People & Talent Experience Lead

At Manchester United, we believe that excellence on the pitch starts with excellence off the pitch. Our team thrives in a high-performance environment, united by a shared passion for success. We aim to elevate the standard of performance through collaboration and continuous growth, creating a space where everyone can contribute their best to our common goals.

We work together at our iconic Manchester United offices, enabling connection and innovation as we look ahead to what we can achieve as a global football club. We are excited to bring in passionate people who share our vision and drive for success.

The People & Talent Experience Lead delivers Talent and People Partnering projects, as well as recruitment and operational activity across the People Team.

Reporting to the Head of People Partnering & Talent, the role will deliver priorities across organisational effectiveness, future skills, succession planning, early talent programmes, talent development, inclusive hiring and internal mobility. Recruitment activity will be delivered through a dotted-line relationship with the Head of Talent. Other key relationships will include supporting the Senior People Partner and OD Partner.

The role will prioritise Talent and People Partnering projects while flexing across the wider People agenda. Key areas of support include the Early Talent Programme, employee-relations activity during periods of high demand, and accurate tracking and reporting with People Services. The role will remain flexible to undertake any other work allocated by the Head of People Partnering & Talent.

Success will be demonstrated through timely, well-coordinated project delivery; strong cross-functional partnership; accurate talent data and reporting; inclusive people practices; and responsive, high-quality recruitment support.

Talent & People Partnering Projects

• Translate strategic Talent and People Partnering priorities into clear project plans, coordinated activity and measurable outcomes.
• Support organisational effectiveness reviews through coordination, insight gathering and implementation activity.
• Contribute to future-skills and workforce-planning activity, helping identify emerging capability needs and associated people actions.
• Support succession-planning processes by coordinating talent information, tracking actions and enabling effective review discussions.
• Coordinate and enhance Talent Development Programmes, including the Early Talent Programme, from a Talent Experience perspective.
• Support inclusive hiring across projects and recruitment activity by reviewing processes, broadening access and improving the candidate and hiring-manager experience.
• Support internal mobility and secondments by coordinating opportunities, processes and activity tracking.

Recruitment & Talent Partnership

• Partner with hiring managers to clarify recruitment needs, agree role requirements and develop practical talent plans. Deliver recruitment activity through the dotted-line relationship with the Head of Talent.
• Provide responsive, well-informed recruitment advice, using market insight and data to support hiring decisions and an inclusive, high-quality candidate experience.
• Use a broad range of search techniques and channels to identify high-calibre passive and active talent.
• Develop thoughtful, personalised approaches that communicate the Club opportunity and build credible, long-term candidate relationships.
• Screen and assess prospective candidates against the agreed role brief, sharing clear shortlisting insight with hiring teams.
• Help create and nurture talent communities for recurring and hard-to-fill capability areas.

Research, Mapping, Market Insight & Tracking

• Support priority, specialist and harder-to-fill recruitment campaigns by producing focused talent maps, market research and candidate intelligence.
• Contribute to inclusive market maps by identifying relevant organisations, talent pools, adjacent sectors and transferable skill sets.
• Gather and summarise benchmarking and market insight on talent availability, competitor activity, role profiles and candidate expectations.
• Use research findings to support practical recommendations on sourcing and search activity.
• Maintain accurate talent intelligence and candidate records. Work with People Services to track recruitment and wider talent activity and produce timely, reliable updates.

Employee Relations Support

• Provide employee-relations support during periods of high volume or as otherwise required, working within agreed processes and escalating appropriately.

• Experience of delivering Talent or People Partnering projects and supporting wider People priorities.
• Some recruitment experience is desirable, including exposure to supporting hiring managers, candidate engagement or recruitment delivery.
• Strong project coordination skills, with the ability to translate priorities into practical plans, manage actions and deliver high-quality outcomes.
• Strong relationship-building, communication and stakeholder-management skills, with the confidence to clarify needs and provide constructive advice.
• Sound judgement and the ability to gather information, identify themes and communicate clear findings and recommendations.
• Well organised and able to manage multiple projects and operational activities while maintaining quality and attention to detail.
• A practical understanding of organisational effectiveness, future skills, succession planning, talent development, inclusive hiring and internal mobility.
• Comfortable using People and recruitment technology, data and automation to improve efficiency and support informed decisions.
• The confidence to provide proportionate employee-relations support when required, following agreed guidance and recognising when to escalate.
• A collaborative, curious and flexible working style, with commercial awareness and the ability to adapt as priorities evolve.
• A strong commitment to EDI and inclusive People practices, with a focus on delivering an excellent experience for candidates, employees and hiring managers.