Talent Acquisition Lead

Takealot Group, South Africa's leading online retailer, is looking for a highly talented Talent Acquisition Lead to join our team in  Cape Town

We are a young, dynamic, hyper-growth company looking for smart, creative, hard-working people with integrity to join us. We offer a market related, Total Remuneration Package which allows full flexibility according to your needs, a great work environment and a promise that you won’t be bored as long as you are prepared for a challenge and want to build something great.

This position reports to: Head of Talent Acquisition 

Purpose of the role: 

Accountable lead for a particular business unit or portfolio's Talent Acquisition Strategy. In addition you are leading a team to ensure the enablement and execution of Talent Acquisition processes. Crucially, this role requires a hands-on leader who can drive operational discipline, foster a culture of accountability, and actively coach a transactional team toward more proactive, solution-oriented behaviors.

Key Responsibilities:

• Design attraction strategies aligned with workforce plans and the identification of key, critical and scarce skills and obtain the necessary approvals 
• Optimize talent acquisition processes based on trend analysis and business requirements 
• Review workforce plans and vacancies and identify if all appropriate interventions are in place to support filling the roles with talent within the required timeframes with the Group EE Plan 
• Manage the Graduate Recruitment initiatives within respective areas 
• Optimize our hiring process and ensure best practice is implemented across respective areas – ensuring that efficient, effective and fit for purpose 
• Manage the direct talent acquisition team – managing activities and day to day operations 
• Give input into the development of the employer brand and related drive initiatives into the business unit
• Ensure that policy is adhered to in the respective business unit 
• Partner with the HR People  Partners to sound attraction strategies
• Onboarding of placed candidates and handover to HR People Partners.
• Proactive identification talent pools, partnering with HRBP’s regarding requirements for talent
• Drawing data insights to inform the talent strategy – know the market 
• Training and developing up-skilling programs with regards to interviewing, systems, recruitment practices and ensure that all Managers are capacitated to take part in the Hiring Process across the Group.
• Remain abreast of innovative and progressive recruitment practices and new approaches to continuously improve the recruitment experience. 
• Develop and drive Talent attraction strategies to improve the workforce profile
• Providing insight to their business unit to inform the appropriate talent strategy
• Ensure the appropriate data is gathered and consolidated reports provided to business
• Establish and manage daily/weekly operational cadences (e.g., stand-ups, pipeline reviews) to maintain team momentum, track KPIs, and ensure consistent delivery.
• Implement clear performance management frameworks to drive accountability and ensure the team is meeting service level agreements (SLAs) proactively.
• Act as the primary escalation point for complex recruitment challenges, handling high-pressure stakeholder or candidate situations with a hands-on, problem-solving approach.
• Actively coach and mentor team members to move beyond transactional execution, encouraging critical thinking, problem-solving, and creative sourcing techniques.
• Team Performance: High-performing, accountable TA team hitting optimized time-to-hire and quality-of-hire targets.
• Operational Discipline: Implementation of daily/weekly tracking mechanisms and clear team SLAs.
• Capability Growth: Documented upskilling and development plans for team members, showing a measurable shift from operational to proactive recruitment.
• Stakeholder Trust: Swift, professional resolution of business escalations and friction points.

Minimum Required Qualification

• Diploma or Degree in the relevant field 

Minimum Required Experience

• 7+ years' experience in Talent acquisition 
• 2 - 3 years experience in managing a team or in a Senior Talent Acquisition position 

Minimum Required Competencies

• Highly analytical and data centric 
• End to end project and team management 
• System integration and experience working with cross functional teams 
• Experience driving a data-driven recruitment approach 
• Experience within ecommerce is advantageous
• Proven ability to manage, motivate, and lift the performance of teams that require high engagement and prompting.
• Ability to adapt leadership styles from hands-on direction to strategic coaching based on individual team member needs.

Skills, knowledge & abilities

• Resilience, proactive and adaptable: You are adaptable to change and optimistic in your outlook 
• Strong Data Analytics and Insights skills with the ability to tell meaningful stories with Data
• Influence and Interpersonal relationships: Ability to influence and interpret the needs of stakeholders, with a strong customer service orientation
• Critical and logical analysis: Creative thinker with ideas that will drive efficiency and improve business processes. Able to see the patterns in people puzzles 
• Communication and simplification: Distil the trends and messages from data in a clear, concise and articulate manner.
• Conflict Resolution & De-escalation: Exceptional emotional intelligence with a track record of calming high-stress situations with stakeholders or candidates.