource Groups (ERGs)
• Volunteer day - you get one additional paid day off each year to volunteer for a cause that matters to you
• A competitive reward and benefits package*
• Flexibility in how and where you work*
• Hybrid model

*Details may vary slightly depending on your location, local labour law, etc.

Our statement

We're committed to creating an environment where everyone feels a sense of belonging. We welcome applicants from all backgrounds and encourage people with diverse skills, perspectives, and experiences to apply. We do not discriminate based upon age, disability, gender identity, marriage and civil partnership, pregnancy and maternity, race, religion or belief, sex, sexual orientation, or any other applicable legally protected characteristic.

If you require any accommodations or have any accessibility needs, please reach out via email [email protected] or make a member of our Talent Acquisition team aware at any time.

We take pride in being Disability Confident. This helps to ensure that you can be interviewed fairly if you have a disability, long- term health conditions, or are neurodiverse. You will be shortlisted based on minimum criteria for the role and will be offered support and/or adjustments for the recruitment process if you wish.

If you're ready to bring your skills, curiosity, and passion, click Apply and let's explore what we can achieve together!