VP of Commercial and Operations - Recruitment

VP of Commercial & Operations – Recruitment

Oxfordshire | Senior Leadership | Recruitment & Staffing | Progression to Managing Director

Ready to run the commercial engine of an established recruitment business?

Want the autonomy to improve performance, develop people and shape how a company grows?

And looking for a leadership role where Managing Director is a genuine potential next step – not just something mentioned at interview?

Our client is an established recruitment business operating across specialist technology markets in the UK and internationally.

They already have the foundations: an established brand, experienced team, strong client relationships, a significant candidate network and a growing presence within their specialist communities.

Now they’re looking for a VP of Commercial & Operations to take ownership of the day-to-day commercial performance of the recruitment business.

This is a significant leadership appointment.

You’ll work closely with the Founder, taking increasing responsibility for commercial performance, people leadership and recruitment operations while helping build a more scalable, accountable and high-performing business.

And, for the right person, there is a genuine opportunity to progress towards Managing Director.

Why This Role is Great

This isn't a role where you'll simply inherit somebody else's playbook and keep things ticking over.

You'll have the opportunity to influence how the business performs.

You'll lead across sales, account management, recruitment delivery and candidate operations, working through an existing team and senior people rather than personally managing every moving part.

You’ll get to:

• Shape commercial performance – creating stronger sales habits, improving pipelines and helping the team turn more opportunities into revenue.
• Develop high-performing people – coaching recruiters, salespeople and managers to become more confident, productive and commercially effective.
• Grow client relationships – helping win new accounts while identifying opportunities to expand existing relationships.
• Own recruitment performance – ensuring important vacancies move, challenges are resolved and teams have the support they need to deliver.
• Influence how the business operates – improving processes, systems, structures and ways of working where they can produce better commercial outcomes.
• Work directly with the Founder – contributing to targets, budgets, hiring, team structure and wider business priorities.
• Build towards something bigger – with the potential to take increasing responsibility for overall company performance and progress towards Managing Director.
• Commercial Leadership Without Becoming a Full-Time Biller

This is an important distinction.

Our client isn't looking for a traditional billing manager who spends most of their week running their own recruitment desk.

But they do want someone who loves the commercial side of recruitment.

You'll be comfortable getting involved when it matters – whether that's opening a new account, developing an existing client, supporting a senior search, converting an opportunity from an event or relationship, or occasionally making a placement yourself.

A strong outcome would be influencing or originating approximately £100k in annual revenue personally, alongside the much bigger objective: improving the commercial performance of the wider business.

About You

Your current title matters less than what you've achieved.

You could currently be a Recruitment Manager, Senior Recruitment Manager, Business Manager, Divisional Manager, Associate Director, Business Director, Recruitment Director or Commercial Director.

What matters is that you've developed a strong understanding of how a successful recruitment business works – and you're ready for broader ownership.

The wishlist includes experience of:

• Building and developing recruitment or sales teams.
• Improving individual and team commercial performance.
• Business development and strategic account growth.
• Coaching people rather than simply monitoring their activity.
• Creating accountability while remaining a supportive leader.
• Recruitment fees, margins, terms and commercial agreements.
• Permanent and contract recruitment.
• Commercial negotiation and senior client conversations.
• Working with targets, pipelines, forecasts and performance data.
• Making practical decisions in a fast-moving environment.

Experience around contractor recruitment and IR35 would be useful too.

You won't necessarily tick every box.

If you've built your career in recruitment, staffing or a similarly commercial professional-services environment and can see your experience transferring into this position, our client would still like to hear from you.

The Leadership Style

You'll probably be someone who naturally looks at a business and asks:

• Where's the opportunity?
• What's stopping this person performing?
• Why hasn't that client been followed up?
• What could we change to get a better result?
• What does this person need from me to succeed?

You'll enjoy developing people, but you'll also be comfortable having difficult conversations when standards aren't being met.

This role needs someone commercially minded, energetic and pragmatic.

Someone willing to get close enough to the detail to understand what's happening – without needing to control every detail themselves.

Because great operations here aren't about creating more administration.

They're about helping people perform and creating better commercial results.

What Could You Achieve in Your First 12 Months?

Success could mean:

• A leadership team with clearer ownership and accountability.
• More recruiters consistently generating revenue.
• A stronger and more predictable new-business pipeline.
• Existing client relationships producing more opportunities.
• New accounts being won consistently.
• Managers becoming stronger coaches and leaders.
• Better visibility of individual and business performance.
• Commercial and operational issues being resolved quickly.
• The Founder stepping away from regular day-to-day management.
• You becoming the person trusted to drive the performance of the recruitment business.

And from there?

• The opportunity can grow.
• The Longer-Term Opportunity
• This position has been designed to become increasingly influential.

For the right person, there is a potential route towards Managing Director, taking broader responsibility for the overall performance of the company.

There is also openness to discussing longer-term incentives connected to company performance, profitability and future value creation.

So, if you've reached the point in your recruitment career where you want more than another management title, this could be the opportunity to take genuine ownership.

Interested?

If you’re an experienced recruitment leader who loves developing people, winning business and improving commercial performance, we'd like to hear from you.

You don't need to match every point above.

If your experience is close, your track record is strong and the opportunity to eventually run a recruitment business excites you, apply and start the conversation.

Humand Talent is acting as the recruitment partner for this appointment.

Humand Talent and our client are committed to creating an inclusive recruitment process. We welcome applications from people of all backgrounds, identities and experiences, and we encourage you to apply even if your experience doesn't align with every element of the wishlist.