Retail Talent Lead Full Time

RETAIL TALENT LEAD
📍 KwaZulu-Natal

Are you passionate about building exceptional talent pipelines and developing future leaders?
An exciting opportunity exists for an experienced and strategic Retail Talent Lead to join a dynamic and growing multi-site retail organisation.

This is not a traditional recruitment role. We are looking for a forward-thinking Talent professional who can build a sustainable talent ecosystem, ensuring the business has the right people, skills and leadership capability to support its continued growth.

The Role
As the Retail Talent Lead, you will be responsible for shaping and driving the organisation’s retail talent strategy. You will work closely with business leaders to anticipate workforce requirements, develop talent pipelines and strengthen the organisation’s ability to attract, develop and retain exceptional people.

Key Responsibilities

Strategic Workforce Planning

• Develop and implement workforce and talent strategies aligned with business growth plans.
• Translate expansion and operational requirements into future talent needs.
• Identify critical skills requirements and potential workforce risks.
• Develop proactive talent plans to support new store openings and business growth.

Talent Acquisition & Pipeline Development

• Develop innovative sourcing strategies to attract high-quality talent.
• Build and maintain sustainable talent pipelines for key retail and operational roles.
• Improve recruitment channels, processes and candidate experience.
• Use talent market insights and data to inform recruitment strategies.

Employer Branding

• Support the development and implementation of employer-brand initiatives.
• Develop recruitment marketing campaigns and talent attraction strategies.
• Strengthen the organisation’s position as an employer of choice.
• Enhance candidate and employee experiences.

External Talent Partnerships

• Develop strategic relationships with universities, TVET colleges, SETAs and other talent partners.
• Build sustainable pipelines through graduate, learnership and community-based initiatives.
• Identify innovative partnerships that support long-term talent requirements.

Talent Management & Succession Planning

• Support succession planning for critical retail and leadership positions.
• Identify high-potential employees and future leaders.
• Facilitate talent reviews and support internal mobility.
• Strengthen career pathways and talent development initiatives.

Leadership Pipeline Development

• Partner with Operations and Learning & Development to develop leadership pipelines.
• Support the development of future Store Managers and operational leaders.
• Monitor leadership readiness and internal promotion opportunities

Talent Intelligence & Reporting

• Analyse talent and recruitment data to identify trends, risks and opportunities.
• Monitor key metrics, including time-to-fill, quality of hire, vacancy trends and pipeline effectiveness.
• Provide meaningful talent insights and recommendations to business leaders.

Governance & Continuous Improvement

• Ensure recruitment and talent practices are compliant and consistently applied.
• Identify opportunities to improve recruitment processes and systems.
• Drive continuous improvement across the talent function.

  What We’re Looking For
  Experience
  The successful candidate will ideally have:

7–10 years of progressive experience in Talent Acquisition, Talent Management or Human Resources.
Experience within a multi-site retail, QSR, hospitality, FMCG or similar high-volume operational environment.
Proven experience in workforce planning and strategic Talent Acquisition.
Experience building talent pipelines and developing innovative sourcing strategies.
Exposure to employer branding and recruitment marketing.
Experience with succession planning and talent management.
Experience developing leadership or high-potential talent pipelines.
Strong stakeholder-management and influencing skills.
Experience using talent data and analytics to support business decisions.
Qualifications
Bachelor’s Degree in Human Resources, Industrial Psychology, Business Administration or a related field.
A postgraduate qualification will be advantageous.
Relevant professional HR or Talent certifications will be beneficial.

Key Competencies
We are looking for someone who is:

A strategic and forward-thinking Talent professional
Commercially aware and business-focused
Highly analytical and comfortable working with data
An excellent relationship builder and influencer
Passionate about developing people and future leaders
Innovative and solutions-driven
Highly organised and able to manage multiple priorities
Comfortable working in a fast-paced and evolving environment

Why This Opportunity?
This is an exciting opportunity for a Talent professional who wants to make a real strategic impact. You will have the opportunity to shape how the organisation attracts, develops and retains talent while helping to build a strong pipeline of future retail leaders.

📍 Location: KwaZulu-Natal
If you are passionate about building talent strategies, developing future leaders and making a meaningful impact within a growing organisation, we would love to hear from you.

Apply now and take the next step in your Talent career!