Talent Acquisition Manager

Founding Talent Acquisition Manager (Cape Town, Hybrid)

Are you a
seasoned, commercially-minded recruiter
who understands that great hiring is a function of
speed, exceptional sales, and cultural alignment
? Are you ready to move beyond the constraints of established talent functions and build a world-class hiring machine from the ground up, based out of our Cape Town hub?

iO-Sphere is growing fast, redefining technical education in Data and AI. We need a Founding Talent Acquisition Manager to act as our first internal recruitment expert, responsible not just for filling seats, but for
designing and scaling the processes
that will define our future team and culture across our primary markets of
England and South Africa
. This is a high-impact, all-in role for a self-motivated professional who thrives in ambiguity and has an insatiable hunger to win the war for talent.

The Founding Mission: Speed, Selling, and Scale

You will be the architect and executor of our recruitment function, focused on sourcing and securing top-tier talent—from elite data coaches in England to crucial marketing and operational hires in South Africa.

Your mandate is to deliver an
exceptional, high-touch candidate experience
that sells our vision, moves people through the pipeline at speed, and ensures we maintain an uncompromising focus on cultural fit.

Key Responsibilities: The Pillars of Scale

This role requires a unique balance of strategic thinking, commercial acumen, and hands-on, process-driven execution.

1. Strategic Talent Selling & Candidate Sourcing

2. Proactive Sourcing & Outreach:
   Be highly proactive in identifying and reaching out to suitable candidates for our most critical and complex roles across England and South Africa. You must be comfortable directly sourcing and selling roles across all channels.

3. Craft Compelling Propositions:
   Partner with leadership to deeply understand and articulate the unique mission and opportunity of each role, creating
   super exciting job specifications
   that attract the best talent.
4. High-Touch Sales:
   Act as the ultimate brand ambassador and seller. Provide a
   high-touch candidate service
   throughout the entire process, effectively selling the iO-Sphere vision, culture, and career trajectory to potential leads.

5. Cultural Gatekeeping:
   Be relentless in assessing and championing candidates who are a strong cultural fit—those who are
   commercial, outcomes-focused, motivated, and hungry
   .

6. Hands-on Execution & System Building

7. Full-Cycle Ownership:
   Manage and execute the entire recruitment lifecycle from initial conception to new starter onboarding across multiple geographies.

8. System Setup:
   Design, implement, and manage the core systems, tools, and processes required to support a scalable, high-volume recruitment function from scratch (e.g., ATS management, tracking, feedback loops). You must be comfortable
   setting up these systems to support yourself.
9. Process Efficiency & Speed:
   Define and implement systems that prioritise speed of movement and feedback, ensuring candidates receive a world-class experience while keeping our recruitment processes hyper-efficient.
10. Administrative Excellence:
    Oversee all administrative tasks with precision and speed, including: managing/creating job specs, managing LinkedIn/Job boards, shifting through CVs (leveraging AI-enabled tools), booking interviews, conducting screening calls/interviews, tracking applications/feedback, follow-ups, candidate feedback/rejections, and compiling new starter comms/packs and on-boarding.

What You Bring: The Founding Recruiter Profile

• Seasoned Professionalism:
  A proven track record (5+ years preferred) in full-cycle recruitment, ideally within a high-growth scale-up, EdTech, or B2B commercial environment.
• Commercial & Outcomes-Focused:
  You approach recruitment with a
  commercial mindset
  , understanding that every hire directly impacts the business's revenue and strategic outcomes.
• Process Discipline:
  Highly
  process-driven, disciplined, and motivated
  . You thrive in ambiguity because you know how to impose structure and system on chaos.
• Cross-Regional Expertise:
  Experience recruiting talent for both UK and South African markets is a significant advantage.
• A "Seller":
  You possess exceptional communication, negotiation, and selling skills, capable of turning passive talent into passionate employees.

Location and Compensation

• Location: Based in
  Cape Town
  , with a commitment to being in the office a few days a week to help build our culture and team - don't worry we understand there may be reasons that doesn't happen every week. Our offices are near Riverlands mall right now. We're happy with remote work for the rest of the time. Please note that in the short term, this role is a contractor role until we set up a permanent entity in South Africa in 2026.
• Compensation:
  CTC (Cost to Company) estimated between
  R35,000 - R50,000 per month
  , commensurate with experience.