Senior Recruitment and Talent Acquisition Consultant

About the role

ILRI, an international research institute working on sustainable livestock solutions, is seeking a Senior Recruitment and Talent Acquisition Consultant to support its People and Culture (P&C) team with several concurrent recruitments. The consultant provides overall coordination of the recruitments under P&C direction, maintains momentum across streams, resolves or escalates outstanding actions and gives hands-on recruitment support to meet agreed timelines. The consultancy lasts nine months, is based at the ILRI Nairobi campus or another agreed location, and is open only to Kenyan nationals.

Key responsibilities

• Develop and maintain a consolidated recruitment plan and strategy covering positions, milestones, responsibilities, dependencies and target dates, in consultation with P&C and hiring managers.
• Lead and coordinate recruitment streams across P&C, hiring managers, panels and the operational recruitment consultant, advising on sourcing approaches and tracking progress.
• Follow up outstanding actions, panel feedback, documentation, approvals and scheduling decisions, keeping an action log with owners and deadlines.
• Identify recruitment risks and bottlenecks early, propose solutions and escalate issues needing management intervention.
• Provide hands-on sourcing, headhunting, screening, assessment and interview support for priority or complex recruitments, including hard-to-fill roles.
• Review recruitment documentation for completeness and consistency, and support recruitment reports.
• Contribute to weekly progress check-ins and coordinate records and final handover.

Required profile

• Degree in human resource management, business administration or a related field, with a relevant professional certification in HR, talent acquisition or recruitment.
• At least ten years of recruitment experience, including leading multiple recruitment streams and senior or specialist appointments, and experience in targeted sourcing and headhunting.
• Ability to drive follow-up across stakeholders and give senior-level recruitment advice; international research, development or non-profit experience is an advantage.
• Strong written and spoken English.

Required skills

• Recruitment judgement and reporting skills.
• Proficiency in applicant tracking systems.
• Proactive, organized, with strong follow-through, prioritization and coordination.

The consultant reports to the Interim Head of People and Culture. The consultancy fee is set by mutual agreement based on milestones and deliverables. Applications, including a CV and a covering letter justifying the candidature, are submitted by 6 November 2026 via the "Apply Now" button, with the position title and reference number PC/05/2026 in the subject line.