Talent & People Lead (FTC)

About Tonic

Tonic is an expertise-led Capital Markets Consultancy, unlike other consultancies…..in a good way. Well actually, in lots of ways.

Mainly because we leverage genuine expertise across the front-to-back trade lifecycle to provide a superior service model for our clients. Our transformation and cross-domain expertise, combined with our client-focus, means that we accelerate our clients' business objectives via tailored solutions, driven by their unique, evolving needs.

We focus on domains that are relevant, exciting and often high growth including Digital Assets, Collateral, Clearing, Securities Finance and Post-Trade.

Role Objective

To build and retain the talent that powers Tonic's growth, first by recruiting key high-quality, permanent hires at pace, then by owning the end-to-end talent lifecycle across both permanent and associate populations. This role will also be instrumental in developing the strategy, processes, culture and employer brand that keep Tonic an employer of choice. Making recruitment AI enabled within Tonic will be key.

Key Responsibilities

Priority One: Building the Permanent Consulting Team

• Own the end-to-end recruitment cycle for permanent consulting hires across the UK and US, from brief to offer accepted.

• Write compelling job descriptions and job adverts, and post across the right channels.

• Proactively source and headhunt candidates using a broad mix of techniques such as LinkedIn, networking, referrals, advertising and direct approach.

• Screen CVs and run first-stage interviews, assessing both technical capability and cultural fit.

• Arrange further interview stages, issue assessments, gather and deliver timely feedback, and keep candidates moving through the process.

• Manage offers, negotiations, rejections and reference requests, ensuring every candidate, successful or not, has an excellent experience of Tonic.

• Lead on leveraging AI across recruitment and people processes and help make Tonic an AI-enabled business internally.

• Update recruitment trackers daily and keep the Senior Management Team up to date on progress via internal resourcing meetings.

Resourcing & the Associate Pool

• Take ownership of Tonic's global associate pool, keeping it live, accurate and engaged.

• Working with the Operations Director and Delivery Leads to forecast resourcing needs and match the right people, permanent or associate, to client engagements.

• Source new associates as required, drawing on the same headhunting and networking techniques used for permanent hires.

• Proactively build Tonic's global candidate database in line with company strategy.

Talent Strategy & Process Improvement

• Create and execute a talent strategy that pipelines future talent, aligned to business objectives in the UK and US.

• Review and improve recruitment workflows, introducing efficiencies and process enhancements

• Lead on leveraging AI across recruitment and people processes and help make Tonic an AI-enabled business internally.

• Advise the leadership team on market conditions, candidate behaviors and compensation benchmarks on a continual basis.

• Define and track key recruitment metrics (e.g. time-to-hire, offer-acceptance rate, pipeline conversion), using data to identify bottlenecks and drive continuous improvement across both permanent and associate hiring.

Culture, EVP & Onboarding

• Develop and articulate Tonic's Employee Value Proposition, working with our Marketing Lead on social media campaigns that promote Tonic as an employer.

• Work with the Operations Director to arrange onboarding, ensuring every new joiner has a positive, welcoming start.

• Take an active role in shaping culture, engagement and retention as the role develops.

Ad Hoc

• Providing ad hoc support to the Senior Management Team and other team members as required

Required Skills, Experience & Qualifications

• Consultancy Recruitment Experience: 5+ years' end-to-end recruitment experience with a demonstrable track record of recruiting into the consultancy industry, ideally in-house within a consultancy business. You know what strong candidates look like from junior levels right through to Partner level and how to attract them.

• Market Knowledge: Capital markets and investment banking recruitment experience is the ideal. At a minimum, you will need strong banking financial services experiences with a network that includes consultancy candidates in this space.

• Sourcing Capability: Proven ability to build a strong pipeline through proactive resourcing and a range of headhunting techniques, using varied talent acquisition tools including LinkedIn, advertising and networking.

• Process Ownership: Confident running the full workflow including screening, interviewing, feedback, progression and offer management, without needing it built for you.

• Negotiation & Stakeholder Skills: A skilled negotiator, credible and confident with stakeholders at all levels, internally and externally.

• Delivery Focus & Process Improvement: Track record of working to KPIs, achieving or exceeding agreed targets, plus demonstrable experience of introducing efficiencies to streamline recruitment. We’re ideally looking for someone who has had experience of leveraging AI to enable faster, cleaner recruitment workflows.

• Educational Background: Bachelor's or Master's degree (2.1 or equivalent).

Desirable Skills & Experience

• Experience implementing AI enabled recruitment workflows

• Experience managing an associate, contractor or bench resourcing model.

• Exposure to EVP, employer branding or culture initiatives