Global Early Careers Campus Recruiter
At OakNorth, we're on a mission to empower ambitious businesses and the communities they serve. Since 2015, we've lent over $21 billion across the UK and US, helped create more than 58,000 new homes and 36,000 new jobs, and supported hundreds of thousands of personal savers — all while driving economic growth in the markets we serve.
We are looking for a Junior People Partner to join our People Team at OakNorth. This role provides hands-on support to our Senior People Partners across UK and US employee populations across all business lines. The role is well-suited to someone who is early in their HR career, keen to develop across a broad generalist remit, and comfortable working in a fast-paced, high-growth environment. You will get exposure to real partnering work, employee relations, performance processes, people projects, from day one
We’re becoming an AI-native business in how we work, build, and grow. This means hiring high-quality interns and graduates who are energised by AI and motivated by the pace, ownership, and exposure that comes with a founder-led business.
Early careers is a core pipeline into the roles that matter most at OakNorth. This role is about building that pipeline — with a clear focus on quality, retention, and long-term impact, not just hiring volume.
The opportunity
This is a builder role, not a maintainer.
You will design and run OakNorth’s global early careers programme — spanning internships and graduate hiring across London, New York, Gurgaon, Bangalore, and Manchester.
Embedded within the wider Talent function, you’ll connect early careers to experienced hiring, workforce planning, and long-term talent development.
There is no finished playbook. You’ll define it — building a programme that is structured, scalable, and aligned to real business demand.
What success looks like (Year 1)
A clear, scalable internship and graduate programme designed
Internships established as the primary feeder into high-quality hires
Strong, engaged hiring manager base — aligned on bar and actively participating
A forward workforce plan in place, with hiring driven by real business demand
Measurable quality of hire: strong conversion, retention, and early performance.
What you’ll own
🏗️ Programme design & delivery
Own a two-track early careers programme: internships, Apprecnticeships, Insight week and a 1-year graduate scheme
Define rotations, learning pathways, mentoring, and conversion frameworks
Set clear standards and success metrics from entry through to post-programme performance
Build internships as the primary feeder into graduate hiring
Own the full lifecycle: Attraction → Assessment → Offer → Onboarding → Programme → Conversion → Retention
Track performance, conversion rates, and long-term outcomes
🔗 Talent & business alignment
Translate business hiring needs into structured early careers pipelines across:
Debt Finance
Engineering
Product
Finance & Legal
Operations
Partner with hiring managers to define what good looks like
Build a forward-looking workforce plan based on real demand
Continuously improve pipeline quality using data and insight
Connect Talent, People Partners, L&D, and business leadership
🎓 Attraction & university strategy
Build a focused university strategy across the UK, US, and India
Prioritise depth over breadth in relationships
Represent OakNorth on campus through events, partnerships, and societies
Develop a compelling early careers narrative against banks, Big Tech, and startups
Partner with Talent and Marketing to ensure consistent messaging
📋 Selection & assessment
Design a rigorous, fair, and scalable selection process
Assess for potential, not polish
Implement high-signal, low-bias assessment methods
Train hiring managers to assess consistently
Define and track quality of hire (performance, progression, retention)
Ensure strong outcomes beyond hiring — retention and development
🌍 Global coordination
Align programme structure and standards across UK, US, and India
Partner with local teams to adapt programmes to each market
Coordinate hiring cycles, budgets, and reporting
Maintain a clear global view of pipeline health
🤝 Stakeholder partnership
Operate as part of the core Talent team
Align early careers with experienced hiring and broader people strategy
Influence hiring plans and talent investment decisions
Provide clear, data-led insights on pipeline quality and ROI
Priority pipelines
You will build reliable, high-quality feeder pipelines into critical junior roles across the business, includding Debt Finance, Engineering, Product, Finance. legal and operations.
Build a clear pathway from intern → graduate → junior role, particularly for hiring where consistency, quality, and retention are critical.
AI & the future of work
OakNorth is becoming an AI-native business — and how we hire should reflect that.
Use AI tools to improve sourcing, assessment, and programme delivery
Apply data and insight to continuously improve hiring quality
Build modern, high-signal candidate experiences
Engage with AI-curious and high-potential talent communities
What we’re looking for
Core experience
A recruiter with 4+ years in early careers / campus recruiting
Track record of building programmes end-to-end
Experience operating within a broader Talent function
Exposure to global hiring (UK, US, India preferred)
Capabilities
Strong instinct for quality over volume
Experience measuring outcomes (performance, retention, conversion)
Builder mindset — comfortable creating and iterating
Able to operate at pace in a high-growth environment
Credible with both students and senior stakeholders
Data-driven and outcome-focused
Curious about AI and its impact on hiring
Culture fit
Focused on long-term talent value, not short-term hiring
Holds a high bar and owns outcomes
Connects the dots across teams
Brings energy and authenticity
What this role isn’t
A standalone campus role disconnected from Talent
A coordination-heavy or purely operational role
A people management role (initially)
A role with a fixed playbook